Page 98 of Puck with Karma
I stop in front of Bran’s door, trying my hardest to channel my inner Hannah. She would never be this emotional over any of this. I bring my hand up and knock. When there’s no movement from the other side, I knock harder, ready to pound on the door if necessary.
The door is being yanked open, making me jump in place. A huge figure looms in the entryway, and now I am ready to cry.
“Holy shit,” my brother whispers. Recognition is obvious on his face. He knows who I am. Relief floods my body.
“Surprise,” I manage to say through numb lips.
“Holy shit,” he keeps on saying right before grabbing me and pulling me into the biggest hug.
I have no idea how long we stand like this for, but I do know that I am a complete mess. For years now, I pictured how our reunion would go. And it was always starting with me giving Brandon the cold shoulder, making him work for my forgiveness.
Now that I see how much him seeing me again is affecting him, all those thoughts are gone. I just want him to hold me and tell me he’ll take care of me for a while.
With gentle movements, he pushes me away a bit and just stares at me, awe obvious on his face.
“Look at you! You’re all grown up. And so beautiful.” He smiles gently. “You look like all the pictures we saw of mom when she was younger.”
The way his eyes fill with tears gets to me. I’ve missed my brother so much.
“Bran...“ I look down, awkwardness taking over. I’m not sure how to respond when he has all his attention on me like this. “And you’re a big time hockey star.”
“Damn right.”
I laugh at the way he puffs his chest when he says it. He ushers me into his apartment, closing the door behind me. I hear him on the phone, and relax when I realize what he’s saying.
“It’s safe, I know her.” He laughs. “Yeah, it runs in the family.” He hangs up, then turns to look at me. “You could’ve just called, Abby. You about gave my doorman a heart attack.”
I am so embarrassed, I can’t even look at him.
“I’m so sorry to do this. I had to leave Boston. I didn’t know where to go…”
My brother watches me thoughtfully, and I take the time to look him over. I can’t believe he is in front of me after all these years, and he seems to be happy about it.
“What about…”
He tries to find his words, and I know he wants to ask why I didn’t go to our parents for help. Since they’re the ones I was trying to run away from, that's a problem.
“I couldn’t go to them. We don’t have the best relationship at the moment.”
I don’t feel comfortable yet to share with him the depth of our disagreements. I admire him for having walked away when he had a chance. I wish I’d been this brave to do it when I left for school.
“Can you give me more than that?” he prods gently.
I take a deep breath in and pray that coming here won’t turn out to be a mistake.
“I met someone.”
His eyebrows go up in surprise. “And that’s a problem?”
I don’t even know how to explain my situation to him. It all sounds so bad. And I don’t know if I should disclose that thesomeone I’m in love with also happens to be the hockey player who’s been fighting Bran on the ice at every chance he had.
“It is when you’re engaged to someone else.”
And now he looks shocked beyond words. His voice goes up with each word he speaks.
“You’re engaged? To be married? How can you be engaged? You’re eleven years old.”
I laugh. “I was eleven the last time you saw me, Brandon. I’m a grown woman now. I know what you’re thinking,” I add when he just stares at me. “And I am so angry with you. So you know.”
