Page 117 of So Much More
“Me, too.”
He cranks up the feet on the recliner. “Are you okay with her staying at Shannon’s without Leslie?”
“I guess I have to be, because it’s what’s happening. Logically, I know things will be fine, and I completely trust her. But there’s still this little part of me that’s nervous about it because of Colleen.”
Ash shakes his head. “Wendy is not Colleen.”
“I know she’s not. Like I said, I know I don’t have anything to worry about with Wendy, but I guess I’ve not quite moved on from what Colleen did to me. Her betrayal still hurts, even though I know she wasn’t right for me, and Wendy is exactly right for me.”
“She really is perfect for you. And I don’t know if it’s her influence, or simply you making the decision to change, but you’re so much more yourself than you’ve been in a long time.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
I cock my head to the side. “What … what is it that makes you say that? What’s different about me?”
“You’ve stopped acting.”
One of my eyebrows lifts. “Acting?”
“Yeah. You used to act cocky about things you had no clue about, while at the same time you acted like you were a dumb, selfish, screw-up. But now you admit when you don’t know what you’re doing, and you’re letting yourself be who you truly are: a smart, kind, generous man who thinks about putting others’ needs before his own. I’m proud of you.”
My chest feels light, because it means more than I could say that my little brother is proud of me.
“You’re gonna make me cry over here, man.”
He rolls his eyes. “Shut up. I’m trying to be nice.”
“You are being nice. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, keep your trap shut so I can take a short nap before Hurricane Walter makes landfall.”
* * *
My dad arrives at two o’clock with his own divorce attorney in tow, and he says exactly zero words to us, likely per his lawyer’s instruction. However, he glares at us whenever possible, which is pretty much the entire time he’s at the house, since we ensure at least one of us keeps him within sight at all times. We’re not about to give him a chance to raid the safe or any other secret hiding places he may have around the house.
While Dad packs up some clothes and a few items from his office, his lawyer uses a video camera to take inventory of the valuables in the house. Ash and I, with Samuel’s help, convince him to not record in our sisters’ rooms, to protect their privacy, but he insists on checking for any expensive jewelry or artwork in their space.
Within an hour, they’re gone, and Samuel leaves shortly thereafter.
“Go to Leslie’s,” I tell my brother as I herd him toward the garage door, “and stay all night. We’ll be fine here. It seems like Dad’s going to behave himself for now. I’ll stay here with Mom and the girls tonight, and we’ll talk in the morning to figure out what we’ll do for the rest of the weekend.”
He turns to me before entering the garage. “Thanks for all you’ve done. We couldn’t have made it through this week without you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, because I was happy to do all of it. And thank you for everything, too. It took a team effort, and we did it.”
He gives me a half smile. “Yeah, we did.”
Then I do something I haven’t done since we were kids and wrap my arms around him. After a couple seconds of him standing as rigid as a tree, he circles his arms around me and hugs me back for longer than I thought he would. When his hold loosens, I let him go. He clasps my shoulder and nods before heading out the door, his eyes glistening.
fifty-two
“You have my number,” Shannon says as he pulls up to the restaurant where I’m meeting Andrea. “Call me when you’re ready for me to pick you up, even if that’s in ten minutes when you discover your long-lost sister is actually a lizard in disguise.”
I chuckle. “But I don’t want to interrupt your meal with your family.”
“We’re eating at my house for exactly that reason—so you can get ahold of me when you’re ready to go, whenever that might be. It doesn’t matter if that’s fifteen minutes from now or four hours. Leslie can’t be here for you, but I am.”
