Everything inside me warms at the pride in Gabe’s voice. At the way he just casually accepts what I’ve been doing without asking a million questions or pushing me for more than I’m ready for or doing anything, really, but listening to me. It makes me want to tell him everything. So I do.
“There’s more, Gabe. So, so much more.”
“Lay it on me, Ames.” The smile in his voice is unmistakable.
“I’m enrolled in a computer science PhD program at MassTech with a focus on UI and UX design. Also, I’m in love with Jordan’s brother, Elliot.”
Gabe coughs and splutters on the other end of the phone and I laugh hysterically, listening to him try and get ahold of himself. “Uh, how did that happen?”
“The PhD program?” I ask innocently.
“Uh, no, Ames. The part where you’re in love with Elliot Wyles. I’m putting you on speaker because Molly says she will absolutely die if she doesn’t get to hear this story firsthand.”
I laugh at my dramatic sister-in-law. “Go for it.”
“Give it all to me, Ames,” Molly says. “Leave nothing out. Especially the sexy stuff.”
Gabe groans. “Skip the sexy stuff, please.”
Laughing, I recount the entire story. Meeting Elliot on the plane. Figuring out who he was and disappearing from the airport. Walking into his class on the first day of school. Helping him solve his family mystery. Falling in love. And then, this morning at the diner.
“Dean Miller is a giant asshole, but he’s a giant asshole who could get Elliot fired, and Elliot doesn’t deserve that. He loves his job and he’s so good at it. He says he doesn’t care, and that he can get a job anywhere, but he shouldn’t have to. This is the job of his heart. I know what we did broke the rules, but the rules are stupid. I’m an adult, and so is he. Falling in love with him was inevitable. It was never going to be anything other than him and me in the end. You guys understand.”
“We sure do,” Molly says, the unmistakable love in her voice telling me she’s looking at Gabe and he at her. “But Ames, you’ve said a lot about Elliot’s job. What about your spot in the program? The dean can fuck with that too.”
I sigh, looking at Elliot’s closed door, knowing I should probably tell him first, but somehow, telling Molly and Gabe now feels exactly right.
“I honestly don’t care about my spot in the program.” I pause, wondering how this next part is going to land, but I’m too far gone to give Gabe anything but the absolute truth. “I enrolled in the program for the wrong reasons. My entire life, I’ve felt like I was living in Gabe’s shadow. Like whatever I did or whereverI went in the tech world, there was always someone telling me I didn’t belong there, or I was only there because of my famous brother. It’s hard enough to be a woman in STEM, but to be one when your brother is the most famous man in STEM in the world? It’s nearly impossible. It’s why I didn’t tell anyone Genesis was mine. So I wouldn’t be subject to a million headlines about how Gabe Sullivan’s sister did a thing. Because Gabe Sullivan’s sister didn’t do a thing. I did a thing, and that thing has nothing to do with Gabe. And it’s why I enrolled in the PhD program. Because it’s something Gabe never did. Something that would be mine alone.”
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my heart that is racing at the experience of finally setting my biggest truths free. “I’m sorry, Gabe,” I say quietly. “I’m so proud of everything you’ve done. You know that. But it hasn’t always been easy living in the shadow of your accomplishments when they loom so large, and I think I blamed you for that for a long time, even though it’s not your fault. You’re the best person I know, and I know you just want me to be happy. I think…” I pause when my voice breaks. “I think I just lost sight of that for a minute.”
“Amelia,” Gabe says softly. “I love you more than you could possibly imagine. You’re my family. You, Liv, Molly, and Soph. My whole damn world. Are you happy?”
I laugh through the tears that threaten to fall again. “I am. I love app development, and I want to do more of it. I don’t know whether I want to start a company or freelance or what, but I do know that. And I love Elliot. I didn’t know it could feel this way. Having so much in me for someone else. He’s…god, I don’t know. He’s just everything. The other half of me. I love being in Boston with him and his big, insane family. I have real friends for what feels like the first time in my life, and I just feel like…I guess I feel like I’m finally exactly where I’m meant to be.”
Molly sniffles on the other end of the phone. “Fuck, Amelia. That’s all really good stuff.”
“It is,” Gabe says. “And if you’re happy, that’s all I care about. But I hope you know that you can always talk to me, about anything, anytime. I may be famous or whatever, but before I’m anything else, I’m your brother. My family always comes first, and you will always have a place with us. Always and no matter what.”
“I know. And I’m sorry I forgot all that for a minute. It’s been a weird year.”
“Don’t even apologize for doing what feels right for you,” Gabe says. “I’m proud of you, Ames.”
“You are?”
“You bet. Now, what are we going to do about the dean?”
“You mean the royal we?” I ask dryly, mostly to needle him, because all I feel is amusement at Gabe involving himself in whatever the solution to this problem is. The man is a fixer right down to his bones. He literally can’t help himself.
“No, I mean the literal actual we on this phone call. I know Elliot a little through Jordan, and he’s a good guy. If he’s yours, he’s part of my family too. Is he yours?”
I can’t stop the smile that spreads over my face because my brother really is the best guy in the world. After Elliot, though, because no one is better than him. “He sure is. And I have a few ideas on what to do about the dean, but I have to talk to Elliot first. It’s Saturday, and we don’t meet with the dean until Monday morning, so we’ve got some time.”
“Well, when you decide, you let me know, okay?”
“You’ll be the first.”
“I better be.”
