“You’re not irritating me. I get it. But I seem to remember a time when I felt like you do now and you said there were no problems we couldn’t solve.” Chris sat up, throwing the remote onto the coffee table.
Noah threaded his hands behind his neck and stared at hisbrother. “Dude. We threw money at your problem. I tried to do that here.”
Chris laughed, but Noah didn’t know what was so funny. “We threw money at it because that helped us out of the situation and it worked in that case. What we didn’t do was throw money atEverlyand disregard her feelings.”
Noah’s hands dropped. “I was helping. I wasn’t disregarding her feelings. I was saving her from that nightmare she calls a mom. Seriously, man. That woman ought to marry our father.”
“Ew. She’d be like your sister then,” Chris said.
Noah stared. “No, she wouldn’t. What’s wrong with you?”
Chris stood. “Me? You said it, you weirdo.”
“I was just saying how perfectly matched they’d be.”
“Never mind them. Think about Grace.” Chris walked over to stand in front of him.
“All I can do is think about her, Chris. She’s it. I can’t think of anything else.”
His brother clapped his shoulder, kept his hand there. “I know, man. That’s how it happens. Hard and heavy.”
“That’s what she said,” Noah said with no inflection.
Chris arched a brow. “Really, jackass?”
Noah shrugged. “It seemed necessary.”
Chris dropped his hand, walked around the wall that divided the living area from the galley kitchen. Noah followed.
“We wouldn’t want anyone taking care of Dad for us. We did it ourselves because it felt damn good to do it. To make that break without anyone else’s help.” He grabbed a couple of sodas from the fridge, tossed one to Noah.
Noah caught it, tapped the top before popping it open. “I know. I just… I wanted to do itforher. I didn’t want her to have to face that alone. She did it her whole life and I needed her to know I’m in this for real.”
“Yeah but you did it in a way that made her feel like she couldn’t do it herself. You took the choice away.”
“So I shouldn’t have helped her?”
“No. You shouldn’t have tried to save her.”
“I just need to fix it.” He hated the desperation in his own voice.
“Let her lead.”
Noah stared at his brother, wondering when he’d gotten so smart.
Instead of asking, he shoved Chris’s shoulder. “Mr. Know-It-All.”
Chris shoved him back with a wide grin. “Which one of us is living with the love of his life? You could learn from me, young Jedi.”
The two were locked in a futile double headlock when Everly walked through the door. From his awkward, bent position, he saw her hang her keys on the little hook by the door and remove her shoes.
“This is new,” she said, coming into the living room.
“Hey, Evs. How was shopping?” Chris’s breathing was heavy.
She stood close to them, her hands on her hips. “Crowded. How was the visit with your brother?”
“Pretty good. Except he doesn’t like being told what to do,” Chris said.
