Moment of Truth - Kasie West Page 0,65
on your behalf. I’m sorry.”
“Most of the time, when I think about my brother, I feel nothing. Sometimes I feel jealousy and sometimes I wish him out of existence, which makes no sense because he doesn’t exist.”
“It makes sense.”
“Thank you.”
He put the picture down and picked up the movie. “How does this represent your brother?”
“I guess he liked spy movies. He probably would’ve loved Heath Hall.” I patted the mask on the dashboard.
“The Hunt for Red October. Is it any good?”
“Never seen it.”
The last thing he brought out was the squirt gun, which he immediately shot at me. A spray of water hit my hair. “It’s loaded. Your mom actually loaded it.”
“I see that.” I wiped the side of my face where it had dripped.
He shot me again.
I reached over and hit him.
He laughed. “I thought you liked water.”
“Ha-ha.”
“Does this have to do with the spy movies?”
“No.”
“He liked water? Like you?”
“Nope.”
He dropped the gun back in the box. “You going to keep me in suspense?”
“Remember when you met my dad?”
“Of course.”
“When you left, the first thing my dad said to me was, ‘I’ve never met someone who reminded me more of your brother.’”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “And then you hated me even more.”
“No. You already bugged me. I guess that was when I realized I would’ve hated my brother had I known him. And that made me mad at you, yes.”
“So see, your brother wasn’t perfect. He was an irresponsible goofball with no idea about his future.” He nodded toward the squirt gun, the representation of that playful nature.
“He knew he wasn’t going to have a future.”
Again Jackson squeezed his eyes shut and put the lid back on the box. “Sorry.”
“No, don’t be. Here’s the thing. My whole life, I’ve never felt close to my brother. Never felt like I knew him at all. I knew facts about him but couldn’t picture him. Then you came along in all your annoyingness and my dad put a personality to him. I hated that at first. And if I’m being honest, I kind of reveled in it too because I realized that I wanted to hate him. But now. Now that I know you better, I know that my brother and I would’ve been great friends.” For the first time, maybe ever, I felt my eyes prick with tears over the thought of missing out on that friendship with him. “So I know this is weird, but thank you for that.”
He slowly set the box back on the seat between us. “Great. I just got put in the ‘he’s like a brother to me’ category.”
I laughed. “You’re good for me.”
“How so?”
“Because you can make me laugh.” Especially when I had just been on the verge of tears.
“Oh, did you think that was a joke?”
I laughed again. “See?”
Nirvana came on the radio and Jackson turned up the volume.
Thirty-One
Considering it was only ten thirty, the neighborhood was quiet. The porch light was the only thing that lit the house. All the other windows were dark.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Amelia’s house.”
“Are we picking up Amelia?”
“Nope. She’s spending the night at my house. And considering she hasn’t texted me to find out where I am, she must still be out with DJ.”
“So we’re going to hang out with Amelia’s parents?”
“Amelia lives four miles from me. A little too far to walk. Without a car, I can’t see my best friend whenever I want to. I have to depend on her driving everywhere. In junior high sometimes I’d ride my bike here but even that took a while.”
“How long have you known Amelia?”
“Since the second grade. She has the most awesome tree house. We’d spend hours back there.”
“Are you going to show it to me?”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“You just throw out the words ‘awesome tree house’ and we are going to walk away?”
“Fine. Come on.” As we walked toward her side gate, I said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in it. It could’ve been my younger brain that found it awesome and now it will be lame.”
“Backpedaling already?”
We got to the gate and I gestured for him to reach over to undo the latch as I shined my phone for him to see. Soon we were in her backyard. It really had been a while since I’d been back there. But my memory wasn’t wrong. The tree house was awesome. It was built around a giant oak tree in the center of her yard. The back patio light was just bright enough