out in the hall probably wasn’t the best move, though.
Ethan and I had a lot of ground to cover, and I didn’t want him feeling like he’d come to see me only so I could interrogate him. My brother was almost a foot taller than I was, coming in at six-two, and he might be a badass in the Air Force now, but he was still my little brother. I didn’t want to make him regret coming to see me.
God forbid he takes off and doesn’t come back for another half decade.
Pulling out of our hug, I waved him into my house. “Come on in. I’m sure you could use a drink. Can I make you something to eat?”
“Nah. I’m all good.” His eyes were several shades lighter than mine, making it much easier to pick up the sparkle in them even when he only glanced at me. “I didn’t come here just so you could feed me.”
“Really?” I slapped a hand over my heart. “Is that your way of saying you don’t like my cooking?”
“It’s my way of saying I ate before I came so you wouldn’t have to cook for me, but you’ve always been a bit heavy handed on the salt.” He winked before his eyes lost some of their shine when he looked around the house. “Husband not home? I thought I’d finally get to meet him. On the other hand, is he the cause of the French music? Are you two lovebirds fighting already?”
A shadow crossed his face, and he wound his fingers around mine, giving them a gentle squeeze before releasing them. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to the wedding. I tried to fix it so I got home in time, but I only got in yesterday.”
“You didn’t miss much,” I said. “Will didn’t show up either. It’s difficult to have a wedding when the bride is the only one who makes the effort to stick around.”
“He stood you up?” he said after opening and closing his mouth a few times. Then he shoved his hands repeatedly into his auburn hair.
Ethan and I had similarly shaped faces, and we both had blue eyes, but I’d gotten Mom’s pitch-black hair while he had Dad’s rich, reddish-brown color. He’d also gotten the height, the muscles, and the willingness to exercise them.
We didn’t look much alike, but he was my soul’s twin. I could see the guilt he looked at me with now and the torment twisting him up inside. “Fuck, Linds. You should’ve called me! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine about Will and the wedding.” I averted my gaze, keeping it glued to the orange ball of the sun dipping beyond the treetops outside. “I’ve realized I should never have said yes. It felt like the right thing to do at the time, but honestly? He did me a favor by leaving.”
“Why the French music? If you’re really okay, you’d have been listening to rock. I know you, big sis. Don’t try to bullshit me.”
“I’m not.” I planted my hands on my hips and stuck my finger out so close to his chest I almost jabbed it. “What about you, Mr. I Enlisted Never To Be Heard From Again? If you got my letters, why haven’t I gotten any from you? I thought I was sending them to the wrong address or something.”
“You weren’t.” He took a step back from me, holding up his hands to show me his palms. “How about we get something to drink and sit down? It seems we have a lot more to talk about than I thought we did.”
I studied his face, my eyes roaming over every inch of the familiar features but also the unfamiliar ones. A healed cut above his eyebrow, the dark stubble he hadn’t had before, and the beginnings of creases in his skin.
He still looked like my brother, but he was also right. We did have a lot to talk about, starting with why I hadn’t seen him in so long that I hadn’t even known about his scar even though it looked like it’d been there for years.
Ethan opted for a beer, so I took out the entire six pack I’d stored in the fridge for Will for after we got back from our honeymoon. Grabbing an ice bucket from the cabinet under the sink, I filled it with the cubes I had in the freezer, stuck the beers in it, and led my brother out onto the patio.