Mancave (Wild Men 3)

“Come with us.” She throws her arms around his legs. “Please, Uncle Evan. So I can see you more often.”

“I can’t,” he says, misery in his eyes. “We talked about this.”

But why not? “You should totally move to St. Louis,” I tell him. “Get a job there. It’s our city, we’ll be around, we’ll help.”

“That’s true,” Matt says. “Why not look into St. Louis? You’d be close to Melissa, close to us, and far away from Jasper Jones. Sounds good to me.”

Evan looks taken aback. He glances from Matt to me and back to Melissa. “You think I should? I keep forgetting I quit… that I can go wherever I want now.”

“Yes! Come to us!” Melissa squeals. “Please.”

“Easy.” He pats her arm. “I’ll have to find a job.”

“Yeah, you should.” Matt’s gaze goes distant. I wonder what just went through his mind. “We’ll figure it out.”

“You really quit your job?” Deanna shoots Evan a narrow look. “You always said you couldn’t give up that salary.”

“Well, I did. I’ll tell you all about it another time.”

His sister’s face does a weird thing, passing from incredulity to worry and then relief. “Good. Melissa isn’t the only one who misses you, you know. It’d be great to have you around, at last, to have you stop beating yourself over for what happened with Abby.”

“Who’s Abby?” Melissa asks, and she’s quickly bundled up in a huge parka and walked to the porch. “Who’s Abby, Evan?”

“We’ll talk about that, too, perhaps,” he says, standing beside her on the porch. “Another time.”

I stare at them, Evan’s tall figure, Melissa’s small one beside him, her hand in his hand, and a bittersweet joy fills me at the thought that they can fix this, find each other, be together.

Matt comes behind me, puts his arms around me. “So you’ve decided to fix everyone’s lives, cure all sadness in the world?”

“Maybe?” I laugh a little, but he’s right. That’s what I want, how I feel. “I wish for them to be happy. Is that a bad thing?”

“Never.” No hesitation. “And I think I’ve figured out a solution.”

“For what?”

“For Evan.”

I try to turn around and see his face, but he won’t let me. He tucks me under his chin. “Tell me,” I whisper.

“I’ll tell you when we’re back in St. Louis. There’s a thing or two I need to clarify first.”

“Spoilsport.”

“But you love me anyway.”

I smile and lean back into him. “With all my heart.”

* * *

“Will you be all right after we’re gone?” I ask Evan.

“I’ll be fine.”

“You only asked him ten times in the past hour,” Matt mutters.

“What? I’m just making sure he has everything he needs.”

“You took care of Melissa and bought everything I’ll need for at least a week. I’m all set.” Evan sends me a tired smile. “I’m getting used to the cast, and moving about on my own, and besides… I need to decide what to do. My lease on this house is ending, too. Feels like fate is pushing me to move.”