“Erik.” Jonas couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Over the years his brother had used every word in the dictionary to describe his feelings for women. All except for that one. “Did you just say you think—”
“No, I don’t think. I am in love with her.” His voice was thick with emotion. “What the hell am I going to do?”
“Do? You’re asking me?” Jonas started laughing. “I couldn’t even admit why I came up here this weekend.”
“What is wrong with us?” Erik was laughing, too. “I mean, really, this emotion stuff shouldn’t be so hard. We grew up in such an open and supportive family.”
“Oh, yeah.” Between running and laughing, Jonas could barely get the words out. “Every night at dinner it was the same from Dad, ‘Jonas, Erik, please share your feelings with your mother and me.’”
“Ha!” Erik could barely catch his breath. “Yes! ‘We would like to listen with respect and then validate those emotions, so we will never ever make you feel as if you couldn’t possibly measure up to our standards.’”
“‘Afterward, your mother and I would like to share our feelings. We’ll admit we’re only human and let you off the hook for being that way, too.’”
“‘What’s that, Erik?’” Erik put a hand to his ear as if he were their father listening to a distant voice. “‘You think I can be a narrow-minded, intolerant son of a bitch? Thank you for sharing that.’”
Jonas ran faster, feeling as if he were on the verge of bursting out of some too-tight shell. “‘What, Jonas? Did you say you were effing tired of being responsible all the time? Go wild! Please let your mother and I know how we can help with your quest for self-knowledge and fulfillment.’”
Erik dropped behind while a car passed them. “Can you imagine?”
“Not really.”
They ran on, past woods, mowed lawns, occasional houses or businesses, no longer chuckling.
“Though in the end, it’s too easy to blame our parents.” Jonas used his shirt to wipe his forehead. “They did their best. It’s up to us to be who we want to be.”
“True.” Erik was starting to sound winded. “Me? I want to be a man in bed with Sandra for the rest of my life.”
“So drive to Boston and tell her.”
Erik stopped abruptly. Jonas turned back after momentum carried him a few more steps. Erik stood, panting, looking as if he’d just been zapped with electricity.
“What am I, a moron?”
Jonas winced. “Dude, don’t hand me that one.”
“Drive to Boston. Why did that never occur to me?”
“That initiative thing...”
“Yeah, not my strong point.” Erik shook his head, leaning forward, hands braced on his thighs. “What’s even scarier is that you are the one who had to tell me to be spontaneous.”
“I planned it.” Jonas waved dismissively. “It’s in my date book. Five-seventeen p.m. Tell Erik to be spontaneous.”
Erik straightened and gave Jonas a high five. “C’mon, let’s go back.”
“What, now?” Jonas gestured to the road ahead. “We barely did a mile! This highway ends in Canada.”
“Ha! Race you to the house.”
Jonas sprang into action, beating his brother, but not by as much as he’d expected. Erik had been taking this working-on-himself thing seriously. Jonas hadn’t given him enough credit.
“Hey.” He socked Erik on the shoulder, the closest he and his brother got to a hug. “You’re really serious about getting your life under control. I’m proud of you.”
Erik tried to hide his grin under eye-rolling, but it was clear Jonas’s comment pleased him. “And you—you’re really losing control, dude. I’m proud of you.”
It was Jonas’s turn to roll his eyes. He wasn’t quite sure his brother’s comment had pleased him the same way, but he knew what Erik meant. “Yeah, we’ll see.”
“I’m going to shower and pack. Allie coming soon?”
“A couple of hours.”
“Cool.” He started for the house, then paused and turned back to give Jonas a brief hug. “I love you, man.”
“Jeez, Erik.” Jonas grinned, meeting his brother’s eyes so he’d know the words had touched him, though he had too much of his dad in him to answer. “Meyer men don’t— What am I supposed to say to that?”
“Just one thing.” Erik held up his hand, backing toward the house, grinning. “That you’d be happy to clean up the kitchen.”