"So, her dad totally got the girl drunk and slept with her in a place he knew my dad would find them." I sat my drink down, deciding that I'd leave the fact that it was my mother off the table. That was too personal to share.
Brian almost spit his beer, but caught himself. "Are you shitting me?"
"No. Crazy. It's been thirty years and they are still at each other's throats over it."
"I imagine so." He picked up his menu. "Do you think they'll ever fix it?"
"You know, I don't know. Dad was pretty torn up about it when he told me the other day, which means he still cares about Chloe's dad. I think between her and I, we can get Dad hooked up with Milly and help him work through this stuff with Jonathan. He mentioned something about talking to him to clear things up for me and her, but I told him no thanks. I need to work on that relationship myself."
We paused to order our burgers, but the minute the waitress left, “my big sister” Brian showed back up.
"Hey, look, I know this is absolutely none of my business, but what are you going to do when Chloe goes back to Cali? Long distance relationships suck for people who are mildly sexually active. You are what we would call extremely sexually active. How is that going to work out, exactly?" He lifted his hands as I gave him a stare. "I'm just concerned and wanted to make sure you’ve really thought through this. That's all."
"First of all, you're right. It's none of your business, but since I know it's bothering the hell out of you, I'll explain my thoughts on it."
Brian lifted his beer toward me. "You're a good man."
I rolled my eyes. "If she goes back, which I don't think she will, then I have two choices. I can stay here and we keep in touch, visiting when we can and spending a lot of time on Skype and the phone, or I go with her."
"Go with her? Are you insane?" He sat up and hit the table with his knees.
"Lower your voice. Everyone's going to be in our business, and I don't doubt that there are several girls in here that I don’t particularly want to see right now."
He glanced around and lowered his voice. "Right. Are you insane? You can't leave here. Your dad's here. You love it here. Fuck...I'm here."
I laughed, and sat back in my chair. "I don't know what's going to happen, Brian, but if she wants to be physically together and is willing to try things out, then we have to live in L.A. or here. That's going to be up to her."
"You are a snow-shoveler. What are you going to do in California?"
I leaned forward and pressed my hands to the table. "Go back to school and get a degree? I shovel snow because my old man needs help and I'm his only son. I have other talents."
"I know, dude. I didn't mean it like that." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I just don't like it. I mean, like, at all."
"I know you don't, but I really think she's the one. We'll find out as we get closer to the time she's supposed to leave, but her dreams are out there, Brian. She wants to design a line of clothing for people in warm weather
."
"And, you want to build a lodge for families who like to ski. That's here. You can't do that out there." He shook his head and sighed heavily again.
"I know, and for the first time in my life, I'm alright with that. I'm in love with her. Giving up my dreams to see hers come to fruition is okay with me. I want to give that to her. To support her fully."
"You're fucking crazy. This right here is why I don't date."
I laughed. "You don't date because you're scared to talk to girls."
He tipped his beer toward me and smiled. "That right there is the second reason."
Chapter 29
Chloe
It was incredibly hard to leave Finn the night before when all I wanted to do was curl up next to him. It took most of the night to calm my racing heart, but after a glass of wine and a movie with my brother, I was finally ready to crash. Having to respect his and Brian's relationship wouldn't have even been on my radar a few days back, but after seeing the hurt in my dad's face over him and Clark, it was something to be concerned about now.
I woke on Saturday morning to my phone ringing on my night stand. I yawned loudly and reached for it, too cozy to be in a bad mood.
"Hello?"
"Hey, baby. Where are you?" Finn sounded as if he'd been up for the last two hours.