Now, he stood outside his brother’s office, lifting a hand to knock and then waiting for the ‘Come in’ that followed. He stepped inside.
Alex looked up from his computer screen, his expectant expression shifting to a smile. “Hey, Mark. How’s it going?”
“I was hoping you’d have a little free time tonight. Come out for a beer with me.”
The smile faded. “I don’t know about that. I’ve got a lot of work to do, and Jamie’s waiting at home.”
“It won’t be long,” Mark promised. “I just want to get a little time to talk to you. We never have any these days, and I get that you’re a new parent and working full time, but I’d like to make sure we occasionally still do… brother stuff, I guess.”
Alex’s head tilted slightly to the side, his eyebrows drawing in toward each other like he was trying to figure out what exactly was going on in Mark’s head, but then his expression relaxed and he nodded.
“Okay.” He glanced down at his screen. “Tell you what. I’ll wrap up here in about an hour and a half, and then we can go grab a beer before I head home.”
Mark smiled. “That sounds great. Just knock on my door when you’re ready.”
“Will do.”
He turned and left the office, heading back to his own. It was a relief, honestly, to have Alex agreeing to go with him. They’d had such a rocky start to their relationship, and sometimes Mark found himself worrying that the new distance necessitated by how busy Alex and Jamie had become would take them back to that place. He didn’t want to lose the close relationship he’d been building with his brother after so many years of fighting and cold shoulders.
Sighing, Mark sank down into his office chair and started going over the financial reports. At least there was something to distract him while he waited.
***
One hour had turned into nearly two by the time Alex knocked on his door. Mark closed down the program he was using and stood, stretching some of the ache from his muscles. Then he crossed the office and stepped outside.
“You ready?” Alex asked as he emerged.
“Been ready this whole time,” Mark answered. “Only waiting on you.”
Alex shook his head, and started toward the elevator. “What’s that supposed to be? Some kind of brotherly teasing?”
“It’s just a statement of fact,” Mark said, following. “You said an hour. It’s now been almost two.”
“You’re going to hang that over my head the whole way there, aren’t you?”
“Probably.” Mark grinned. “It’s what brothers do.”
Alex sighed but he didn’t protest, just walked out to where the car was parked. When he started to take the driver’s seat, Mark stopped him.
“Nope. I’m driving.”
His brother looked at him, eyebrows raised. “Says who?”
“Says me, because I’m the only one who knows where we’re going. Get in the passenger seat.”
There was a moment where he wasn’t sure that Alex wasn’t going to comply without further argument, but after a moment of narrow-eyed staring, his brother got in the car on the othe
r side, and handed over the keys. Mark got in and turned them in the ignition.
“So,” Alex said as they pulled out onto the road. “Where are we going?”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
“You know, I said that exact same thing to a date once,” Alex said.
Mark glanced over at him, and found him grinning. “What did she say back?”
“That it was cruel and unusual to subject a journalist to a surprise.”