“A handful?” Greg laughed.
“Okay, you two are children,” Michelle rolled her eyes.
“Okay, fine, I was just giving you shit, bro. I know for a fact the only person he’s pictured himself with is you, Michelle. Fact is, I’ve never been so relieved in my life as I was the day Drew said he finally told you the truth. He was a mess when he broke up with you. He got sick. He had made me promise not to let him go beg you to take him back. I swore I would keep him from it. And I damn near had to knock him out to keep him away from you. He won’t ever tell you how bad it was, but I will. I’m his big brother and it’s my job to embarrass him. For over a year after that, I didn’t date anyone more than twice, and the reason was, I hadn’t been in love, but I watched it damn near kill Drew to give you up. I didn’t think I could handle that.”
“I didn’t do too well myself. I cried a lot, wrote emails to him and then deleted them. I thought I wanted an explanation on why he stopped loving me.”
“I shouldn’t have said that. I had to make up a reason, when there wasn’t any reason that made sense. That should’ve told me it was the wrong thing to do,” I said. “I hate that you cried over me. That I hurt you like that.”
“He went through hell, and he dragged me right with him for part of it. The only thing I’ve ever seen like it, like that kind of deep grief, is when Katie’s dad died last year. It was like watching her ripped in two, and I knew better how to help her because I went through that with Drew.”
“What would you have done if I’d asked you why? If I went up to you on the street somewhere that summer and made you tell me?” she said.
“I would’ve lost my shit. Probably would’ve busted out crying and apologized. I was still convinced it was for your own good.”
“I’m sorry my dad treated you the way he did, and that I didn’t do more to stop it. I thought you knew that you were more than good enough for me. I took it for granted that you understood how I was thinking. We were so young, and we made mistakes. And we can’t take those back. I went over that night a million times, what I could’ve said different to get you to stay with me. There’s no sense in that,” she said. It touched me that she wanted to share the blame, that she had obsessed over that night as much as I had.
“I feel like the luckiest man in the world,” I said to her, leaning in and kissing her forehead, “to have you back again. If I could pause my life the way it is now, it would all be perfect forever.”
“I don’t think the pause button works in real life, brother,” Greg said.
“I feel lucky, too,” Michelle said softly, leaning her head on my shoulder, “even though you apparently wish you lived with Max.”
“Now who’s being a child?” Greg said and we laughed. I kissed her hair and hugged her to me.
“Hey, you’re talking to the best thing that ever happened to me. Don’t scare her off,” I said.
“Don’t worry. I don’t believe a word he says. Man thinks they don’t make pie in Chicago… how smart can he be?” Michelle said.
“I know they make it, I just said it’s not this good,” he argued.
“You know you can Google ‘pie near me’ and it’ll tell you where to find it…” she laughed.
“Shhh…you’re scaring him. He and Katie are low carb.”
“Oh God, that must be awful!” she said, “why did that happen to you?”
“It was a good idea for us both to get healthier. We eat at home a lot, fish tacos, chicken and vegetables—stuff like that. We have medical reasons.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Katie and I want a baby. The doctor suggested we should both cut the processed food and trans fats out of our diet, to improve our chances,” he said, “we haven’t had any luck so far.”
“Well, I hope you have better luck going forward,” she said, her voice sounding strange.
“Remember when Drew stole my bike to go see you?” Greg changed the subject.
“Hey, I wrecked my bike. You told me I couldn’t use yours. Even though you had a car,” I accused.
“Doesn’t mean I wanted you wrecking mine,” Greg said.
“I had a date to keep.”
“I bet you were sorry you took it though,” Greg chuckled.
“Was that when your dad tracked us down and yelled and made you leave?” Michelle said, “I always thought he was mad you were seeing me.”