As we eat our lunch, I tell him about getting my job back. He tells me he’s thinking about asking Amanda to marry him after he wraps up law school. He’s leaving soon for Stanford, but I’m glad we had this summer to really bond.
Aaron waggles his brows and smirks. “Maybe we can make it a double wedding.”
I nearly choke on a piece of pickle. Aaron pats my back as I cough, tears in my eyes. I finally manage to wheeze out, “Calm your tits, we’re not there yet.”
Aaron feigns a cough. “Liar. You’ve been there since you were a teen. I have no doubt you’ve had your entire wedding planned since you were fifteen.”
Okay, so maybe I have, but I’m not about to tell my brother that. “Mike and I are taking it slow. Taking our time.”
Aaron nods solemnly, then his face breaks into a broad grin. “Right… Keep telling yourself that. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“Fuck off.”
“We can make a bet, right here, right now.” He crosses his arms in front of his chest with a carefree smile, a teasing glimmer in his eyes.
“You really don’t mind?” I ask, changing the subject.
“What don’t I mind?”
“Mike and me? That we’re together?”
“Nah, I think it’s great. That whole over a decade of mutual pining was fucking pathetic.”
“It was hardly a decade,” I mumble. “Fine, it was a decade.”
“Felt like a fucking century.”
I chuckle and throw a potato chip at him. “Shut up.”
We sit in silence, finishing up our lunch. Then Aaron eventually says, “I’m really happy for you. For both of you. And I mean it, I don’tmind. Not at all. Mike’s a good guy. The best. So are you, Dennis. It was always gonna end up this way, you and him.”
I nod, swallowing around the lump in my throat, because I know what he means. Mike and I belong together. It was inevitable. We were always going to end up together, one way or another. Our souls were intertwined; our lives incomplete without the other. We may have had a few bumps on the road, but they’ve only made us stronger. Now we’re right where we were always supposed to be, right where it all started, in Cannon Beach.
Chapter 31
Mike - Epilogue
Oneyearlater
“I never really got around to thanking you, and I should’ve done it sooner.” I stare out at our vast backyard, where Willow is barking at a squirrel playing hide-and-seek in a maple tree. It’s small and gray with a bushy tail, and Dennis would definitely know which kind. To me, it’s just a cute squirrel.
“For what?” Aaron says, turning his beer in his hands. We just finished eating a barbecue dinner afterMajor Moving Day,as Dennis called it. Both of our families helped, and we managed to move everything into our new house in just one day.
“For going to see that asshole professor.” A dull ache moves through my chest, and I instinctively rub at it. The thought of what that guy did to Dennis still makes me livid. For a pretty laid-back guy, I sure have strong emotions when it comes to my man. I inhale deeply, then turn to face Aaron. “Dennis was so set on just letting it rest, and I didn’twant to go behind his back and stir shit up, you know. It would’ve felt like a breach of trust if I’d gone ahead with it without his acceptance.”
Aaron looks at me, bumping his shoulder against mine. “I get that. I think you made the right decision.”
I focus on Willow, who’s now camping out under the maple tree, probably pretending to have given up. Right, girl, keep on dreaming.
Aaron follows my gaze and laughs. “Not the sharpest tool in the shed, my man? But I gotta admit she’s damn cute.”
We sit in silence for a bit, but I can tell from the tension pouring off Aaron’s body that he’s not done speaking. Eventually, he says, “I’m his older brother. No way in hell was I going to just let that incident with his professor go. I know he was mad at me at first, but I think he understands why I had to do it.” He hesitates, what looks like regret flashing across his face. “I know I wasn’t always the best big brother growing up, but I do love Den, and I couldn’t just act as if nothing had happened. Besides, I needed to make sure that idiot wasn’t going around doing the same shit to anyone else.”
“Yeah, I get that,” I say, taking a sip from my beer. “In any case, I’m grateful you did. I know Dennis is, too, deep down.” I hold out my bottle and clink it against Aaron’s. “And as far as big brothers go, I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”
“Cheers, man. At the end of the day, I just want him to be happy, you know.” He smiles, brushing a hand through his hair, the same color as Dennis’. “And you do that, Mike. You make him very happy.”
“He makes me really happy, too,” I rasp, then quickly cough to disguise my building emotions.
