Movement caught Martin’s attention; a woman with long brown hair peeked out of the kitchen.
“Jess?” He blinked and tried not to recoil as she stepped into the hall.
“Hey, Marty. Sorry about that.”
Her hair was a mess. She wore a knee-length denim skirt twisted to one side, and she had wrapped a red and white striped dishtowel around her chest.
“It’s, uh...” He very studiously stared anywhere but at his perhaps-not-so-former sister-in-law’s breasts.
“Nice to see you too. Excuse me.” She scooted between the two of them and out the way Martin came in. Then he saw the clothes on the floor which she snatched up and darted into the laundry room, slamming the door shut as she went.
The brothers stood in the hall, silently staring at each other. Martin’s pulse was still jumping in his throat.
“So.” Brian scratched at his chest. One shoulder was covered in bite marks.
“Yeah.” The residual embarrassment pressed in on Martin, and he fled to the porch.
A few minutes later, the front door opened, and Brian and Jess, both fully dressed again, appeared.
“Sorry again, Marty. About before.” Jess stood on her toes to kiss Brian for longer than they probably should have for two people who spent most of their time yelling at each other. They murmured soft things to each other that made Martin’s heart hurt, and then she hopped down the steps. Her car was parked on the street. Martin couldn’t understand how he hadn’t seen it before.
Brian came to sit next to him. Neither one spoke for a bit. The last time they had sat like this was right before Seb arrived to pick Martin up, when Brian received the separation agreement.
“So,” Martin said when he realized Brian wasn’t going to make the first move. He’d make the last one, though—Martin would make sure, because it involved sanitizing every surface in the kitchen.
“So.”
“Was that just some kind of farewell thing you straight people do? Or should I take this to mean the separation is off?”
Brian chuckled. “It’s on an indefinite hold.”
“What brought that on?” Martin coughed on a lump that felt suspiciously like disappointment, which was unfair because his brother deserved to be happy.
“She called. Said she was sorry, and...” Brian laughed softly. “No. That’s not true. I called her. I begged. Told her everything.”
“Everything?” Martin raised an eyebrow.
“That I was a selfish prick who couldn’t get his head out of his ass to see how much she was hurting over this. That I’d been too stubborn to move beyond my own ego. That I loved her and it didn’t matter if we had kids or not, or if we had them some other way, as long as she—” It was Brian’s turn to cough. He sniffed and ran his hand over his eyes. “I love her, Smarts, and...and that’s it, I guess. I’ll do whatever she wants me to do, as long as I can be with her.”
Martin’s smile was thin but sincere. “Is she moving back?”
“We’re...” Brian’s returning grin was shy. “You weren’t supposed to see that, before. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. We’re going to take it slow.” His eyes widened, as if a thought had just occurred to him. “But even when she moves back in, that doesn’t mean you have to go! If nothing else, she’ll bring all the old furniture, so you can have a real room instead of the pullout. You know you’ve got a home here.”
Martin nodded, but he couldn’t make himself speak. He didn’t want to stay, not if it meant being the third wheel in Brian and Jess’s happy reunion.
He missed the apartment above the bookstore, even though it had never been his.
“Did you hear from Seb?” Brian must have developed mind reading as a skill, along with humility.
Martin shook his head. “Please don’t make this the part where you tell me I need some big gesture. Where I have to call him and pour my heart out that I miss him and need him and that I want him to come home. Because I’ve tried that, and it hasn’t helped.”
“Well, it worked for me.” Brian stretched and wrapped one arm over Martin’s shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze.
“Seb isn’t Jess. And I can’t give him back what he lost.”
“Then what can you give him?”
Martin frowned. “What?”
