“Sounds like a plan.”
They set off down the sidewalk, Addison lengthening her strides to keep up with Braedon. Finally, she said, “Okay, but you have to walk slower—my legs aren’t as long as yours.”
He slung an arm over her shoulders. “Sorry, I forgot how short you are.”
“Quit it, before people think we’re a couple.” She stabbed her finger into his side, getting him to flinch and let go.
They’d always been mistaken for boyfriend and girlfriend as teenagers. One year, as a joke, their mom had gotten them shirts that said “he’s my brother” and “she’s my sister,” except they wore them whenever they went somewhere together.
Braedon slowed to an easy stroll and walked the rest of the way in silence. When they arrived at the USO, he held the door for her.
“By the way, Mom and Dad are here.”
Addison stopped and slowly turned to face him. “You jerk face. You set me up.”
“I had to, Addy. Mom said you wouldn’t take her calls.”
“I’m still angry with them.” She knew she sounded like a petulant child, but her parents’ lack of faith had hurt.
He grasped her shoulders. “I know, but I’m going to be the asshole who plays the guilt card. I almost died, Addy. I almost disappeared into God only knows where. It puts things into perspective. Life is too short for this kind of bullshit.”
She folded her arms and looked away. “It’s very hard to trust them, Brae.”
“I’m not asking you to trust them—you have me for that. I’m asking you to accept their apology. For me.”
She couldn’t ignore her parents forever. As much as she hated to admit he was right, and she would never say it out loud, he had a point.
“Fine. But if Dad’s drunk, the answer’s no.”
“I’ll give you that, but Mom said he’s back in AA.Andhe’s cut Uncle Steve out. Told him if he couldn’t support his sobriety, Dad couldn’t be around him.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Really?”
“Yeah.” He spun her around and pushed her forward. “Go give Mom a hug before she loses it.”
She lost it anyway as soon as Addison hugged her. Her mom buried her face in Addison’s hair and cried hard.
“I’m so sorry we didn’t believe you,” she sobbed.
“It’s okay, Mom.”
“It’s not! You tried to tell us, and we didn’t listen. We could have lost him forever!”
One day, in the far distant future, Addison would sit down with a theoretical physicist and unpack the paradox of the possibility of losing someone you thought you’d already lost, but today all she could do was hold her mom and assure her it would be all right.
* * *
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Braedon asked as they walked back to her truck.
“What? Lunch?” She shrugged. “It was fine.”
“I meant Mom and Dad.”
“Oh. It was good. I would have gotten there eventually,” she said.
“So I was right,” he said.
“You were…not incorrect.”
