“I’m not saying he’s the poster boy for perfect boyfriends or anything,” Harper said, “but they’re not asking you to come to the wedding, Justin. They just want to date.” She shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe the whole thing will fall apart in a few weeks anyway, but all you’re doing right now is hurting Wyatt.”
Justin looked away, his mouth pressed into a thin line.
“You’re being as ass, Justin,” Harper said bluntly. “And I know that a lot of this is coming from Dad planning on leaving for three months, and you can’t handle that as well as you say you can.” She didn’t give him a chance to object. “But you’re an idiot, because there is nothing stopping you from taking a vacation and going with him!”
“I couldn’t—”
“You could!” Harper exclaimed.
“You could,” Dad agreed.
“Not with work,” Justin said, shaking his head. “Not with…not with everything going on here.”
“Why not? You think you can’t leave Wyatt alone?” Harper asked. “Do you trust him? Do you?”
Wyatt met Justin’s gaze, his heart clenching, and saw the truth in his brother’s eyes: No. No, Justin didn’t trust him.
“I do,” Justin said, his eyes widening. “Wy, Ido! But I’m worried about you. You don’t…you’re not like the girls. If things go wrong you don’t just brush them off the way they do. You get hurt more easily.”
Justin was wearing a pleading expression, like he was begging for Wyatt’s understanding, but all Wyatt heard was that Justin thought he was weak. And maybe it was the truth, and maybe everyone thought it, but they’d never seen Wyatt with Izzy. They’d never seen how brave he could be. And Justin’s words stung. Wyatt knew the pain of hearing them was written all over his face as Justin looked at him.
“I’m saying it wrong,” Justin said, his voice cracking. “Del, help me here.”
Dad reached out and took Justin’s hand. “Justin, I love you and I know exactly where you’re coming from here, but this is Wyatt’s life, and all you’re doing right now is pushing him away.”
“I don’t want to lose you, Wy,” Justin said. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want this to pull our family apart.”
Wyatt wasn’t sure he could speak, but he forced the words out. “But Izzy’s not the one making me choose, Justin.”
Justin flinched, and Wyatt thought that maybe, for once, he’d actually heard the words. That he’d actually understood. Justin bowed his head for a moment, and when he looked up again his eyes were shining with tears. “I’m sorry, Wy,” he said. “Shit, I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?”
And just for a second Wyatt wavered. He wondered how great it would feel to tell Justin coldly that he had to earn Wyatt’s forgiveness, and then make him work for it. He wondered how it would feel to be angry, and to hold onto that anger. He wavered, but only for a second, because Wyatt couldn’t hold a grudge. Not like that. Not against Justin.
Wyatt pushed his chair back and rose, and Justin did the same. He met Justin halfway around the table, and fell into his embrace like it had been years, and both of them held each other tightly as Wyatt cried tears of relief in his brother’s arms.
* * * *
Wyatt watched the moonlit driveway anxiously for half an hour after Izzy replied to his text, and eventually saw a figure walking up it. Izzy’s shoulders were hunched together, and his hands were jammed into the pockets of his jeans. There was no swagger in the way he moved tonight. He looked as wary as a stray dog, ready to run the second someone yelled at him.
Wyatt hurried downstairs and opened the front door. He flicked the porch light and stepped outside, feeling like he was on a stage or something, caught under a spotlight. He blinked out into the darkness as Izzy approached.
“Hey,” Izzy said, stopping at the edge of the light. “This is really okay?”
He looked hopeful and doubtful at the same time as he stood there, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
Wyatt nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay.”
“Really?” Izzy screwed his face up.
Wyatt nodded again. “Really.”
Izzy tugged his hands out of his pockets, straightening up as he stepped into the light. The expression on his face transformed, and it was like watching the sun come out after a storm. His smile lit him up, and he suddenly looked younger than he ever had in Wyatt’s eyes, like he was so full of joy in that moment that none of the mistakes from his past, none of the invisible scars he carried around, had any power over him.
They stumbled into one another, their kiss sweet and hungry and tasting like tears. Wyatt pulled back to wipe his face and apologize, but then he realized that he wasn’t the only one crying. There were tears on Izzy’s cheeks too.
“Hey,” Wyatt whispered. He tugged the cuff of his thin sweatshirt down over his hand and gently wiped Izzy’s face. “It’s okay. I missed you so much, but you’re here now.”
“I’m sorry,” Izzy said. “I’m really sorry.”
