—
AARON
“What are you doing here?”
“Let’s go home, come on.”
“Where is she?”
“Liam brought her to our house.”
I look at him in surprise.
“She didn’t want to go home after what happened. My mum is there too.”
I nod as we get into the car.
“You paid my bail, didn’t you? And called the lawyer.”
He turns on the car’s engine and does not look at me.
“It was the least I could do for afriend,” He stresses the final word.
“Patrick—”
“For the friend who saved my sister,” he says, barely holding back his emotions.
I put my head in my hands and let out a deep sigh. “How is she?”
“They told me she had a panic attack. She’s sleeping now. Rain gave her some sedatives.”
“They won’t leave her alone, will they?”
He breaks out in a laugh that eases the tension. “Why, do you know anyone whose had any luck staying alone in this house?”
I smile too.
We spend the rest of the ride in silence. At this time of night there is no traffic and we make it home in twenty minutes.
We get out of the car and make it to the door before Patrick blocks me. He lights a cigarette and exhales nervously. I was sure he had given up smoking after Lily was born. I do the same, waiting for him to say what he’s got on his mind, because I know he’s about to pull out everything he’s got.
“You and her—”
“I don’t know,” I tell him honestly.
“You remember the promise, don’t you?”
“This isn’t the time to talk about that.”
“I think it is. Right now. You were at her house and I will try to resist asking you the reason why because I don’t know if I could stop myself hitting you. But you were there, and you defended her and you went after that piece of shit as if he had touched the most important thing in your life. Not even I would have beaten him that badly, my friend. I’ve said everything I have to. You almost killed a man and I’m not here to tell you how badly you over-reacted, or that you were wrong to do what you did. That bastard wanted to get his hands on my sister. But, behavior like that, Aaron, a reaction like yours, only stems from one simple truth so I’m asking you now to play it straight with me, your best friend, yourbrother.And I promise you that I’ll try to be understanding and not strangle you.”
“I’ve fallen in love with her.”
I say it out loud.
I say it to Patrick and to myself.
I need to tell everyone, tell the whole world.
