He nods. "Yeah. Besides, I don’t want to intrude."
I let out a soft laugh. "Since when?"
His smile falters, just slightly. "I know I will always be Jasper’s annoying best friend, but I care about you, Ellie. I always have. Always will."
My heart stutters, a single sharp beat that ricochets through my chest. For a moment, the air feels too thin.
I step toward him—impulsively, maybe—and wrap my arms around his midsection.
He freezes for a second before carefully wrapping his arms around me, his hands spreading across my back like he’s afraid I’ll vanish if he holds on too tight.
His chest is warm against my cheek, steady and sure.
We stay like that, suspended in the morning light, in the chirp of birds and the scent of pine.
When I pull back, something has shifted. In him. In me.
"You know," I say, clearing my throat, "without you, this whole family would fall apart."
"Oh, I know," he says with that maddening grin.
"I’m being serious."
"So am I."
I study him, really study him. "You always show up. And I don’t know how you keep doing that, how you have so much of yourself left to give."
He shrugs. "That’s what family does. They show up. Even when it’s hard."
"Not all families operate that way."
"No," he agrees. "But sometimes, the family we choose is the one that actually sticks. The ones who reach for you when they’re barely holding themselves together."
I groan dramatically. "Why are you so wise? It’s disgusting."
"You’re disgusting," he shoots back. "Thanking me like that. Gross."
I laugh, the kind that tugs at something deep inside me. "Let’s do something tomorrow."
He raises an eyebrow. "Like what?"
I shrug. "No idea. Maybe we get in your old truck and see where the road takes us."
He eyes me, suspicious. "To clarify… this is a date?"
"Is that a question or a statement?" I smirk.
"It’s a question."
"It’s a hang, Brooks," I say, already stepping down the porch stairs. "Don’t make it weird."
"I’m disgustingandweird?" he calls after me, laughing. "You sure you want to go on an unplanned adventure with a gross, weird guy like me?"
"I guess we’ll find out tomorrow," I call back as I walk toward my car.
"You should pinch me!" he yells, startling a few birds out of a nearby tree. "Cause I must be dreaming!"
I shake my head, smiling to myself as I get in the car. The laughter echoes behind me, light and human in a world that’s felt too heavy for too long.
