“Sorry. That was stupid.” I reached out to touch him, but he jumped up from his chair and moved away from me. “Jake? I’msorry.”
He shifted uneasily, keeping his gaze to thefloor.
“Forget I said anything.Please.”
“If you must know,” he said, his voice a quiet rumbling, “the therapist went places I didn’t wanttogo.”
“You’re there to talk about the kidnapping. I would think most places are places you don’t wanttogo.”
“Yeah, well, some places are worse than others,” he acknowledged, not meeting my eyes. “I can only be pushed so far, Emma, and youknowit.”
“But isn’t that the purpose of therapy? If you’re only going to talk about things you’re comfortable with, how much progress will youactuallymake?”
“You’re talking about things you don’t understand.” He grimaced, catching my eye. “Did Casey ask you to have this conversationwithme?”
Casey asked me a lot more than that, buddy. You might be interested to know that she was also snooping into your most private thoughts and digging into things you definitely don’t want dug up.Of course, I kept those thoughts to myself. No way was I going to tangle myself up in their relationship. But I could and would answer his question, even if it was with a non-committal shrug of myshoulders.
“Nice. Is she going around soliciting advice from all myrelativesnow?”
“I think it was just me. She’s really worriedaboutyou.”
My brother paused, ran his fingers through his hair, exhaled, and then did it all again. I wasn’t sure if he was hyperventilating or trying to get his facts straight. Either way, I understood that the reasoning behind his exit from therapy ran deep, and a casual conversation like this would notrevealwhy.
“You need to talk to her. She loves you, Jake, and would never judge you for things that were out of yourcontrol.”
“If I could have that discussion, don’t you think Iwould?”
“Hence the need fortherapy.”
“I’ve managed fine without it all these years, and I’ll do thesamenow.”
“And when baby makes three…whatthen?”
Jake paused, obviously not expecting me to go there. Cursing under his breath, he said, “Just because you got something out of me once doesn’t make you my confidant, Emma.Backoff!”
The warning in his words was fierce enough that it stopped the conversation dead. Both of us stood there awkwardly for a moment, and I wracked my brain for something to turn this conversation around. All I had to offer up was my apology…andFinn.
“I’m sorry. I should never have broughtitup.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. Dammit, Emma. I have those people out there waiting for me, and now you have me allworkedup.”
“That was dumb of me. I’m so sorry. How about this: you can ask one question about Finn to ease yourstress.”
It took a full thirty seconds for him to accept my offer, but once the lopsided smile formed on his face, I knew I’d beenforgiven.
“Did you have sex with the wall-scaling, stuntmanhitchhiker?”
“Jake,” I laughed, smacking him in the arm. “That’spersonal.”
“Yeah, like my shit’s not? Besides, you saidanything, and if you don’t come clean, then I won’t forgive you for ruiningmyday.”
“Okay, fine.Sortof.”
“Sortof?”
Our eyes met, and his widened insurprise.
“What? Youasked.”
