“Has she, uh, said anything to you? About me?”
“Like?”
I shrug, going for nonchalance. “I don’t know, I just feel like something’s been on her mind for a while, but I don’t know what’s bothering her.”
I see it. Maybe someone who didn’t know my sister well would have missed it, but I see it. A flash of understanding and maybe even a little guilt. She knows something.
“Tell me,” I demand, standing straight.
Her shoulders slump. “I don’t know anything, Harry.” She’s as convincing as Oscar telling us he definitely didn’t steal an extra doughnut from the kitchen when he has jam smeared all over his cheeks.
“Nel,” I warn. “Tell me. If I’ve done something to piss Lisa off, I need to know what it is so I can fix it.”
Her head tilts and her lips tip down in a sympathetic smile. “Harry,” she says softly. “I’m sure you’ve not done anything to upset Lisa.”
I drag my fingers through my hair. “But you knowsomething? I’m just worried I’m going to make things exponentially worse if I ask her.”
She frowns at me. “Why would you think that?”
I look at her wide eyed in a way as if to say,come on, you know why. She only shakes her head. “I thought you and I had a good relationship for twenty-eight years before you told me I’d basically been bullying you your whole life.”
She snorts like a pig, throwing her head back and laughing out loud. “Oh, Harry.”
“What? Why’s that funny? It’s given me PTSD, Nel!”
She laughs some more. “Big brother, we did have a good relationship, wedohave one. You can’t let mistakes you’ve made between us affect your relationship with Lisa. You two are perfect together, I’ve never seen two people with such a good…vibe. You and I established a dynamic when we were both dumb kids, you being a cocky little shit—” I glare at her, and she smirks but continues “—me being a weak little pushover.”
“You weren’t—”
She holds up a hand to stop me. “But the point is, when we both grew up and actually sat down and talked about it, we built new dynamics, a new relationship, and we’re good, Harry. We’re so good right now.”
I kind of want to hug her. So, I do. Of course, it can’t be too sentimental, so I squeeze just that little bit too tight and hold her head to my chest so her cheek is squidged and she can’t escape. “Love you, kid.”
“Love you too,” she mumbles, her voice muffled by my embrace. When I let her go, she bats me away and straightens out her perfectly straight hair. “Listen, if anything, you should take what happened last year as a sign that you can fix anything by just having an open conversation. Talk to your wife.”
I roll my eyes. “God, you sound just like Jake.”
That makes her smile. “Lisa and I spoke a little while back and something was mentioned that might be what you’re picking up on, but it was nothing you’ve done. But if you want my honest opinion, you’d be doing both of you a favour by talking about it.”
I sigh in resignation. “Yeah, okay.”
There’s a moment of silence where we both just kind of look at each other and then I bring up the other thing I wanted to say.
“Hey, you okay? You know, after Cami’s little mother of the bride speech.”
She smiles sadly and nods. “Yeah, just caught me off guard.” She holds her hand out to look at the diamond Jake gave her. “This only happened a day ago and I haven’t really thought about an actual wedding or how hard it’s going to be to do it all without Mum and Dad.”
I nod slowly, unsure what to say. My wedding was a grand affair. I was allowed to be involved in the organising, but between my hyper organised wife and her efficient to the nth degree mother, I really didn’t have to do anything. I have no idea what Nel will be facing.
I think of my mum, not the wasting away version of her we lost eighteen months ago but the full of life and excitable woman who would be ecstatic that Nel and Jake found each other and that he was joining the family officially. My dad would probably give Jake the obligatory lecture on the importance of keeping Nel happy in life and that if he failed to do so, he’d have Dad and myself to deal with, but then he’d probably cry and pull Jake into a big hug. I smile at the thought and an unwelcome burn starts at the back of my eyes.
“They’d be so proud of you, you know?” I rasp, tears closing my throat up.
Nel looks up at me with a wobble in her chin and her own glazed eyes.
“I mean, theywereproud of you. But they’d be even more so seeing how you’ve built yourself, your business, how you’ve found love.I’mproud of you, Nels-Bells.” There’s no point in fighting the tears as they fall, one look at Nel and I’m sobbing.
“Fuck.” I wipe my palm down my face. “They really loved him too.”
