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“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because there wasn’t a reason to. No one wants to hear the poor single girl complaining about her life. Besides, you were so happy. There have been a lot of amazing things happening for you, and I didn’t want to be a damper.”
“Does Emma know?”
I sigh and shake my head. “No, she’d just try to set me up with anything that walks. I don’t want that kind of life.”
“She does? That doesn’t seem like the Emma I knew growing up.”
“Focus, Aiden,” I tell him. “Unless you wanna shoot your shot with her.”
He shakes his head. “No, but it doesn’t sound like she’s hurting for any action.”
“No, she’s not.”
“Why him?” he finally asks me.
I smile. “Is that what’s been bothering you? Is it that I chose one of your friends or the one that I chose? Which one would have been acceptable to you, Aiden? You warned me off all of them. And you threatened the hell out of them. No one came near me in high school. Everyone thought you were going to pound the shit out of anyone who dared to touch me. I had to go to other schools if I wanted to date a boy. And even then, some of them were too afraid of dating me because of you.”
“I didn’t make life easy on your growing up, did I?”
I scoff. “That’s the understatement of the century. But you were my brother and I loved you for wanting to protect me. I love that you still want to do it, but we’re adults. It’s not like I’m still that little teenage girl who needs protecting.”
“I’m always going to try to protect you. That’s something that will never go away. I’m your big brother.”
“Only by a few minutes,” I say, shaking my head.
“Derek is like a brother to me, too, and I never thought he’d cross a line by dating you. He saw the way it bothered me when some of my friends mentioned you were hot or said they had a crush on you.” He cringes when he calls me hot, which makes me giggle.
“Seriously, though. Can’t we all just grow up and get over this high school shit?” I try to make light of the situation, but I can see it hasn’t quite worked.
“If anyone knows how I feel about people dating my sister, it’s him. He used to help me; you know. Derek would threaten them too. The guys were just as afraid of him as they were of me.”
“He did?” I smile. I should be as irritated with him as I am with Aiden, but there’s something cute about it.
“Yeah, he did.” Aiden rolls his eyes. “Of course, you would think that was cute. But when I do it, I’m being overbearing.”
“Aiden, I’m happy. Can’t you be happy for me?”
“I think I’d be happier if it wasn’t with him.”
“Can you try?” I give him the doe eyes that used to work on him when we were kids. “I’d love it if you talked to him. You’ll see he is serious about me.”
“You’re sure?”
I nod. I think so, but I don’t want to say that out loud.
“That nod is all I need to know. You would have answered me with words if you thought he was. Audrey, I know you better than you know yourself.”
I sigh again. He’s probably right. But still, I don’t want to admit my insecurities to my brother. He doesn’t want us dating, so of course he’s going to sabotage us.
“He chose me, though. He wouldn’t break up with me when Dale told him to,” I remind him. “Does that count for anything?”
“Have you heard from Mom lately?” Aiden asks me.
He abruptly changed the subject, but I don’t mind. Harping on things isn’t going to make it any better between us. I just hope he heard me, that he understands that I’m happy. It wasn’t easy admitting to Aiden that I was lonely before Derek. I thought that would count for something.
“No, I haven’t. Have you?”
