I shook my head. “Probably not.”
I’d said it without even really thinking about it, but that made me realize just how fast things were really going to change around here. In the space of a single afternoon, it felt like my life had already split into thebeforeandafter.
“I should look into putting my property on the market,” I said quietly, more to myself than to him. “I just bought it, but it probably makes more sense to move back into Dad’s house for now.”
My voice wobbled as reality fully started sinking in. I couldn’t pretend things were going to stay the same. The world had kept turning when we’d gotten the news and it was stubbornly going to keep doing it, just spinning and spinning no matter how much it hurt, and that meant the doctor had been right.
We needed to start making long-term plans. For Dad. For his care and all those other little bullshit things a life boiled down to when it neared the end.
The tears finally started threatening to spill over and I ducked my head, stepping away from the counter and already turning away from him. “I should go finish dinner. See you around, Theo.”
There was no way I was crying in front of this guy. In front of anyone, really. And I was going to cry. Soon.
All I needed was to make it outside before the inevitable breakdown happened.
CHAPTER 13
THEO
Doing odd jobs at the motel was strangely satisfying. I could get up on a ladder and change the bulb of a light that’d been flickering for years, and voila. There was no more flickering light.
As I wiped my hands on the ruined rag hanging from my back pocket, my phone buzzed with an incoming video call from Colin Thayer. Originally, he’d been Zach’s friend, but after our oldest brother had married Colin’s sister, he’d become more of a family friend.
We were all close to him, but unfortunately, that included Alex, and since he was Alex’s brother-in-law, I wasn’t blind to the fact that Colin’s loyalties probably lay more with him. But he was still a friend and that meant I had a shot at getting through to him if this was, in fact, an Alex-mandated call.
As I swiped across the screen, his smiling face appeared, but it dropped as soon as he saw me. “Fuck, Theo. Are you homeless right now?”
“No.” I scoffed. “I’m just trying a different look. It’s called,not going to the barber like clockwork every month.”
“You’ve got paint in your hair.”
“That’s part of the look. It’s a fashion out here. I’m trendy.”
Colin groaned. “I heard rumors you were on the run, but I wasn’t sure I believed them until right now.”
Behind him, I could see the familiar, sleek lines of the Thayer Steelworks executive lobby. Their building was terrifyingly expensive real estate, one of the beacons of corporate civilization in Chicago, and just around the block from Westwood and Sons.
That whole area was my former habitat, my old stomping grounds, and seeing it through a screen was weirder than I’d expected, but it also reminded me why I wasn’t there right now. It looked so clinical compared to the rusty, dusty motel with the sun beating down on my shoulders and the warm breeze ruffling my hair.
“I’m not on the run,” I said. “I’m just not ready to come home yet.”
“Yeah, I get it, man. I really do. You’re the last brother standing. It must feel like you’re being hunted.”
“Iambeing hunted.”
He chuckled. “Actually, I think Alex has been showing remarkable restraint. According to Jane, he wants you married by spring, so the fact that he hasn’t physically dragged you back by your toenails to get it done is a miracle.”
“Spring?” I felt my entire face contort. “That’s so fucking soon. I knew he was eager. I just didn’t realize he was also insane.”
“By your brother’s standards, spring is a gift.”
“Yeah.” I stared out at the parking lot, watching a kid riding a bike in circles near the ice machine. “I know he would’ve preferred it sooner, but I like it here.”
Life in Arizona was like being in a different world. In a good way. Well, mostly good. Clyde’s diagnosis had hit me like a freight train. I was genuinely worried about him and devastated for Avery and Raquel.
“I think Alex genuinely believes you’ll become feral if he leaves you out there for too long,” Colin said.
“That’s already happened.”
