“Why would I get a new job?”
“I don’t know, maybe because you hate it?”
“I don’thateit.”
“Doesn’t seem like you like it.”
“It’s…” I waved a hand around, looking for the right word. “Fine.”
Blake snorted. “You could literally do anything, Sul.”
“Literally,” Noah agreed, and I frowned, caught off guard by this weird intervention my brothers were tag-teaming. “You’re like the smartest fucking person I know. Why are you staying in a job you only tolerate?”
“First of all, it’s a good, nicely paying job,” I said, feeling a bit defensive. “Second of all, I amnotthe smartest person you know. Are you forgetting who the rest of your siblings are?” I jabbed a thumb at the cardiologist next to him. “Or that my girlfriend, your friend, went to fucking MIT? Or that I almost failedmanyclasses in my academic career?”
“You didn’t almost fail them; they almost failed you,” Noah said. “They just didn’t accommodate the way your brain worked.”
“Also, you definitely could have gone to MIT, too, but you were scared of Ellie,” Blake muttered.
“Oh, shut up,” I grunted, but Blake was unapologetic because we all knew it was the truth. “Sometimes I wish I’d followed her.”
I’d never acknowledged that thought before, certainly not aloud, but I’d thought it many times. I’d hidden that desire so deep in my brain because Blake was right: I’d been terrified. What if she’d left because she really hadn’t wanted me? What if I wasn’t good enough for her and the dreams she wanted to chase? What if she’d wanted more, and I couldn’t give it to her?
I should have chased her, but I’d been so hurt and broken by her leaving that my brain reinforced the idea that I’d deserved it. That there was a reason she’d left me behind. And there was nothing that could be done about that reason.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement. Ellie stood, wandering away from the girls, across the deck and down to the lawn.
And I decided to do what I should have done all along—follow her.
I wasn’t the only one, though.
Ellie walked to the edge of the lake before making her way to the end of the wooden dock, which jutted over the smooth water, and not long after I reached her, I felt the bounce of the boards beneath my feet, meaning we weren’t alone.
How annoying.
Probably my brothers, wanting to continue to ride my ass about shit.
Reminding myself that I’d get Eleanor to myself again soon, I turned to see who it was.
And it was…everyone.
Of course it was everyone.
Chloe, who had somehow weaseled out of her bedtime, ran down the dock first, followed by Natalie and Cameron. Behind them, I saw the rest of my siblings and their partners trailing after. Blake and Delaney carried a pile of blankets, and Theo looked like he had snacks in his hand.
“Okay, Champ,” Cameron said to Chloe when she was busy twirling in place at the end of the dock. “Pick the best stargazing spot before someone else takes it.”
That got Chloe’s attention, and she flopped herself—a little too hard, actually—onto the deck, dangling her feet over the edge and looking up at the sky.
“Dad!” Natalie called, and I glanced to see him leaving his post by the campfire in the yard. “Chloe wants to hear your stories.”
“Ah,” he chuckled, his voice carrying across the still lake. “I bet Theo knows all of them by now.”
“Doesn’t mean I want to recite them,” Theo laughed, and my dad shook his head, wandering through the limbs and bodies, which were now sprawled out on the dock just like Chloe. His walk was slow and careful, but he made it to the end, just behind me and Ellie, sitting on the bench there.
Unprompted, Blake threw me a blanket, and somehow, I caught it before it flew over my shoulder and into the lake. I watched as he lay down on the wooden slats next to Delaney, andthen I followed suit, dropping onto the dock beside Ellie, who had already flopped back to stare up at the sky.
“Hi, Eleanor,” I whispered, and her grin was blinding when she turned it on me.
