Page 27 of Sincerely, Mr. Braden

“Absolutely. It took years for her to learn to live again, but now she’s engaged to a great guy, Wells Silver. Vic needs me less these days, which means she’s truly happy, although now she’s trying to couple off everyone else.”

Ellie laughs. “Happiness breeds happiness.”

“So they say. I’m happy for them. My business partner in the restaurant industry, Jared Stone, and I partnered with Wells in a new endeavor. We’re opening a restaurant together in New York City in the spring.”

“That’s exciting.”

“It is. As for my relationship with the others, Clay is the most impatient of all of us. He wants things to happen immediately and rarely takes time to think them through.”

“That kind of makes sense,” she says. “As a quarterback, he had to think on his feet.”

“Exactly. When he calls, it’s all energy all the time, and I’m the guy who slows him down enough to figure out the minutiae. He’s a mover and shaker, mostly doing things for others these days, working with kids in sports and running a foundation that helps less fortunate families who have kids in sports make ends meet, and he is madly in love with his wife, Pepper.”

“From what I read, your whole family gives back. Your parents did something right, and it would stink if Clay weren’t madly in love with his wife. What about Flynn and Noah?”

“We’ve got a pretty typical relationship. Noah is several years younger than me, and over the years I’ve had to remind myself that he’s in a different stage of life than I am, but that’s to be expected. We’re still close. We touch base often, joke around and give each other hell, but he and Flynn also call when they need to figure things out. Noah’s got as much energy as Clay, but he’s not as impatient, and he and Flynn are both adventurous and analytical, which makes puzzling out things easier. Like me, they can’t stand to be confined.”

“Probably because of how you were raised, like modern-day Mowglis,” she says with a smile.

“Actually, for me and Flynn that makes sense, but Noah was only seven when we moved back to Ridgeport. He grew up in a more typical way than we did.”

The breeze picks up, sweeping her hair into her face. She gathers it over one shoulder and says, “Is that good or bad in your eyes?”

I have a feeling Ellie is as analytical as I am. “I don’t think it’s either, but I do think it made it easier for him to fit in and settle down when we moved back, while the rest of us were fish out of water for a while. Maybe we still are.”

“You all seem to have found your streams.” Her eyes light with a smile. “I can see how it might have been easier for Noah, but you said he’s adventurous. So maybe the three of you are equally jungle boyish.”

“Them more than me. They still go on real adventures. Flynn with Discovery Hour and Noah with his marine biology projects, while my biggest adventure these days is caving.”

Her eyes light up. “That sounds like a huge adventure. How’d you get into it?”

“When we were kids, we weren’t allowed to explore caves on our own, which made me want to learn why.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. Did you drive your parents crazy about it?”

“Probably, but my parents bought me books on caving, and my father taught me to rock climb when I was about ten, and after we moved back to Ridgeport, I signed up with a local grotto, which is a caving club, and my love grew from there.”

“And you call yourself a dork. What do you like about caving?”

“Everything. It doesn’t matter who you are aboveground. Caving strips it all down to the essentials. You can’t fake your way through a cave. Every step, every handhold matters. It forces you to be present and to learn patience and control, in a way daily life doesn’t. It’s grueling, and it taxes muscles you don’t realize you have, but at the same time, it’s one of the most peaceful experiences I’ve ever had. Almost meditative at times. And don’t get me started on the sights, which are spectacular, or I’ll bore you for hours.”

“You could never bore me,” she says softly. “It sounds incredible. Do you go caving with Flynn and Noah?”

“I do, when we can coordinate it. We’ve all got some of our grandfather in us.”

“Why? What’s he like?”

“He’s a handful. Probably a lot like your father. He’s a retired paleontologist and archaeologist who doesn’t understand what the word retired means. He’s no good at sitting still.”

“That does sound like my dad. I don’t think he’ll ever sit still.”

“In my grandfather’s case, it’s not such a bad thing. My grandfather would drive everyone, including himself, crazy if he didn’t have something to keep his mind busy. He’s on a dig in Alaska right now, and he’s constantly scheming his next adventure. My grandmother pretends to hate it, but she also says it’s half the reason she fell for him in the first place. We visited them on several digs over the years, and I can tell you their love is stronger than the tides.”

“They’re lucky,” she says a little wistfully.

“They are, but as with any partnership, I think it takes a lot of work. Especially with my grandfather.” I run my hand over her hip and give it a squeeze, “Did I answer your questions?”

She winces. “Am I asking too many?”