Page 109 of But For You

Sam groaned and let his head roll back and hit the booth. Dane went face-first into the palm of his hand.

“What’s a quickie?” Hannah wanted to know because she had scary bat ears, and she turned to look at her uncle in anticipation of an answer.

The waitress, who appeared then, and the hostess started giggling. Aja choked, and I told Hannah that a quickie was going through the drive-through.

She looked confused, and her brother told her she’d understand when she was older. He looked very pleased with himself.

After brunch, after clothes and a backpack and the diaper bag got switched out, Dane told Sam how good it was to have him back and that he would expect to see him the following day in his office. Sam nodded, and then they were gone.

“What are you meeting Dane about?” I asked as we walked back to our van.

“Oh, you know perfectly well what.”

I had no idea, and then it blinked into my head. “Oh, the house.”

“Yeah, the house,” he grumbled. “I should know better than to ask him to keep a secret from you.”

“Yes, you should,” I said pointedly. “And so?”

He wrapped his arms around Kola’s legs, as my son was sitting on his shoulders, and I was carrying Hannah because her stomach hurt. “So, what do you think?”

“I think I love that house, but I don’t know if we can afford it.” I needed to be honest.

“You’ve always loved it.”

Yes, I had.

The large two-story Queen Anne, located in one of Oak Park’s historic districts, was bigger than the house we were in now. It had close to 3,500 square feet of living space, a big attic, high ceilings, and an enclosed back deck, as well as a patio, hardwood floors, and a completely renovated basement. When I had first seen it, years ago when Dane and Aja moved in after they were married, I had been sick with jealousy. Of course, because it was my brother, I got over it, but when they moved … the desire had kicked in all over again. The fact that Sam and I were so in sync that he wanted it too—for me, for him, for the kids—made me deliriously happy. And I knew Dane was basically selling it for a quarter of what it was worth, for a quarter of what he had paid, but I also knew, to him, that wasn’t the point.

“I’ve never seen you like this about something,” I said to Sam.

“I’ve never wanted anything for you guys like this.”

“You’ve been thinking about this for a while, huh?”

“Yeah, and I think we can swing it. The mortgage will be more than we’re paying now, but not by that much, not by, like, another grand. And the house is bigger, and it’s in a better neighborhood, and the schools are good, and most importantly, your brother is giving us a deal.”

I turned so I could see his eyes.

“I finally get that Dane really does say exactly what he means.”

“It took you this long?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but now I know if he says he wants me to have the house for you and the kids because he appreciates me taking care of you all—even though it’s not his place to reward me for doing something I love, for doing something that’s part of my nature—I get it.”

“An epiphany. I think I’m getting all verklempt.”

“I am trying to have a serious conversation with you.”

“Yes, dear.”

He draped an arm around my shoulders and hauled me close, and it was nice, the four of us together, my family.

“So, you were saying?”

“I want us to move. I want the house.”

“Okay.” I breathed in, leaning on him. “I do too. I’ve always loved that house. I was sick when they moved out of it.”