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“The same could be true of anyone on earth, Nick. When the Guides come, they come. We keep doing what we’ve always done. Not revealing our true abilities. ”
Nick didn’t say anything to that. There was a warning there.
Michael studied him for a long minute. “Stay here. I want to show you something.”
He wasn’t gone long. When he returned, he had a beat-up white Teflon envelope stuffed with papers. He tossed it on the table in front of Nick.
Nick glanced at it, then back up at Michael.
“Go ahead. Open it.”
Nick slid the contents out of the envelope. The papers were wrinkly and a little worn. On top was a college letter addressed to Michael. From five years ago.
Welcoming him to LSU.
Nick read the next line and snapped his head up. “They offered you a baseball scholarship.”
Michael shrugged. “I had two offers, actually. Money from a lot of other places, too. The letters are all in there.”
“But why didn’t you . . . why . . .” He didn’t even know how to finish that sentence.
He knew why.
He met Michael’s eyes. “Does anyone else know?”
“Nope.”
“I won’t tell.”
“It’s not a secret, Nick.” Michael paused. “Mom and Dad knew. I’m surprised they didn’t have banners made. You’d have thought I won the lottery or something. But when they died, there wasn’t any question of what I needed to do.”
Nick’s throat felt tight. He couldn’t meet his brother’s eyes.
Michael put a hand on his arm. “Stop. Look, I didn’t show you this to make you feel bad, Nick. I could never have gone off to school and left you guys. This isn’t a guilt trip.”
Nick nodded. But he felt the guilt all the same.
“You’re a smart kid, and you work your ass off.” Michael squeezed his arm. “Mom and Dad wouldn’t have wanted you to throw away an opportunity. They would have been proud of you, too.”
Nick made a sound that was half laugh, half sob. “Would they have been proud of all of it?”
“Yeah, Nick.” No hesitation. “They would have been proud of everything you are.”
Nick swiped at his eyes and looked back at Michael’s letters.
“Do you regret it?”
“Regret? No. Do I think about what ifs?” He shrugged again, then smiled a little ruefully. “Yes. Every spring when I watch Chris play.”
“What are you going to do with the business, though? If Gabriel and Hunter are going to take the EMT course, and—”
“Nick, it’s fine. I’ll hire some people.”
He dropped the words so simply that Nick felt like an idiot for not even thinking about it. “You’ll—wait. What? You can do that?”
Michael leaned back in his chair. “Sure. I’d probably like it. I could do a job with someone who won’t give me a load of crap at the dinner table or sneak out of the house.”
Nick studied him. “You sound like you’ve been thinking about that for a while.”
