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I took a little too long to answer the question.
“Sort of?”
I bit down on my lower lip, which was a tell of sorts. As my big brother, of course Tyler knew every tell I had.
“Justsayit, Dakota,” he reasoned. “We’re adults now. You don’t have to hide it from me.”
For a few seconds I didn’t do anything at all. Eventually though, I uncrossed my arms and let the tension go out of my shoulders.
“Fine.”
I took a deep breath, wondering what to tell him. Or rather, howmuchto tell him.
“Jace is moving to Colorado,” I said, matter of factly.
“I know,” said Tyler. “He’s headed for civilian life, too.”
“Yes,” I nodded. “His discharge is already scheduled. He’s co-building a house a little about an hour outside Denver. Starting over with a few military friends.”
I studied my brother’s face, assessing how much he knew or didn’t know. I decided to go for broke.
“Anyway, he asked me to come out there and help with the move-in. I’m leaving next week.”
Tyler’s expression was hard to read. It didn’t change, or register anything in the way of surprise or recognition.
“Cool,” was all he said.
“So I uhh, I figured I’d check the place out,” I went on. “I’ve never been to Colorado. It looks—”
“As cold as here but twice as amazing?”
I chuckled back at him. “Yeah.”
“And you and Jace can catch up,” he added.
My brother wasn’t stupid. I wasn’t going to start treating him that way now.
“Look, you obviously know Jace and I have been… talking.”
“Talking,” Tyler smirked. “Right.”
“Honestly I don’t know if there’s anything there,” I added quickly. “But if it turned out somethingwasthere, well, I guess I’d want you in the loop.”
My brother kicked back a good portion of his beer, enough to make his eyes water. When he stared back at me again, his expression still hadn’t changed.
“He’s really something, isn’t he?”
“Who, Jace?”
“Yeah.”
I had to admit that he was. In many more ways than Tyler knew.
“He’s a total badass now,” Tyler said with a proud grin. “Big. Strong. Super intelligent. Nothing like high school.”
My brother went on, staring off into space. I didn’t say a word.
“And if you knew evenhalfthe things he’s told me he’s done…”
