AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He motions toward Will with his beer bottle. The one he brought for his brother waits in the cupholder of the beach chair. “He never does that.”
“Never does what?”
“He never…” Sinclair pauses, considering. “Plays.”
I look again, and as I watch, Will bursts out laughing. It’s a true shock, because a broad grin I’ve never seen lights his face. It’s heart-stopping. Mia shrieks, and he laughs again, pushing more sand over her legs. I don’t know whether I’m happier than I’ve ever been or more heartbroken.
“You mean now that he’s an adult?”
Sinclair glances at me. “I mean, in as long as I’ve known him, I can remember…” He tips his head back and looks at the sky. “I can remember him playing nine times. I think this makes ten.”
My lungs feel tight. The chance to ask Sinclair anything might not come around again any time soon. It feels almost too personal to broach the topic, but he spoke first, so… “Is that because your mom died?”
He takes a deep breath. “I don’t know. Could have been our dad. Could have been how hard things were. He always missed her, though. Pretended not to.”
“Will said he doesn’t remember her. You don’t—obviously, you don’t have to tell me anything, but I wondered what she was like.”
“I don’t mind talking.” Sinclair thinks for a minute. “She was frustrated,” he says, finally. “Everything was tough for her. She loved us, but I don’t think she ever had anything break her way. She thought people were being difficult on purpose, and it was just too much for her, in the end.”
“Is that why she left?”
He looks me in the eye. “I’m surprised Will told you about it.”
“I…kind of made him.”
“Like he kind of blackmailed you?” My mouth drops open, and Sinclair laughs. “He told me. He likes you. I just meant, I’m surprised he was willing to admit he likes you enough to tell you about Mom.”
“He didn’t say he liked me that much. He said he cared.”
Sinclair whistles. “Has he proposed?”
I know it’s a joke, but I can’t force a laugh. I try for a smile instead.
“Shit, Bristol. I’m sorry.”
“No, I just—” I open my beer and take a long drink. “I’m trying to understand him, but when I get close, he—”
“Pushes you away again.”
“Yeah. And I don’t get it, because he seems like he caressomuch. About you and Emerson, and…and everything.”
“I was the one who fucked that up.”
“Which thing?”
A frown crosses Sinclair’s face. “Lots of things. But I did a shitty job of explaining that Emerson’s reaction to—” He waves his beer in the air. “—childhood in general wasn’t Will’s fault.”
“He said things were pretty hard. And that Emerson stayed inside for a year after you moved away from home.”
“Yeah. That was rough.”
“Will also said something about fifteen blocks taking even longer.”
“That was me, too.” Sin drinks his beer. “Em would have stayed in that apartment for the rest of his life, but it wasn’t any way to live. We brokered a deal about going outside.”
“What was it?”
“That I’d go with him every time until he could do it by himself.”
