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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Brecken was confused when I asked him if he wanted to get something to eat.

“But I ate at Cord and Saylor’s.”

“You’re a teenage boy. I thought you might be hungry again. It’ll be lunch time soon.”

He gave me an odd look. “All right.”

Brecken didn’t want lunch. He wanted frozen yogurt yet again. I didn’t argue with him.

We went to the mall and sat on one of the benches at the far end where I knew there wouldn’t be a lot of noise. That’s when I told him about Tristan. He was upset. He kept asking if he could call Tristan, if he could go down there and see him. I told him that all we could do was wait and hope that our brother would be in touch.

Brecken made a face like he’d just taken a bite of something sour. It was the face he made when he was trying not to cry. “Did you tell Tristan that I wanted him to come back?”

“Yes.”

“And he doesn’t give a fuck?”

I thought it was a good time to let bad language slide. “I don’t think it’s that,” I said gently. “He’s mixed up right now, Beck.”

He was angry. “Like Mom, right? She’s mixed up too, huh? Yeah, she’s totally mixed up. Running around the world as a fugitive and forgetting she even has any kids.”

Defending my mother was harder. “I don’t think she’s forgotten you.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” he sniffed. Then he gazed at me with curiosity. “Why are you still here, Curtis? You were gone for so long and even after you came back when Mom was arrested I didn’t expect that you’d stick around. So why did you?”

“Because walking away from my family, from you guys, was the worst mistake I ever made. And I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it.”

Brecken’s face softened. “I think you’re doing a good job,” he said. “You’re a good brother.”

“Trying to be.”

Brecken stirred his frozen yogurt with the plastic spoon but he didn’t take another bite. After a moment he just tossed it into a garbage can.

“So that’s the reason for this little field trip?” he asked. “So you could tell me about Tristan?”

“Mostly.”

“What’s the rest of it?”

I mulled over what to say next. I wasn’t sure how Brecken would feel about my new relationship with Cassie. It always seemed to me that he lit up whenever she was around so it might be kind of tough for him to get used to.

“Does this have anything to do with Cassie?” he asked.

“It does.”

He nodded. “So you guys were together last night, huh?”

I was surprised. “How’d you know? Did she say something to you already?”

He threw me a withering look. “Do you really think I’m too lame to figure out what’s going on when she comes waltzing through the front door this morning with her hair a mess and wearing your clothes?”

“Oh.” I couldn’t quite stop myself from grinning.

“Plus you keep doing that,” Brecken said.

“Doing what?”

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