Page 74 of Back to You

“It’s too soon,” Brandon said. “I just have no interest in that right now. I think it’ll be a while.”

“Yeah, me too. I have to get my life in order.”

“I’m proud of you, for what it’s worth.”

“It’s worth a lot. Thanks,” Ethan said.

They heard a knock on the kitchen door. Brandon looked puzzled.

“Come in?”

Marcus stuck his head tentatively around the door. “Alright in here?”

“Yeah, we’re good,” Brandon said, looking at Ethan for affirmation.

“We’re good,” Ethan said, smiling at Brandon.

***

“How was it?” Michelle said.

“It was good. He seems better,” Brandon said, taking a bite of his dinner.

“That’s good,” Steven said. “I still think of him as a friend. I hope that’s okay with you.”

“It’s fine. I hope to get to that point too, sometime.”

“Do you?” Michelle said skeptically.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re still in love with him, B.”

“Yes, I am. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends someday.”

“Can you ever really be just friends with someone you’ve cared for like that? I don’t think I could do it. If, God forbid, Steven and I broke up, I don’t know if we could be friends.”

“Why are we breaking up in this hypothetical scenario?”

“Dad, what is hypothetical?” Riley piped up.

“It means pretend, baby.”

“Oh.” Bored by the adult conversation, the kids asked if they could go play.

“Yeah, but bathtime is in two hours,” Michelle said.

“Anyway, why are we pretend breaking up?”

“I don’t know, it was a hypothetical! I honestly can’t think of a reason we would break up. No cheating, because neither of us would do that. The deployments are hard, but I knew what I was getting into there, and I know it won’t be forever. There’s really no good reason for us to ever break up.”

Steven grinned and leaned over to kiss his wife. Brandon rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know if we could be friends, but we can at least be something close to it,” Brandon said.

Michelle still didn’t look convinced.

“I mean, what do you want me to say? That he still looks good? That him getting his shit together makes me love him more? That a big part of me regrets breaking up with him?”

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