Page 46 of Came the Closest

That should wipe the grin right off his face. It doesn’t. He lowers his menu and turns his phone to face me, thumb pressed down on the screen.

“I wasn’t smiling at shrimp scampi.” Ah, there’s the brother I know and love. He glances at the screen and shakes his head, eyes crinkling. “Ember sent me this reel. You probably won’t get it since you haven’t picked a book up since—”

“I read Ember’s before it was published, thank you very much.”

“—high school,” he continues. “But it’s hilarious.”

He lifts his thumb to let the video play. I don’t look at it. My gaze is locked on my brother’s face, on the smile I have never seen him smile. I feel like I’ve missed an entire chunk of his life—the one where he went from quiet and brooding to this. To being in love and trying to communicate more openly and planning his wedding.

“You’re laughing because your fiancée sent you a reel about books,” I say evenly. “Graham, you never watched all the funny ones I sent you.”

This gets his attention. He sets his phone face down on the table and frowns. “What are you talking about? I watched every single one you sent.”

“You did.” It should be a question, but it doesn’t come out that way.

“I did,” he confirms, and he reaches for his menu. “What are you going to order?”

I blink. I stare at him for a minute longer, and then look at my own menu. It’s unnecessary; I know I’m going to order the Prime Rib Panini. I need a minute to digest this complete personality change in my little brother. To comprehend that he did see what I sent him because I wanted to make him laugh. He just never mentioned it.

And then it hits me.

Graham seems suddenly different, but it’s not because he changed overnight. It’s because I haven’t been here.

My shirt collar feels constrictive, and I resist pulling at it. It’s hot, but the breeze off the lake keeps it comfortable temperature wise.

My discomfort is because my world is shifting on its axis. It’s from wondering how much I’ve misunderstood over the years. How many opportunities have I missed just because I haven’t been around? Lunch with Graham, hiking with Jordan, tea parties with Jolene.

It chills me. I’ve become just like my mother.

Our waiter comes by to take our order, and then I don’t have my menu to hide behind anymore. I could pull my phone out, I guess, but I’m not that kind of guy. If I’m going to sit down with someone, it won’t be with a phone between us. Even if it would be significantly easier than talking after my realizations.

“Before I forget,” Graham says, reaching into the pocket of his gray suit jacket, “Ember asked me to ask you to give this to Cheyenne.”

He slides a pale pink envelope with Cheyenne written on it across the table to me. It’s sealed with a tiny magenta wax seal that has a tiny heart in the center. Definitely Ember’s handiwork.

I look at him questioningly.

“Why are you looking at me?” He spritzes fresh lemon into the mouth of his glass—water, extra ice, one slice of lemon. “I’m just the messenger. Well, I was. Now you are.”

“You actually don’t know what’s in here?”

“My best guess? An invite to her bachelorette. She gave one to Syd and Indi too.” He shrugs and leans back in his chair. “Otherwise, I have no idea. Why? Do you want one too?”

I roll my eyes and tuck the envelope under my phone. “I’ll make sure she gets it.”

“So.” Graham clears his throat. He drops his Oakleys over his eyes and taps his thumb against his perspiring glass. “You probably guessed that I didn’t invite you to lunch today just to give you that.”

“I probably did.” I lightly knock my knuckles against my temple. “Big brain bucket in here.”

“Well. That’s debatable.”

I toss a crumpled up straw wrapper at him.

A chuckle rumbles in his chest. He grabs the wrapper and folds it between his thumb and forefinger. “The real reason I asked you to meet is because I have a job offer for you.”

I don’t move. I don’t blink and I don’t swallow. I’m not even sure I breathe. Of anything he could’ve said—Pluto is a real planet again, pigs are flying, paper straws are banned—that is the very last thing I’d have ever expected.

But by the time my brain starts catching up, he’s talking again.

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