Page 53 of Holding On

"Well, you need to start paying attention. Girls are always checking you out."

He chuckles. "Yeah, right."

"I'm not joking." I take a can of pop from the fridge and turn to Mike. "You're my brother so it's weird to say this but you're a good-looking guy. You're tall. You have muscles. Blue eyes. You still have your hair."

"I'm only 26. I would hope I wouldn't be bald yet."

"A lot of guys your age are bald, or at least have a receding hairline. But you still have a full head of hair."

"And a missing leg."

I shrug. "Big deal. Girls don't care about that."

"Some do," he mumbles, referring to Tricia.

"Then they're not worth your time. Heather doesn't care about your leg."

"No, but she asked about it."

"What'd she want to know?"

"If I was okay after...you know...what happened over there."

"So she was less interested in the fact that you have a prosthetic leg and more interested in you and how you're doing."

"Yeah."

"Mike, that's great." I sit at the table with him. "That's the kind of girl you need to be with."

He nods. "You're right. I need to move on. I need to stop thinking Tricia's coming back."

Finally. It's taken six months for him to finally admit that.

Sometimes it just takes one person to come into your life and make a difference. A change for the better.

I feel like I'm that person for Ethan. Maybe I'm not, but I hope I am.

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