Page 72 of Can't Help Falling

Speechless, Tyler just sort of stared at his best friend. “I—Okay.”

Sebastian glanced back at the hallway where Matty was waiting.

“Okay, quick. Tell the truth, dude. Are you pining after Fin again, or what?”

Apparently now that the little pitchers with big ears had gone to get fancy water, the dad could ask whatever the hell he wanted to ask.

Tyler frowned. “I never pined after her.”

“You were tongue-tied around her for so long. Then you asked her out, got rejected and could barely even be in the same room after that.”

“That is not what happened.”

“Ty, you basically ghosted me and Matty because you were so torn up over her!”

Tyler stepped back from Sebastian. “You think I ghosted you?”

“Ty,” Seb said gently right before he took a shot. “You were barely answering my calls. I spent the first forty years of my life barely able to peel you away for a day or two and then suddenly I can’t even get you to text me back.”

“I—It wasn’t—That wasn’t because of Fin.” Tyler rebounded the ball and took his own shot, frowning at his best friend. “That wasn’t exclusively because of Fin. And I wasn’t torn up over her, exactly. More like, I was torn up over what she said to me.”

“What did she say? I mean, Via told me that the conversation was pretty harsh, but I never got the details, really.”

Tyler rebounded the ball again, not wanting to repeat it but also knowing it would be good for him. It was important that he remember exactly what she’d said to definitively end his crush on her.

“She basically told me I was a pathetic man-child who clung to you guys instead of growing up. That my proclivity toward the single life was abhorrent and that I was the last man on earth she would ever be interested in.”

“And you believed her,” Seb said flatly.

“For a while at least.” Ty paused.

“Ty,” Seb said, just staring at him. “I know she’s all mystical and clairvoyant and spooky, but you’re honestly telling me that it didn’t occur to you to tell her to shove her idiotic theory where the sun don’t shine? I mean, I love the woman, but she shouldn’t have spoken to you like that!”

“I hate to admit it, but a lot of what she said really stuck with me. Maybe it wasn’t all exactly right, but the truth is, if I hadn’t been quite so haunted by it, I might not have risen to the occasion with Kylie so much, you know?” He dribbled thoughtfully, putting the pieces together as he went. “I spent the summer trying to prove to myself that I wasn’t a hanger-on to your life and, yeah, it kind of made me want a life of my own. I didn’t think that would come in the form of guardianship over my little sister, but when it did...” He shrugged.

“When it did, you took the chance.” Seb was quiet, took a shot. He paced away and back, his hands on his hips. “I never thought that maybe your relationship with me and Matty was holding you back in some ways.”

“My relationship with you guys has been one of the brightest spots of my life.”

Sebastian grabbed the ball, dribbled it and then held it against his hip. He eyed Tyler. “But has it kept you from doing your own thing? I mean, I’m never going to complain about the years you helped me raise Matty. But I never really thought that maybe it was at your own expense.”

“Nah, come on, I wouldn’t change it.”

“But those were years you could have been starting your own family. And instead you were—”

“Seb, we both know that I don’t want my own family. Kylie is as close to my own kid as I’m ever going to want. And helping you and Matty during that time, moving home, didn’t keep me from growing up, it forced me to grow up. I’m a better person because of that. I don’t want Fin’s words to belittle one of my proudest accomplishments.”

“All right, all right,” Seb said, passing him the ball. “No need to get your panties in a twist.”

Tyler dribbled the ball for a minute. “What she said, it bothered me a lot. And, yeah, it killed my crush on her.”

Seb watched him for another long minute and then rushed to rebound the shot. “Fair enough.” He took a shot. “Want to come over for dinner tonight? Via’s making some stew thingy.”

Tyler laughed, letting some of the tension seep out of him. “As much as I love stew thingies, we’re gonna eat at home tonight. Kylie has some kid from her class coming over to work on a project.”

“Strawberry-kiwi for dad, peach for Uncle Ty and cherry for me.”

Matty came running up victoriously, almost bobbling the three plastic water bottles in his arms.

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