Page 101 of Between Us

Before he can finish the question, my mom is walking around the other side of the island, toward Adrian.

“We have a guest with us tonight.”

“Oh?” Grady asks cautiously. And I don’t blame him. You never know what my meddling mother has up her sleeve.

“This is Adrian—Blake’s boyfriend and your dad’s employee.”

“Oh,” Adrian mutters as she forces the phone in front of his face. “Uh, hey, man.”

It’s the most awkward I’ve ever seen Adrian act—which does make me snicker a little—I’m sure this isn’t how he expected to meet my brother. It isn’t out of the question for it to be on a FaceTime call, but I don’t think anyone thought my mom would do the honor of introductions.

“Hey,” Grady greets, seeming to recover from the weirdness. He’s much more used to our mother. “Nice to kind of meet you.”

“Yeah, you too.”

“I’ll be right back to talk to you more. Can someone hand me to Blake for a second?”

Snatching my phone back, I tell Grady, “Sorry—”

Interrupting me instead, he adds to the moment by saying, “Boyfriend?” There’s surprise in his tone, but it’s mostly just happiness and even a bit of pride. There was definitely a fifty percent chance I was still going to chicken out of pursuing things with Adrian the last time I talked to him about it.

“Oh my God, you’re on speaker, you know.”

His smile is mischievous because he does, in fact, know that. “It’s adorable, kid.”

“Thanks, bye,” I tell him with a fake smile, and hand my phone back to my mom.

I can hear Grady’s laugh as she takes the phone and spends another fifteen minutes talking to him about God knows what. Before he hangs up though, I take the phone and Adrian to the couch.

The three of us sit and talk for a while—mostly about Stella, but a little about their college courses.

During a lull, Adrian tells him, “Blake’s thinking about sending in a late application for the fall.”

I wasn’t really planning on telling a lot of people until I figured out if I was starting in the fall or spring. So it’s not that I was hiding it from my brother, but we hardly talk anyway. There’s so much warmth and pride in Adrian’s voice, I’m not mad at him for doing the honors.

“Really?” Grady asks. He tries to sit up straighter, though Stella whines a little until he settles back again.

“Yeah,” I admit as my cheeks warm. “It all kind of came together after we got in trouble with Dad recently.”

“You?In trouble with Dad? Yeah, right.”

“No, he was pissed… then I was pissed.” I quickly fill him in on what happened and where we went wrong in trying to be helpful.

Grady blows out a breath as I finish. “Yeah, that wasn’t your best plan. But your heart was in the right place. Both of yours,” he adds with a nod in Adrian’s direction.

Nodding, I tell him, “It was. Dad knows that even though it was still wrong. Because of that, and with Adrian’s help”—I glance up at him quickly—“I’ve realized I want to create something that allows me to help in a way that’s ethical and beneficial.”

“That sounds amazing, Blake.” He smiles gently at me, and I remember the night I told Grady I didn’t want to go to college yet.

He was in town on a break, and my parents didn’t know yet. He was the one who convinced me they’d understand—which they did, with some conditions, like working at the clinic, and continuing therapy. But he also told me he wasn’t worried. He knew I’d figure it out when the time was right for me, and when I did, ‘it would beamazing.’

With more gusto, I tell him everything. “I don’t know if it’s too late to get into UCAH for the fall. So, that’s why I hadn’t mentioned it. I’m thinking I want to major in nonprofit management, with a minor in business administration. It seems to make the most sense?”

It ends with a question, and I glance between Grady and Adrian.

Adrian wryly shakes his head, not saying anything. We’ve talked about this a lot, and he agrees it seems like the best route. Even so, I have an appointment with an advisor in January to make sure.

“Sounds like a great plan to me,” Grady confirms. He assesses me for a moment, seeming to take in all the small differences from the last time we saw each other. “It actually seems like the most perfect career I could think of for you.”

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