Page 115 of Happiness for Beginners

“Just some stuff.”

“Why did you ring the bell?”

“I lost my key.”

And here was a moment when, at any other time in our lives, I would have rolled my eyes and said, “Of course you did.” But this time, I didn’t. I just nodded, which felt like a sign of personal growth.

I stepped back to let him through.

He crossed the threshold and set the cooler down in the foyer with an “Oof!” and ducked back out to grab his duffel bag. Then he turned and made his face bright and cheery. “Hey, Sis!” he said, next, pulling me into a hug. “How was the wilderness?”

“Good,” I said, nodding.

“Did you see any bears?”

“Not really.”

“Were you almost killed?”

“Several times.”

“Did Jake get you to fall in love with him?”

“Hell, no.”

I looked him over, in his cargo pants and baggy T-shirt. I chose not to wonder how long it had been since those clothes had been washed. I chose not to fixate on the fact that he’d just dropped all his stuff in GiGi’s entryway as if the servants would be along any moment to pick up after him. Instead, I said, “It’s good to see you.”

“It is?”

“I thought about you a lot on the trip,” I said.

“You did?”

“How are you doing about Florida?”

He frowned for a second, until he figured out that Jake must have told me about her. “I’m okay,” he said. “I’ve been stalking her just the tiniest bit at the restaurant where she works. But not in a creepy way. Just in a sad way.”

I could have said,Is there a difference?But I didn’t.

“She was way out of my league.”

“That’s what Jake said.”

“How is Jake?” Duncan asked then, brightening at the prospect of a better topic.

“I think he’s good,” I said, as if the subject didn’t interest me much. “He went to Colorado with a really cute girl.”

Jake frowned. “That’s weird.”

“Why?”

“Jake doesn’t like cute girls. He likes you.”

“Thanks.”

“He’s always been that way. It’s like an affliction.”

“Well,” I said. “Now he’s cured.”

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