“Just a little bit. I wanted you to stick around and hang with the family. We're getting a lot of visitors that we don't often see.”

“I'll certainly consider that as reasons why I should leave faster.”

She cackled. “You're the worst.”

“But I'm your brother.”

“Yeah, I guess I have to deal with that, don't I?”

She sighed as she sat down on my bed, holding the coffee pot away from her.

I hummed thoughtfully. “Are you off today?”

“No, I took an evening shift at the shop.”

“That should be fun.”

“If worrying about the wedding while I'm serving other people coffee is your idea of fun, then I'll be having loads of it.”

“Why are you worried?”

She shrugged. “I guess I just have the bride jitters.”

“I feel like that's pretty normal.”

“Well, that's mostly comforting.”

I smiled. “Hey, it's going to be amazing. Ryan is a good guy. You did a good job picking him to be your husband.”

She returned the smile. “You're probably right about that.”

“Well, I should get back to the old warden here before he wonders why I haven't emailed him yet.”

She laughed. “Alright, Levon. Don't be a stranger. At least take a break around lunch.”

“Of course.”

When she left, I released a loud sigh.

Almost got caught, I thought nervously.I mean, it's no secret that I still love Clara. I just don't want my sister having too much ammo to tease me.

I flipped around to face my laptop again and opened the folder. I opened the first picture and scrolled slowly, smiling while staring at Clara's youthful face. She was such a gorgeous girl back then and she was even more gorgeous now.

We looked so happy. I clicked through a few more high school photos, chuckling to myself when I reached the one with us holding up pies.That was from the math festival. We recited so many digits of pi that they gave us two pieces.

The next picture was Clara and I shoving the pies in each other's faces. I laughed audibly and shook my head, wiping away a tear that had sneaked out of my left eye. I scrolled to another photo of us standing on the mound of the baseball field at our high school. I was holding up a trophy I had won that year.

I smiled wider.

She came to every single one of my games, even when she had to study. She was dedicated to me. And I was so deeply in love with her.

Another photo appeared of us sitting on the back of my old truck. We had the bed of the truck lined with pillows and blankets.

“We looked at the stars that night. I told her I loved her.”

I shook my head, scrolling through the collection on my computer. Each photo jumped from year to year. And every year, Clara looked a little less happy. The ones after college seemed be the worst of them. Her dazzling grin where she showed off her teeth had faded into a meek smile with her lips sealed shut.

It was like she was trying to hold in a scream.Worry lines appeared on my forehead as I noticed her demeanor sink with each passing picture.That was about the time I started working for this company. That was when I traveled a lot.