Page 27 of The Cowboy's Second Chance
“Hey, where have you been, anyway?” Derrick asked, and Craig shot him a bright, wide smile, rubbing at the back of his own neck suddenly as though he were slightly embarrassed.
“I haven’t really known what to do with myself around here. You know, what with Dad being sick and everything. I don’t really want to sign up for another tour, not if I might be needed. So I’ve been looking at schools in the area.”
Derrick just had to stop and stare for a while. How self-obsessed was he, really, that he hadn’t even asked Craig about this sooner? He’d been so wrapped up in the thing with Logan, and he hadn’t even asked. What sort of brother was he?
“Really? What are you thinking you’re going to do?” Derrick asked, fascinated. It had never occurred to him to think that Craig might go to school. Derrick had, of course, and so had Wyatt, but Derrick would have been willing to bet that that was where it would end. As if Derrick had some sort of monopoly on post-secondary education or something.
“I don’t know,” Craig admitted, his voice hopeless. “Nothing feels right. Maybe I should just get a job at a fast food joint or something. Until Dad …” His voice trailed off briefly, then picked up again. “Until I’m not needed here anymore. Maybe all I’m meant for is being a soldier.”
Derrick shook his head. Craig had helped him so much just by listening to him, and the least Derrick could do was offer his brother the same thing.
“That’s not true,” he finally said, when it was clear that Craig was done. He saw so much hopelessness in Craig’s eyes, and it was only then that he understood. Craig had the same opinion of himself, that he was nothing but a strong body and a head filled with rocks, that Derrick had shamefully had of Craig before.
And of Logan. And of Malcolm. And of anyone who chose to work with their body instead of their mind.
“Whatever you decide,” Derrick said, and it was his turn to reach out and pat his brother’s hand, “I know that you’ll be amazing at it.”
The smile that came to Craig’s lips made Derrick grin in return. Steps had been taken, big ones, today, in repairing the relationship between himself and Craig. He had never realized how much it had been strained, but no relationship, not even between family, could withstand years of neglect.
It was a start, and Derrick decided, right then and there, that he was going to keep walking this path. He had been missing out on an incredible friend in his older brother, and it sort of made him wonder what else his snobbishness might have had him missing.
