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“You sound so sad,” Emily stated.

“I am a little,” Matt admitted.

Nicole pulled him closer, nestling her head against his shoulder. “He told you, didn’t he?”

And without thinking, Matt told them the story about how their father had told the secret first, and how he had found Nick after he’d learned about it. He told them about their conversation and how desperate Matt had been to understand, to wrap his head around this new fact. It was blunt, the telling, but it was also raw and unhindered by his emotion, which felt almost purging.

But he stopped when he reached how their conversation had ended.

About the kiss, which had locked Matt down and sent Nick running. Of the moment when everything he thought he understood had stopped making sense. The precise second when everything Matt had understood about the world, his relationship with Nick, had been tossed on its head.

He’d grown silent, but they didn’t complain. Instead, they held him close as he stared at the snow-covered valley. The moonlight leaked into the ravine, making it twinkle as much as the dark sky overhead. Yet all he could see was Nick’s panicked and heartbroken expression as he fled from Matt.

“He kissed me,” he said, breaking the silence.

Emily snorted. “Of course he did.”

“That’s Nick for you,” Nicole said.

Matt glanced between them. “Am I missing something here?”

Nicole chuckled. “It’s just...so him. Holds all this shit in for years and says nothing to anyone for most of that time. Then, when it’s all out in the open, and he’s feeling all sorts of things at once, he acts.”

“It’s a good example of why he takes so much time thinking about things,” Emily said. “Because when he doesn’t think it through, he tends to make a mess of things.”

“I guess this is a mess,” Matt muttered.

“Only if you want it to be,” Emily told him.

“My best friend in the whole world just told me he’s been in love with me for years, kissed me, and fled for the hills. That kind of counts as a mess.”

Nicole grunted. “Actually, he went upstairs. You were the one who ran for the hills.”

“Not the point.”

Emily shrugged. “He’s scared and confused. And you’re just plain confused. I don’t think it’s bad that you both went your separate ways for a little bit to think.”

“Or brood, in Nick’s case,” Nicole added.

Matt sighed. “Now I feel worse for leaving him on his own. Ihatewhen he gets broody. He’s probably beating himself up right now.”

“Yeah,” the sisters agreed in unison.

“Shouldn’t you guys be, I don’t know, talking to him?” Matt asked.

“Well, we found you first,” Emily said.

“And sure, someone should talk to him, but I don’t think it should be us,” Nicole said, looking at him.

“I’m not sure I’m the best person to talk to him about this,” Matt argued.

“I think you’re the only one who can talk to him about this,” Emily told him.

Nicole squinted up at him. “And despite thinking about it, you don’t seem all that freaked out.”

Matt frowned. “Should I be?”

“I mean, your best friend, a man, just told you he’s in love with you and kissed you, a straight guy. I don’t think anyone would blame you for being a little freaked.”