Page 89 of Elijah

I shook my head. “She won’t listen. I know her, I know she’ll never change her mind.”

“You haven’t known her for five years, bro. You need to talk to her one more time.”

I watched him carefully, studying his hands twisting together in front of him.

“Why does this mean so much to you? I mean, I know you love me, but whenever you’ve given me big brother advice before, you’ve given it and then let me make my own decision – good or bad. So, why so adamant about this?”

Sam shrugged, but his eyes flashed brightly.

“I just want you to be happy.”

“Sam, I know you too well. There’s more to this.”

He paused before blowing out his cheeks. “Let’s just say, I know regret and it’s a fucking dark shit hole of a place.”

His shoulders slumped as he dropped his head forward.

“Sam, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing and this isn’t about me. This is you we’re talking about.”

“And you think for some misguided reason that if I don’t speak to Amy I’ll regret it for the rest of my life?”

“Yep, I do. Surely it’s worth a try.”

“But what if I don’t want her? What if I want to move forward with Mia?”

His brows raised into the messy strands of hair on his forehead. “Maybe you think you want a future with Mia, but I think you’d rather find out what Amy thinks first. Call me a shit, but if Amy says no, then maybe you can try that moving forward crap with Mia.”

“You’ve spent the last few weeks trying to persuade me to dump her.”

“No,” he said, vehemently shaking his head. “I tried to persuade you tell her you didn’t want her moving in, to tell Amy that you still love her. If it goes to shit with Amy, I don’t expect you to give up the one woman who managed to make you smile again.”

Now it was my turn to raise my brows.

“Hey,” Sam cried holding his hands up. “I never said I was the good brother, I’m a great believer in having your fucking cake and eating it.”

“Sam what the hell is going on in your head? That isn’t like you.”

And it really wasn’t. Sam loved women, he’d had many women, but he’d never been a liar or a cheater. He’d never led a woman on even, so I had no idea why he was suggesting what he was. It wasn’t like him and definitely wasn’t the advice he’d been giving me for weeks.

“Listen, Eli,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Whatever you decide is up to you, but please don’t leave things as they are, without at least trying to find out how Amy feels. Like I said, regret is fucking shit.”

He then ended our conversation by sitting back, grabbing the remote control and turning the TV back on.