Page 24 of Fractured Grief

“I’m back,” he singsonged as he entered, until he took in each of us and Indy’s tear-stained face. “What the fuck happened to you two?” Rushing forward, he quickly stood between me and Indy. “What did you do to him?” he asked harshly, forcing me to take another step back.

“Nothing, you idiot. Calm down.” I glanced at Indy. “We have a shared experience. It was upsetting. T-that’s all.” Well, that didn’t sound great.

“A shared experience?” Lyric parroted, voice laced with disbelief.

“Yes.” I looked at Indy’s flushed face.

“Are we talking sexual experiences? Oh, I’ve got tons of them!” He looked between the two of us as my stoic expression fell into place.

Really Lyric?

I love my brother.I love my brother, I repeated in my head, so I wouldn’t thump him.

“Then, why is he crying?” Lyric whispered to me, even though I’m sure Indy could hear him, as he started to laugh.

Lyric looked at Indy, then me, then back to Indy. “What’s so funny?” he asked. “Is Seb really that bad at sex?”

“Oh my G-god, L-lyric! Would you please shut up!” I was totally exasperated at his idiocy. “Can you just mind your own b-business!”

“Okay, okay, jeez. You’d think getting laid would’ve mellowed you out.”

“You are one of a kind, Lyric,” Indy said, still chuckling. “For your information, we were talking about losing a loved one. I’m your brother’s PT, so definitely no sex was involved. I’m kind of worried about your past therapy experiences, since your mind went there.”

Lyric switched tracks in an instant, waggling his eyebrows at Indy. “If you were my PT, my mind would go there all the time.”

Indy flushed bright red.

I snarled at Lyric. “Do you have to flirt with every p-person you come across?”

“When they are as cute as Indy here, absolutely,” he winked at me. The little devil knew exactly what he was doing.

Indy’s face was still bright red, but he was handling Lyric’s antics surprisingly well. “Well, thank you for the compliment, Lyric, but you’d be a little much for me. I prefer a more reserved personality.”

“Reserved, you say, like Seb. He’s as reserved as they come. A stoic, silent giant, my brother is,” Lyric added conspiratorially.

Trying to save Indy and stop Lyric from putting his foot farther into his mouth, I snapped, “Why are you back so early? We hadn’t even had a chance to s-start my session.”

“Oh, I... ah... I forgot something. I’ll just hang out in my room. Holler if you need me.” And with that, he raced down the hall and up the stairs.

“I’m s-sorry—”

“He really—”

We both spoke at the same time.

“You go first,” I stammered.

“He’s not like anyone I’ve ever met. My best friend was adventurous and a little wild, but nothing like Lyric. He’s in his own league.”

At least Lyric’s antics had lifted the heavy cloud of sadness from the room.

“Oh, he’s one of a k-kind. He’s actually very similar to my Pa, but times like a thousand,” I chuckled. “Anyway, should we attempt part of a session or s-skip it and go for coffee?” I hadn’t meant to say that last part out loud.

Indy checked the time on his smartwatch. “There’s just over a half hour left, so we can do some stretches and mobility exercises if nothing else. You okay with that?”

“Sure,” I shrugged.

Indy looked around at the large living room, assessing. “We can do most of it here. Can we move the coffee table?”