Page 74 of Single Malt
“It’s not my favorite theory,” she admitted. “Everyone seems to think that Nancy is coming back, which doesn’t mesh with mohawk-guy’s story.”
“Excellent point.” I chewed a bite and then pointed my fork at my sister. “Any theory of yours a particular favorite?”
“There is. Someone said they saw this hot guy with dimples hanging around campus a couple of times this year, and there’ve been rumors he’s hooked up with someone or more than one someone at actual events, but no one’s caught his name. Like some sort of reverse Cinderella thing.”
My heart about stopped. She couldn’t be talking about Brody. And she definitely couldn’t be talking about the times Brody and I had…no.
Nope. Nope. Not possible.
There were always guys who came to university parties and other events, hoping to hook up with whoever they could find. Brody wasn’t like that.
He might’ve treated his girlfriend like shit by cheating on her with me – if that was what even happened – and that meant he hadn’t treated me well either, but he wasn’t some asshole predator. I’d seen him around other women. He didn’t have that look in his eyes, the look I’d seen in far too many others.
“Are you all right?” Aline’s touch brought me out of my head more than her question did.
I smiled and nodded, hoping neither looked as forced as they felt. “Sorry, just trying to think if I’d heard any of these rumors myself.”
“Have you?”
“Not that I can think of.” At least that answer was honest.
I didn’t necessarily share everything with Aline, but I did try not to directly lie to her. Brody made that difficult, and it hadn’t gotten any easier just because he wasn’t around. It had been a month since I’d last seen him, and I still couldn’t keep him completely out of my head.
“There’s one other story that I think is closest to the truth, but it’s not nearly as fun.” Aline popped the last bite of pancake into her mouth. “Nancy’s roommate told me that Nancy had some high school boyfriend who’d gone to MIT, and they’d decided to take a break. Both of them went home for Christmas and started talking again. That much is fact. The roommate thinks they decided that they didn’t want to be apart anymore and decided to elope. I tend to agree that’s the most likely scenario.”
“Why isn’t that story a good one?” I asked, honestly curious. I agreed that re-connecting with an old flame made more sense than other ideas. Those sounded more like Hallmark movies.
“I don’t know.” Aline’s tone was thoughtful. “Maybe I just like the big stories. Ones that are…epic. Epic love stories.”
Aline hadn’t ever really expressed much interest in love or romance, so that explanation was a bit of a surprise. “Really? You’d prefer something that didn’t make as much sense?”
“Sometimes,” Aline said. “I mean, don’t you wish…want…something that just…” She frowned, as if she couldn’t quite think of exactly what she was trying to communicate. “Something that’s too big for just an ordinary life.”
As she stood to carry our dishes over to the sink, I watched her, wondering if she thought her life was ordinary in any way. She’d been a miracle baby who shouldn’t have been conceived and who’d nearly died at birth, who’d been so early that doctors had warned our parents that she might have permanent developmental issues.
Instead of struggling mentally, however, she’d excelled. A full-blown genius who’d graduated high school and went straight to Stanford University by the age of sixteen.
She was far from ordinary.
“I think that’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about us going to Iran,” Aline said. “Leaving this safe little bubble where I’ve spent my entire life and making a real difference in this world.”
I loved her, and I loved her heart, but every time she talked about the October trip, I kept hearing my conversation with Dr. Ipres where she said that Aline going didn’t mean I needed to go too. All the reasons I’d given as to why that wasn’t a possibility had been valid then and remained valid now.
But I still kept thinking about it. About the possibility of not having to plan my future around my sister’s choices. My parents had never actuallytoldme that was what I had to do, and Aline had never said anything that indicated she consciously expected it of me.
But everyone just made those assumptions, and I’d lived this way almost from the moment Aline had been born. And it wasn’t as if I was being mistreated by my family. I loved them and had no doubts about their love for me.
And wasn’t putting others’ needs above my own the very definition of love?
How could I tell them that I wasn’t sure I wanted to be my sister’s protector anymore?
Forty-Nine
Brody
“You’ve been homefor a single day, and you already have a date for Sunday evening?” I asked.
Sean shrugged. “It would’ve been for tonight if we weren’t going out with Cory and Fury.”