Page 49 of The Hardest Hit

“How can she be knittingatyou?”

“I don’t know, but it seems like she’s purling aggressively in my direction.” He laughed and she sighed. She turned to look toward the bright lights of the cafeteria and rubbed the itchy spot on her shoulder against the brick. “Oh, Evan, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t want my family to hate me, but I just can’t be what they want me to be.”

“If they loved you, they wouldn’t make you try,” he said.

“Mm,” she said, “I don’t think it works that way.”

“Never has for me either,” he agreed, sounding tired.

“I think I’ll wait until Dad’s out of surgery, make sure he’s OK and come home tomorrow night or Wednesday morning. Tyler is supposed to fly in tonight. I’d like to see him. But then, I think I’d better get back. I didn’t prep anyone on the labs I’m running. I already had to spend an hour on the phone today getting Alia up to speed.”

“Let me know when you book your flight,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at the airport.”

“Really? Gosh, this boyfriend thing is paying off. I should have got one of you ages ago.”

“Who said you could have a boyfriend?” boomed a voice, and Olivia shrieked in surprise as fingers goosed her side.

“Ty! You rat fink. I will smack you!”

Her brother grinned at her, unrepentant.

“Evan, I have to go, my brother has arrived.”

“OK,” he said. “Call me later.”

“OK. Bye!” Olivia stared at her younger brother and shook her head. Tyler’s hair was auburn, but he was now sporting a beard that was as red as her hair. He looked indefinably happier than the last time she’d seen him. Moving across the country had been good for him too.

She hugged him tightly and he picked her up in a big squeeze.

“Got yourself a Yankee boyfriend?” he asked, putting her back down.

“Yes, I do,” said Olivia primly, and then flipped open YouTube on her phone and typed inWall Street Bro Punches Naziin the search field. “And apparently he got himself into a little bit of trouble today and punched a Nazi.” Tyler laughed as she hit play on the phone and then came around to look over her shoulder.

“Holy shit,” said Tyler as the video played. “That’s your boyfriend?”

“Oh dear,” said Olivia, gaping at the video. “He made it sound like it was just a little scuffle.”

“That’s a riot on a train where your boyfriend tries to take on a Klan rally.”

“Well, no one likes Nazis,” said Olivia.

“Yeah, no one likes them, but that’s the kind of shit that gets you killed. Is he always like this?”

“No! He’s never like this!”

“Well, at least you know he’ll back you up in a bar fight,” said Tyler with a shrug.

“Because I get in those so often.” She watched the video again, shaking her head. “That man just punched him!”

“And he walked through it like it was paper,” said Tyler.

“My poor Evan,” she said, patting the screen, and Tyler laughed at her.

“It’s not funny, Ty! What if he’d really been hurt?”

“He said he was fine, right? Then I’m sure he’s fine.”

Olivia frowned at the screen again. It was her impression that Evan did not do well with speaking up when he was not fine. “Well, I guess I can check him over when I go home,” she said.