“I guess I should let you get back to it.”
I set Freddy carefully aside on the couch, arranging him in a sleepy ball and tucking his tail in for him.
“Sure,” Cary said. “Before you go, though…” He reached for something on the end table behind him. It was a small, wrapped gift box. “It’s a graduation gift. Sorry it’s so late.”
He held it out to me and I took it.
“You didn’t have to do this, Cary.”
“I would’ve come to the graduation,” he said, though I kinda wished he wouldn’t. Wouldn’t lie to me like that. “But I was working on the album. You know how it is.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I know.”
“You can open it.”
I peeled off the silver bow and the blue paper. It was a small, flat box, the kind jewelry came in. “You didn’t have to get me anything,” I repeated. He really, really didn’t.
He’d already gotten me a BMW for my birthday. He could’ve really skipped the graduation gift and I wouldn’t have cared.
But he was waiting, so I opened the box. Inside was a necklace.
I lifted it out. It was a long, delicate gold chain with a cupcake charm on it. It had blue stones set in the gold icing; aquamarine. Not my birthstone, but my favorite color.
He remembered. He always remembered stuff like that.
I looked at him. “You picked this out for me?”
“Yeah.”
I studied it. He must’ve ordered it off the internet, because it wasn’t like he’d go to some jewelry store. The thought of my brother searching “cupcake necklaces” online, for me, made me kinda smile.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s sweet,” I said, putting it on. I saw the look on his face, and I amended, “I mean, it’s beautiful.”
“Shit. You’re right. It’s childish,” he muttered, like he just realized I wasn’t fourteen anymore.
Sometimes it was like he’d lost the last four years completely.
“It’s not,” I said.
“I can get you something else.”
“No. I love it,” I told him. It was kinda little-girl, but I did love it. It was from him. “Thank you.”
He got to his feet when I did, and I gave him a hug.
And I held on tight, because who knew when I’d get to do this again?
He felt very real in my arms, and very alive. And in that moment, I could’ve forgiven him for anything.
I didn’t need jewelry or cars. I just needed my big brother.
Chapter Eight
Xander
Imanaged to avoid Courteney for most of the week.