Her shoes were soaked through by the time she made her way up the bank and into the warm kitchen. The aunts were swapping recipes and loading the leftovers into Tupperware.

"Has anyone seen Woody?" Jordan asked breathlessly. "Has he come through here?"

The women stopped chattering long enough to shrug.

She pushed through the kitchen and up the stairs to the third floor past his empty room. She doubted it had been changed much since he left home a decade earlier. There were two twin beds, a dresser, and a desk. The walls were bare except for a lone University of Wisconsin Badgers pennant. How had Woody managed to become so upbeat and eternally cheerful in this arid environment?

She paced around the third floor, poking through the old books in the hall shelves until bedtime. Every time she would hear the screen door banging shut downstairs, she braced herself for the sound of Woody's footsteps on the stairs, but they didn't follow.

Finally, she slipped between the cool sheets and turned out the bedside lamp in her room. It was after midnight when she finally heard the third floor stairs creak under his weight. She heard the faint click of the hallway light and then his footfall on the floorboards. The light spilled in under her doorway, and she saw his shadow there as he lingered outside her door. She waited for a knock, but after a long moment, the hall light clicked off again and his door shut behind him.

Some hours later, she was aware of a flurry of activity in the hallway. She slid groggily from her bed and cracked open her door. Woody stood there in hunting camouflage.

"Woody? What are you doing? It's like 4AM..."

He turned and gave her a lazy smile. "Oh, hey, Jordan. Did I wake you?"

"Well...yeah."

"Sorry. I'm just going hunting with my Uncle Bob." He zipped up his camo jacket.

"Hunting? Nice."

"Relax, Jordan. Knowing my Uncle Bob, we're more likely to come home with a large pepperoni pizza than Bambi. It's just a male bonding thing," he laughed casually.

"Oh." She folded her arms across her chest as he busied himself with his backpack. "I thought we were leaving this morning."

"Oh, yeah. I changed my flight reservations until tomorrow. You're welcome to stay, too." She said nothing but shook her head in confusion. "Listen, Jordan," he started uneasily. "I'm sorry about last night. The kiss. I don't know what I was thinking. It didn't mean anything."

"Don't give it another thought," she muttered with a weak smile, but her heart had fallen. It had been the wrong time and the wrong place for it, but she had suddenly realized that it was not altogether unwelcome.

"Great. As long as we're square." He slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"We're square."

"Great. Hey..." He headed down the stairs. "If I don't see you later, then I'll catch up with you in Boston." And then he was gone.

She had her answer now, how he had survived in this atmosphere. Perhaps he really was this happy for the most part, but there was a large part of his life that was shielded by this cheery facade.

She should have taken the next flight out of Kewaunee, but she didn't. She called the airline and changed her reservations. Aunt Betty had gone into town to shop, so she was alone most of the day, rattling around the farmhouse.

Woody and Uncle Bob finally returned late in the day with a bucket of chicken for dinner. It was strange, how they all sat there at the huge dining room table, chattering cheerily about the weather or the meal. It was as if Cal had never existed. Perhaps to his aunt and uncle, he never really had.

But Cal had meant everything to Woody. He had made a life's promise to look after him. How could he sit there chewing on a drumstick and not seem to care that Cal was gone? She poked at her mashed potatoes and then excused herself.

She stood in her room, jamming her things into her suitcase. She was angry, hurt, bewildered, unable to sort through her own feelings of grief. She was unaware of Woody's presence until he shifted his weight on the creaky floorboards. He had been standing in the door of her room.

"What are you doing?" he tried to ask conversationally.

"Packing," She spat.

"Oh." He took a tentative step inside her room. "Jordan, are you mad at me?"

She gently closed her suitcase with a heavy sigh. "No. I just...don't get it."

"Get what?"

"This. All this. It's like the Walton Family Thanksgiving down there."

He shrugged. "What are you talking about?"

She went to him. "Woody, it's me. You don't have to do this. I know this is hard, but it's okay to feel."

He turned away from her. "Jordan, I don't want to talk about this."

She cut him off in the doorway. "No, and that's just it. Yes, you're brave. You're everybody's rock. But your brother was just murdered in front of you, Woody."

"I know that, Jordan. Don't you think I know that?"

"So, you show it by making a run to KFC?"

"Don't, Jordan," he said through clenched teeth. "Don't. This is not your business."

"You're right." She held up her hands in a calming gesture. "You're right. But I care about you, Woody. This has got to be tearing you up inside. And I'm worried about you. I know what you're going through."

He spun around and pointed an accusing finger in her face. "Look, just because I lost someone I love and don't moan and complain about it for the next twenty-five years, doesn't mean I'm not feeling."

She blinked back the tears that had popped into her eyes, and there was a rough silence between them.

"Jordan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." She turned her back on him and went to her suitcase. "Jordan, please."

She shook her head and bit her lip. "It's okay. Just go."

"Jordan..." He came in the room and stood there awkwardly as she tugged at the zipper. "This is the only way I know how to be."

She looked up at him in comprehension. "I know."

"I've always had to be strong for everyone. Always had to be the role model. The Eagle Scout. Cal got away with everything. And everyone made excuses for him and blamed me. Cal's failing math? Woody needs to tutor him. Cal got suspended from school? Woody should keep a better eye on him. Cal's hooked on drugs? Woody isn't paying enough attention. Cal Cal Cal. My whole life."

He ran his hand through his hair in frustration and began to pace the room.

"When I was a senior in high school, I got in shape, made the cross-country team. I was just starting to be known for myself, and not just as Cal Hoyt's squeaky clean older brother. There was this girl, too. I worshipped her all year long, and she finally agreed to go to the prom with me. Then, she stood me up. Later that night, I found her with Cal in the back seat of my car. But I just laughed and forgave him like it didn't matter, because that's what Woody Hoyt always does."

"So, I came to Boston. And I like my life. I'm happy. I meet this woman that I can't stopping thinking about. We've been stuck in the friend zone for a few years, but I'm still crazy about her. Then he shows up. Thinking that I'm gonna rescue him. And you know what? He's right. And I hate him for it. I hate myself. That night in the nightclub, I said I didn't have the money. I was bluffing, trying to buy time, but for just a fraction of a second, I was hoping he'd pull the trigger. And Cal would be out of my life for good." And then, in a small voice: "And now he is."

His shoulders dropped and he looked away from her. His chin began to quiver, and the tears spilled out of his eyes. "He's gone, Jordan. He's dead. My brother's dead. I didn't mean for it to happen."

His body began to rock with heavy sobs, and he finally surrendered himself. She flew to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I know you didn't."

"I miss him so much." She eased him to the edge of the bed and held him there against her. He pressed his face into the crook of her neck and clutched at the back of her shirt with clenched hands until his sobs eased.

He was exhausted and drained when it was done. She helped him down the hallway where he took a long, hot shower. He appeared silently in her doorway later as she readied herself for bed.

Without a word, she took his hand and led him to her bed. She slid in next to him and folded the quilt up over them. She always thought that if she ever slept next to Woody, that it would be different than this. But this was nice.

They curled their bodies around each other and slept that way until morning.