Chapter 4

I woke up to the sound of the ocean and the smell of bacon in the air. It must've still been early because the sun just began to rise over the horizon. I was still on the sun lounger from the night before and I slept well considering I slept the whole night on a hard wood surface. Conrad's lounger was empty of him and I wondered if he had made his way to bed sometime during the middle of the night.

I walked through the sliding doors into the kitchen and found Conrad standing over the stove frying bacon. I walked over to the counter and bounced up to sit beside him as he cooked, but far enough away to not be popped by the grease.

"Did you sleep well?" Conrad asked reaching for his coffee that sat beside me on the counter. He had bed hair and sleepy eyes. I assumed he didn't sleep well.

"Eh, better than would be expected." I said dangling my legs and swinging them like a small child. "How did you sleep?" I asked muffling a smile.

"What?" he asked poking me on the kneecap with his elbow.

"Your hair," I said laughing. He grimaced.

"Well, have you seen your hair?" he asked smirking at me.

"No, is it bad?" I asked raising my hand to check.

"No, not at all." He said grinning at me, which told me not to believe him. I hopped down onto the cool tile and I ran over to the downstairs bathroom to check out my hair. In the mirror I looked rough and ragged with mascara smeared underneath my eyes and hair springing every which way. "Jerk." I mumbled under my breath.

I wet my hair down and cleaned my face with hand soap as a temporary fix. I walked back into the kitchen and hopped back up in my place.

"What are you talking about? I look fine." I said swinging my legs again. He just laughed and continued to flip the bacon.

"Want to help me with breakfast?" He asked raising and eyebrow.

"Do you trust me to?" I asked teasing him.

"I don't know. I will make sure to keep a close eye on you in case you decide to stop measuring stuff for the pancakes." He said laughing. I slapped his shoulder playfully and hopped off the counter.

Shortly after that, he got popped pretty hard with bacon grease and yelped, which made me laugh in victory.

"What are you guys being so loud for? It is like seven?" Steven said shuffling into the kitchen.

"Conrad's being a baby." I said with a small smile as I measured out the flour perfectly.

Conrad gave me a funny look over his shoulder.

"Well breakfast smells good. Belly why are you even up? You never wake up early." Steven pointed out which made me turn and smirk at him.

"I am still on Spain time. This is the latest I have slept inn since I have been home, thank-you very much." I said turning back around to crack two eggs into the bowl of flour and milk.

"You are letting her cook man?" Steven complained as he poured himself some coffee.

"Hey! I am not a bad cook." I scolded Steven.

"Yeah, she is doing alright." Conrad said and then turned to make sure I was doing what he told me to. Almost like he was second guessing himself.

I gave him a scolding look too, which made him laugh and he held his hands up in surrender, spatula in hand.

"You guys underestimate me on so many levels." I said as I took the mixer and set it on low to medium. I stuck the tips of my fingers into the flour bag and put my dusty fingers to my side.

"Hey Conrad?" I said waiting for him to turn and face me, and once he did I flicked a healthy amount of flour into his face. He was shocked by the look on his face and a slow smile began to form on his face. I tried to reach for the flour bag, but before I could reach it he took the bag in his hand and grabbed a handful from the bag and blew it towards my face, and by this time I had crouched down and hid my face so it all just went into my hair.

"Guys!" Steven said with crazed eyes and pieces of hair sticking up on the top of his head.

I grabbed some flour from on top of my head and patted Steven on his face with it. His eyes and nostrils flared as he took the hose from the sink and turned it on and squirted me in the face with it. The water was chilling.

Our loud and messy fight must have woke the other two because they found themselves coming down to check out the ruckus.

"What is all over your face Conrad?" Jeremiah asked pulling out a chair for Melanie.

"You guys made a mess." Melanie said looking around.

"Belly's attempt at cooking." Conrad responded to Jeremiah, his comment prompting me to pinch his elbow. He put his hands in my hair and mussed it like he would if he where petting a dog and it made flour puff around me and onto my shoulders.

Jeremiah turned away and asked Melanie what she wanted to drink.

"Orange juice?" She asked and Jeremiah went for the fridge and two glasses.

I went to start cleaning up the mess we made and Conrad joined me.

Conrad, Steven and Jeremiah were planning on surfing after breakfast and Jeremiah was trying to convince Melanie to join them. I noticed that none of them had never really invited me which stung a little, but it was okay. I had endured my fair share of wipeouts when one of the boys would try to teach me in the past. I just never really got into it as much as they did.

"I don't think so… I would really like to tan." She said glancing over at me comparing our skin tones.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as she assessed me. The last thing she needed to do was compare herself to me.

"You don't need to tan. It ages the skin pre-maturely." Jeremiah said. He had never minded my tan before, I thought.

"Maybe next time." She said pulling him down for a deep kiss in front of everyone in the kitchen. We all just looked away.

"Belly maybe you can keep her company?" Jeremiah asked looking at me for what felt like the first time all morning. He was so closed off and very un-Jeremiah-like. It was strange because we shared some correspondence when I was away. It wasn't like I hadn't spoken to him in two years, which was how long we had been apart now.

"Sure, I will just be around the house waiting for mom to get here." I said, because it was true.

I caught Conrad looking at me openly. It was more like gazing at me really. Steven felt uncomfortable so he tried to get his attention to talk about something, but Conrad kept looking at me anyway, so I gazed right back.

Mom arrived around nine and I was so thankful for her presence because it meant I had a solid person here to spend time with as much as I pleased.

I introduced mom and Melanie and mom seemed surprised to meet her because she obviously didn't know that Jeremiah had such a serious relationship and he didn't mention it to her.

She asked the questions I have been wanting to, but I didn't - knowing that it was inappropriate.

"So how long have you and Jeremiah been an item?" Mom asked as the three of us lounged by the pool. Conrad had gotten another chair for mom before heading out to the water. Mom had on her sunhat and sunglasses and a cover up that prevented too much sun from getting to her.

"We have been dating for a month." Melanie explained.

"Did the two of you meet at school?" Mom asked. I knew what she was doing. Screening this girl for Susannah.

"Yeah I just finished my freshman year. I joined Zeta and met him at a Frat party. He was charming and he sang me a song on the karaoke machine in front of everyone. He said that he'd had a crush on me all year and finally acted on it." She said practically hugging herself.

Jeremiah did well, because she was very pretty. She had blonde hair and light blue eyes. They looked like Ken and Barbie when they were together.

"That sounds like Jeremiah." Mom said smiling to herself.

"What are your goals Melanie?" Mom asked. This seemed to stump Melanie.

"I am not sure yet. I am majoring in nursing right now, but who knows?" Melanie said nonchalantly.

I knew my mom would not find that acceptable.

"Maybe you should spend some time traveling so that you can find out if that is something that you are interested in continuing to study." Mom suggested.

"Yeah I have thought about it." Melanie said rubbing more tanning oil into her pale skin.

"Yeah." Mom said deciding the conversation was over. She grabbed her book from the table and began reading.

"So Belly. Are you and Conrad dating?" Melanie asked. I looked at her through my sunglasses.

"I mean we are talking; we haven't seen each other in a really long time." I admitted.

"For some reason J wouldn't tell me. He said Conrad wishes." Melanie said giggling as if she were telling a secret.

"Well I don't think Conrad and Jere talk about that kind of stuff together." I said hoping to silence her on the subject.

"Oh no, Jeremiah talks about Conrad a lot. Not a whole lot of nice things, but he talks about him." Melanie confessed.

"Yeah well that doesn't mean that the two of them talk very often." I didn't understand why after all this time Jeremiah would still hold such a grudge. Especially after he had moved on with Melanie.

"No, they do talk. Conrad has been trying to talk to Jeremiah a lot lately, but J doesn't like to talk to him. He says that Conrad is selfish and he doesn't want him to be a part of his life. I didn't respond immediately, and then I knew what to say.

"I think that you should encourage that relationship. Conrad really loves his brother."

She nodded as if she would think about it, and snuggled into her sun lounger and closed her eyes.

It was around lunch time when the boys came back inn. Melanie had acquired a sunburn, but told everyone it would turn right into a tan, and I couldn't believe her because she was very pale before.

Mom had fixed a good spread for lunch. Different fixings for subs and chips to go along with them. She even sliced a big watermelon and I made a big vat of strawberry Kool-Aid extra sweet. Conrad and I chatted with my mom in the kitchen. They talked about stuff that Conrad helped with around the house as he asked her how the rain gutter was doing since he unclogged it back in the fall.

"It is doing what it is supposed to be doing." Mom said appraisingly.

"Great." Conrad said standing up next to me at the counter eating his sub. He rubbed the small of my back with his hand closest to me. I knew everyone sitting at the kitchen table behind us could see; it was strange because none of them had ever seen him show any affection towards me. Steven had witnessed very little in comparison to what we did do when nobody was around – like make out sessions here at Cousins.

I noticed that Conrad got a glass of water instead of my Kool-Aid. I eyed him.

"What is wrong with the Kool-Aid that I made?" I asked sipping mine from my large glass.

He chuckled and looked at my glass.

"I just don't want to have rotten teeth." He explained.

I feigned offense, "Are you saying that my teeth are rotten Conrad?" I asked.

He gave me his relaxed Conrad smile, "Maybe not right now, but one day, they might just rot right out of your head." He said teasing me.

"Well, you will be surprised to know that I have not had a cavity in my head since I was fourteen." I said crossing my arms over my chest.

"Of course not." Conrad said laughing at me with his eyes.

Later that night all of us went out for dinner. We ate at the place were Jeremiah blurted out that we were engaged. The day that the Woman's Center opened up Susannah's garden. It was the restaurant Melanie picked because Jeremiah asked her if she'd like to go there. Conrad and I exchanged glances as we walked side-by-side into the restaurant.

Me and mom ordered two, "Sex on the Beaches" and the boys all ordered beer. Melanie was too young to order anything, but Jeremiah shared with her.

As we sat at dinner, all in easy comradery, Jeremiah had begun to slowly get terse and competitive with Conrad. If Conrad said that he was interning at a hospital next semester in California, Jeremiah would say that he gets six weeks of paid vacation through their dad's company.

Conrad would say in conversation that the surf in California is good, Jeremiah would say that he joined a football intermural team and they won their small conference. Anything that he could say to one up Conrad he said. Conrad acted unaffected by it, but I could tell that it was grading his nerves a bit. I touched his knee under the table and he turned to see me give him a reassuring smile, and then he visibly relaxed. When I did this Jeremiah scooted back in his chair abruptly and excused himself to the bathroom.

I looked over at mom who stared down at her plate. Melanie didn't seem to mind as she finished off the remaining half glass of Jere's third beer.

"Belly I think you should go check on him." Mom said behind her napkin. I looked over at Conrad who heard my mom ,and he agreed with a reluctant nod.

I backed out of my chair slowly and walked towards the restrooms waiting for Jere to come back out.

He pushed the door open so abruptly that it scared me at first. He looked down at me with a closed off expression and walked past me.

"Jere?" I called for him. He stopped, and acted like it killed him to have to. Like it was such an inconvenience.

He raised his arms like, "What?"

"Walk with me." I said motioning for the door.

We stepped out into the warm summer air and walked towards a bench on the sidewalk.

Once we sat down we sat in silence for a few beats. He didn't make a move to speak first.

"Tell me what all that was about?" I said looking at him imploringly.

"What is what about?" he asked. I rolled my eyes at him.

"That pissing contest with Conrad." I said trying to not sound mad. Jeremiah blew out a hiss of annoyance and stood up.

"Jeremiah." I said reaching for his arm to pull him back down to sit.

He turned and gave me an icy look. I shriveled back and brought my hands to rest in my lap.

"Talk to me." I pleaded.

"So you two are just going to run off into the sunset now that you and I are over?" Jeremiah asked with his hands on his hips not looking at me. I noticed the muscles in his arms and shoulders had gotten bigger since the last time that I saw him.

"What are you talking about Jeremiah?" I asked feeling a flash of guilt and anxiety. He turned his icy glare back on me.

"You know exactly what I am talking about." Jeremiah said with venom and then he added.

"The baking fights and the innocent touching. And the damned staring." He turned away again looking somewhere down the street.

"Jeremiah, we have been broken up for a long while now. You have Melanie and she really likes you, so what is this?" I asked fearing the answer.

He turned back to me and sat down on the bench again. He looked defeated now. Sad. Not the boy that I grew up with, but a bitter man who was angry with the world. What would Susannah say? Would she be mad at me? Would she think it is all my fault?

"I love you the way you love Conrad. How is that ever supposed to go away?" he asked tears brimming his eyes. I felt like such a helpless bitch in that moment, because there was nothing I could honestly say or do to make him happy. In that moment I knew that Susannah would be upset with me. She would be upset that I had ruined her little angel.

"Jere you don't love me. I promise you don't, because you know why?" I asked hoping he would bite and ask me why.

"Yes I do love you. How could you question that?" he asked as if I had betrayed him.

I didn't know what to say to make it better. I knew the answer though, because you brought someone here with you. Someone you are dating, but I didn't say it.

"Jere what are you doing with Melanie? Is she here to make me jealous?" I asked hoping the question would be no.

He sat and put his face in his hands propped on his knees. He talked up at me through his hands,

"You are going to end up with him, marry him, and have his kids." His voice cracked on the last word.

I let out a breath of shock, he was jumping to conclusions that were not even within range of being true. At least not now.

"You guys are going live out the rest of your lives being my mom and dad." He said comparing me to their mom and Conrad to their dad.

"Jeremiah all I can control is what is happening right now and I am telling you how much Melanie likes you and the fact that you brought her here to your mom's house, and that is a big deal. Do you like her or not?" I asked.

He looked guilty and then hid it with a poker face.

"I do like her. Especially more than you at the moment." He said trying to punish me.

"If I was to marry Conrad in the future, would it always be like this with you? A bitter, unhappy version of you?" I asked him.

He shuddered under my words and stood up again. He left me sitting alone on the bench and went back into the restaurant.

"I guess that is a yes." I whispered to myself.

The next few days I tried to distance myself from Conrad. It nearly killed me, he had invited me to go to a movie one night, and to go fishing with him at the pier the following day, but I was afraid of Jere and how it would affect him – and what he would do. Meanwhile, he had been making sure that he and Melanie had loud encounters in his room every night.

Finally, the next Friday, Conrad said that I had to go somewhere with him and that had no choice in the matter, and luckily for me, Jere and Melanie were already gone to a baseball game for the weekend so I didn't have to worry about Jeremiah having another breakdown and perhaps killing Conrad.

We walked along the pier and sat with our ice cream cones on a long rickety bench.

"Tell me what happed outside with Jere the other night." Conrad asked with guarded eyes.

"He told me that he loved me the same way I loved you and basically I would one day end up with his dad." I said telling Conrad the truth.

Conrad's eyes flared with some emotion I was unfamiliar with. He turned squaring his shoulders with me.

"What kills me Belly is how much I love my little brother. I gave you both space after the… after you guys almost got… married. It isn't like I swept you away like I wanted to. But for him to still be acting like this after he brought a girl here, is just something that pisses me off. He brings her here, but guilt's you into thinking you've done something wrong. He is the only one here in a relationship. You and I are unattached. So what if we spend time together? Everyone knows that I am in love with you. At least, they should know by now. I am not going to let him taint this time we have together. This is a really important summer. This is the summer that I love you. So, here is what I want you to do. I want you to list the top fantasies you had about me when you loved me first, before I saw you the way I see you now. You mentioned it in one of your letters to me that you used to dream about me doing certain things for you. I want to give it all to you Belly."

I almost dropped my ice cream cone after he spoke. He laughed an embarrassed Conrad laugh and blushed under his tan. I leaned forward and kissed him gently. His lips were soft, but cold from the ice cream. He tossed his ice cream in the trash bin over his shoulder and grabbed both sides of my face and deepened the kiss.

I did end up dropping my ice cream cone, for real.

"So you mentioned to me that you wished that I would have won you a gift because I wanted to impress you, although I have to admit, I won you Junior Mint because I knew you wanted him. Now I want to win you something because you are the girl I am crushing on. Let me win your affection Belly." He said giving me his most gleaming smile over his shoulder.

We were holding hands and walking towards the ring toss. I eyed a pink flamingo with a sunhat with a flower in it.

"I want the flamingo." I said giving him a challenging smile. He smiled down at me.

"You got it." He said with pure confidence.

It took him twenty-five bucks to get it. I tried to tell him it was okay so he would stop spending so much of his money, but he wouldn't have it.

He held the flamingo over his head as he silently asked for a kiss on the cheek by poking his cheek with his index finger. I obliged him very much and very willingly as he turned his face at the last second and I got him on the lips instead, even better, I thought. He gave me the flamingo in return.

"What are you going to name her?" Conrad asked.

"Miss Priss." I replied, not having to think hard about the name.

"Miss Priss?" He asked grinning and shaking his head.

We held hands and walked all the way back to the house.

"She can give Junior Mint company." He said as we walked hand in hand.

"Yeah, she can be his girlfriend." I said fixing her hat that had flopped up in the front.

"Lucky Junior Mint." He said peering down at me.

That night we watched a movie with mom and Steven. We watched, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" I laughed during the part where Kevin McCarthy's character drug Elizabeth behind him as they ran away from the others. I knew that I couldn't run for as long as they did.

"Isn't it funny how he has been so obsessed with kissing her the whole movie and he loses her anyways?" Steven asked.

"That is not funny Steven!" I declare glaring at him.

"It really is. The entire movie he puts the moves on her and he still doesn't get the girl." He says laughing and stuffing popcorn into his mouth.

Mom rolled her eyes at Steven.

"What I think is funny is that in all of these old movies you can tell they are always in California." Conrad said sitting next to me on the floor in front of the couch.

"Is California is as great as everyone says it is?" I asked him quietly.

He smiled warmly down at me and whispered back.

"It is awesome." He said rubbing the hands we held on our side, and out of view of mom and Steven.

"What does your apartment look like?" I asked. I had wondered about this so much for the past two years.

He looked thoughtful like he was trying to think of a way to describe it.

"It is small. I live alone, so it is just me when I am there. It barely has any furniture because I never have anyone over. It will make it easier for when I move back I can just sell it all." He explained.

"So you are going to move back?" Mom asked him. He turned around to respond.

"Yeah, I always want to be close to Cousins." He said turning back around to see my reaction. I was very happy about that. I wondered where he would work. In Boston?

"You will be an amazing doctor, Conrad Fisher." I complimented.

"Yeah, at least you can get me free medical marijuana." Steven said forgetting mom was in the room. Mom looked over at him.

"He could lose his medical license for writing prescriptions for a totally healthy person." Mom scolded Steven. I smirked at him. "You got in trouble." I sang at Steven.

"Belly I am sure you would fake sick to go in and see Conrad." Steven teased to get me back. Some things never changed, and used to, this would have made me so mad, but now, I laughed because he was right.

"You are right, I would." Then I turned to Conrad, "Help me doctor I can't breathe." I said feigning sickness and acting like I was going to faint.

Conrad grabbed me around my shoulders and pulled me towards him and pecked me on the lips softly. Right in front of mom and Steven. I flushed a little, but I didn't mind because I wanted this. It was never as awkward as it was when Jere would do this in front of my family. It always seemed like he did it for the wrong reasons.

That night we listened to music in Conrad's room. It was still as clean and organized as ever. He wanted to show me a few new bands that he was obsessing over. Houndmouth, Foals, and Saint Motel were the three new bands that he had me listen to. I liked Houndmouth the best.

He also looked shy and I wondered what he was acting so shy for. Then he walked over to his closet and brought over a pristinely wrapped present that was dressed in Christmas wrapping paper. I knew exactly what it was. My eyes lit up and I became a giddy little school girl.

I ripped open the perfectly wrapped paper and saw Conrad with his perfectly combed hair and Jeremiah's wild and blond curls tucked behind both ears. Mr. Fisher crouched beside them looking strong, young, and handsome. Conrad looked very much like him now. Then there was Susannah behind both boys with her arms on each of their shoulders. She was dressed in a red sweater dress looking like the model I always saw her as. She was effortlessly beautiful. I stroked my thumb over her in the photo and tears filled my eyes. This was the best present ever. I busted out laughing at Conrad and Jeremiah. Jere looked proud in the photo smiling the warmest most Jeremiah-like smile and Conrad looked sullen and bored, clearly wishing to be somewhere else entirely.

Conrad smiled at me laughing at the photo. He started laughing to as I described his face.

"Why were you so sad looking?" I asked. He chuckled once more.

"Because on our way there I ran into some kids from school and they made fun of me for it." Conrad said rolling his eyes and laughing.

"You were so cool weren't you?" I said teasing him.

"I really wasn't. I have no idea why you could have ever liked me." Conrad said honestly. His smile was fond, thinking of the memory.

"I liked you because you were kind to me. You were amazing at everything, and I mean everything. Anytime I was on your team doing anything – we won. Remember when we played chicken six years ago and we beat Jere and Taylor?" I asked.

"Yeah, well it just means we are a good team." He said taking the photo from me to get a closer look.

"I remember you making me feel so important. Like, everything I did was important. You don't know how much that has always meant to me." He admitted, and it was something I had never known about.

"Really? It always felt like you never needed anyone's approval." I replied watching him as his mind worked. He didn't speak for a minute as he observed the photo in his lap.

"Look how happy Jere is." Conrad pointed out and we started laughing again. As he smiled down at the photo of his little brother I spoke my thoughts out loud.

"He will forgive us you know." I said hoping he believed me. He looked up at me.

"I really hope so." He said.

I snatched the photo back and told him goodnight. I headed back towards my room. I hung the photo on the empty nail on the wall in my room. It was the most amazing gift he could have given me. He gave me something that meant something to him and equally embarrassed him.

Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up feeling hot. I felt like if I didn't go down to the pool than I couldn't breathe. I quickly changed into my bathing suit and snuck down the stairs out of the sliding glass doors and swiftly dove into the pool. It was a graceful dive that I knew looked good for anyone that could have been watching. I kick-turned as I reached on end of the pool and pushed myself to the other side. Once I was finished letting some energy out I swam to the edge of the pool and looked up at the star filled sky. It was strange to think that something so endless could be claimed by one person. I felt like I owned the sky. But the boy I loved the most gave it to me. So I felt like it was very much mine. Infinity. My infinity.

It was almost June and soon enough my mom would be at the summer house to stay. I couldn't wait for that day because I knew that Jeremiah wouldn't be so cold to me when she would be there all the time.

I was in the kitchen on a Thursday morning when Jeremiah and Steven came into the back door from surfing.

"What's going on Belles?" Jere asked. Looking and sounding a little more like his old self.

"Reading a book, what are you guys up to?" I asked feeling light from Jere's mood.

"Steven and I are going to a concert over at Nell's tonight, are you inn?" he asked.

"Sure, of course, that sounds really fun. Who is playing?" I asked intrigued.

Jere looked over at Steven and smiled. "Steven is dating a drummer. It is girlfriend Katie's band." Jeremiah said reaching a fist out for Steven to bump.

"Wow, Steven who knew?" I said super interested.

The house phone rang and interrupted the conversation. Jeremiah walked over to the cordless phone to answer it.

"She is cool." Steven said going over to the fridge to get a beer.

"But I would really like to finish off the summer here." Jeremiah said sounding stressed.

He noticed me staring and left the room.

"I wonder what that was about?" I asked looking over at Steven. He didn't seem concerned.

"Where is Conrad?" I asked Steven. Steven looked out the window over the sink towards the beach.

"Oh we ran into Nicole on the beach. I think he is out there talking to her." Steven said leaving the kitchen to go into the living room.

I got up and walked over to the window. Conrad was standing on the beach with his surf board propped in front of him in the sand and Nicole stood there in her bikini talking to him. She touched his arm and I stopped watching.

"He likes you Belly." I told myself.

Jeremiah returned to put the phone back on the receiver.

He looked like a pouty little boy.

"Dad is making me come back to Boston and join him and the company on a company retreat this weekend. He wants me to start work on Monday." Jeremiah complained.

"Welcome to adulthood." I said smirking at him.

"Melanie is not going to be ready to go home." He said walking to the fridge to get a drink for himself.

"Well she should stay. It is nice to have another girl around the house." I suggested. He looked over at me to see if I was serious.

"No I would like her to come with me." He said leaving the kitchen to join her by the pool.

Jeremiah and Melanie had gone before me, Conrad, and Steven left for Steven's girlfriends concert. Steven's girlfriend was cool and the band was a jazz inspired band. She wasn't in a rock band like I had guessed. She was beautiful and curly headed in a wild and untamed way. Steven was really lucky to have caught her if you ask me.

I think Conrad agreed too because we chatted about it as they made out in the corner of the party.

"Jeremiah didn't tell me he was leaving." Conrad said as we sat out on the beach that night. He was stroking my knee with his free hand as he held me close.

"Your dad is making him go to the company retreat. Do you think that job will be good for him?" I asked.

Conrad looked down and me and the summer breeze tossed his hair back from his face even more. He seriously had the most handsome face of any man I had ever seen. He was so reserved and intelligent. I felt like I was someone special just to be getting to sit so close to him and hear his thoughts.

"Not really, dad will always baby him. But, maybe once Jere is there all the time dad will get tired of his laziness and help him grow up a little." Conrad said.

"That is a little harsh." I replied.

"You know it is true." He said kissing me on the forehead.

"Yeah, maybe." And I did know.

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