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wrapping my arms around his neck. “When did
you get here?”
    He laughed and
set me down. “Just an hour ago.” He held me at arm’s length, a small smile
playing at the edge of his lips. He touched my hair, which I wore shorter now
that the curls had relaxed a little. “You look so different.”
    “Well you…” I
looked up at him, searching for the words. He had always been tall, but over
the past year, he’d filled out a little and had actual beard stubble. I rubbed
his jaw and laughed, tickled by the sensation and the guy before me.
    “Elsie…”
    We both turned at
the voice, and I remembered with a start that I had a passenger in my car that
day. I pulled away from Henry as if I’d been caught doing something indecent
and turned to Zach, my new boyfriend.
    “Hey Zach,” I
said in my most casual tone. “This is Henry, my brother’s best friend.”
    I turned back to
Henry and was taken aback by the look on his face, a confounding mixture of
betrayal and disappointment. The expression dissolved into a cordial smile a moment
later, and I never saw that look again. Until today.

 
    Henry hadn’t made
it home by the time I went to bed. I checked my cell phone several times, sure
that he would have texted me by now, even if to just berate me. He and I fought
like brother and sister on a regular basis, but never before had it actually
hurt. Never before had we made each other feel one inch small.
    He loved me.
    That was a
bombshell of a confession that came when I was least expecting it. Now all of
his actions, all of those long, silent looks he’d been giving me came into
question. What had been going through his mind all of this time?
    I guess no matter
how much you think you know someone, the harsh reality is that you never really
know anyone at all.

 
    I woke up some
time in the night when the hinges of my door squeaked open, and I heard Henry’s
soft footsteps crossing the room. The bed gave way under his weight as he
climbed in and curled around my back. “I love you, Elsie,” Henry said, burying
his face in my hair. “I just wanted you to know before I left.”
    My heart skipped
a beat at the tenderness in his voice. “Thank you for telling me,” I said. “Why
didn’t you say anything before?”
    He shifted around
and rested his cheek on the side of my head. “I don’t know. You used to be just
a little girl, but somewhere along the way, you went from Jason’s bratty sister
to this beautiful woman with a glow about her.”
    I grasped his
wrists and pulled his arms around me, his words warming me from the inside.
    “After Jason
died, I felt like I needed to take his place and be your big brother. I wasn’t
supposed to have romantic feelings for you,” he said. “But God help me, I
couldn’t fight it. Not when we live in the same apartment, spending too much
time together.
    “Look, I don’t
need you to tell me you love me too if you don’t actually feel that way. I just
wanted you to know that tonight, being with you, meant something.”
    I twisted in his
arms and faced him. “It wasn’t just sex for me either. And I do love you,
Henry, but I don’t know yet if I’m in love with you.”
    He nodded,
pressing his forehead to mine. “I can deal with that.”
    “But I do need
you.”
    “Yeah?” he asked
with a saucy grin.
    “I need you to
stay if this thing between us ends. You can’t just move out and cut me out of
your life.”
    He nodded solemnly.
    “And I need you
to come back safe and sound.” My chest felt tight with that certain knowledge
that he would never come back, but I pretended not to feel it. After all, what
did I know? I was no psychic.
    “I’ll try my
best.” His hands stole inside my shirt and ran up and down my back. “I need you
to do something for me.”
    “Anything,” I
breathed, the sensation of his rough palms sending tingles up to my scalp.
    “I need you to be
here when I get back.”
    I kissed the tip
of his nose. “I’ll be here. I’m not