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dragged a hand over my face. 
“Nope.  Just got in.”
    “On a school night?  You’re bad,
Kieran.  Were you with Shannon?”
    “Yeah.”
    She was silent for a few seconds.
    “How’s my nephew?” I asked.
    “Skylar’s fine.  Sleeping.”
    “I should hope so.  Why aren’t you?”
I asked softly.
    “Rob’s not home, yet.  He said he
was just at the bar with the guys, but…” she trailed off.
    “Then he’s at the bar with the guys,” I
said.  I did not actually think this, but I didn’t like it when my sister
was upset.
    “If he’s at the bar with the guys then why
did Quentin post on Facebook that he’s ‘Chillin’ at home tonight,’ and Wyatt
just texted me to ask why Rob isn’t answering his phone?”
    “Did he tell you he was going out with
Quentin and Wyatt?”
    “Well, no, but—”
    “Maybe he’s out with some other
guys.  He meets a lot of people in his line of business.  He’s
probably just out with some new friends.  You know, networking.”
    My brother-in-law was an aspiring rock
star.  He was also a real jerk, and sometimes I found myself wanting to
hop on the first plane to New York to beat the crap out of him.  He didn’t
deserve my sister.  He never did, but she wouldn’t listen to
me.     
    “You think so?” she asked, a sliver of
hope in her voice.
    “It’s a possibility,” I said, trying to
sound more positive about it than I was.
    I heard her take a deep breath.  “Okay. 
I don’t believe you, but I don’t want to talk about Rob anymore.  Distract
me.  What’s new with you?”
    “Nothing.”  Everything .
    “Did you meet anyone while you were out
tonight?”
    “No.”
    “Oh, wait.  You’re seeing someone,
right?”
    “Not anymore.”
    “Ugh!  Kieran, what happened?”
    “Nothing happened.  I just stopped
seeing her.  It wasn’t serious.”
    “None of them are, except for Becca.”
    Rip . 
    Still, after all this time, just hearing
her name tore at my heart.
    “Kiera.  Don’t,” I growled.
    “Hey, touchy, it’s been five years. 
Get over it!  Anyway, all I was trying to say is that I don’t know why you
bother with girls at all.”
    “You don’t know why I bother with girls
at all?”  I laughed.
    “Yeah, if you not planning on committing
to anyone any time soon.”
    “I’m non-committal.  I’m not dead.”
    “You’re disgusting, and you need to quit
this serial dating.”
    “Serial dating?  I’ve gone out with
a handful of girls and never called them back.  I’m not sure that
qualifies as serial dating.”
    “Two handfuls.”
    “Fine.  Two handfuls.  It’s not
a crime.  Lots of guys do it.”
    “But you’re not lots of guys.”
    I sucked on my lower lip.  She was
right.  I didn’t enjoy going out with girls a few times just to never see
them again.  But it was the only way.
    “What about that cute girl next door?”
she asked.
    “What about her?”
    “Maybe if you’d talk to her, you’d
actually find someone worth being with for more than just a couple of months.”
    “I have talked to her.  And she is.”
    “Then what’s the problem?”
    “Kiera.”  I wasn’t going to spell it
out for her.  We were twins, and best friends at that.  She knew the
problem.  “Listen, I’ve got to crash.  Are you going to be okay?”
    She hesitated.  Finally she said,
“Yes.”
    “I want you to call me if he’s not back home
in the next hour,” I said, pushing my shoes off and pulling the covers back.
    “I don’t want to wake you.”
    “Wake me.  I want you to.”
    “Okay.”
    “Okay,” I said, ending the call.  I
sighed and tried to put my sister’s marital troubles out of my head.  I
didn’t like to think about her hurting, especially when there was nothing I
could do about it.
    I closed my eyes, exhausted from my night
out.  It was only two-thirty.  Three years ago I still would have
been pumped.  I really was getting old.
    Just as I was beginning to drift off, I
heard movement