He shrugged. “Until you get married?”
Something in my chest cracked.
“Jamie, you’re my brother. You’re not going anywhere.”
He nodded once.
I put my arm around his shoulders. “Come on, Jamie-Bamie. Let’s go home.”
I didn’t know that sentence would decide the next thirteen years of my life. I’d have said it anyway.
“Jamie, you’re my brother. You’re not going anywhere.”
The first time he took the bus alone, I texted before it even left the stop.
Call me when you get there, Jamie-Bamie.
“You said I do it myself,” he said when he finally called.
“You can do it yourself and still call me.”
“I did. I’m calling.”
“Good.”
I didn’t know that sentence would decide the next thirteen years of my life.
“Bye.”
His first paycheck from the garden center came a month later. He frowned at it for a full minute.
