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Dad shook his head, s "He should teach that stuff"

My dad liked Beck He’d gotten to know him a little when they joined my family for Christmas Dad liked the way he ith Claudia and was just as susceptible to his easy charm as everybody else was But it was more than that The death of his father hadof as important and how little time we have to appreciate it An air of maturity floated around Beck that hadn’t been there before, andthe truth It’s hard to coet fairls who don’t care how beautiful a rocker’s girlfriend is or how et in his pants," Andie warned

"I know And Claudia knows that But she trusts Beck and so do I"

And that was a good thing now that he and Claud were a package deal They alternated weekends at each other’s aparto for the weekend, I hung out with Alex and friends fro out with the rest of The Stolen For obvious reasons

I talked to Lowe on the phone occasionally and caught up with the guys’ antics through hih Jake

Jake and I emailed one another now We hadn’t spoken on the phone and we hadn’t seen each other since San Francisco, but we hadn’t coo of one another yet, either

It started with me I kneasn’t ready to deal with our relationship or lack thereof, but I also didn’t want us to be strangers So I sent hi hi him about the rest of the road trip

And so we became pen pals I received and sent an email once a week, and I looked forward to Jake’s e on a million-dollar check to arrive I even sent him a birthday present last month It was an ihter" I thought it would look cool on his wall, and Jake seeree when he emailed to thank me

I wish I could’ve seen his face when he opened it

"Your ht be nice to rent a place in Grand Haven this su weekend up there"

Andie grinned "Sounds good, Dad Just let et time off"

Dad turned to me "Charley?"

"I’m there, definitely"

Pleased, he nodded and returned to his brisket

I felt Moave me a small smile that I wasn’t quite sure I understood It didn’t matter what it meant There was peace in it and comfort in the air around us--not an ounce of brittle tension to be found

I was finally getting my family back

My phone had vibrated in o, but I hadn’t wanted to be rude and bail on my family to check ht and I quickly did the same Once in my old room, I shut the door and hurried toin my inbox

I felt a flutter of nerves in my belly as I sank into my desk chair and clicked the ht Sounds innocent enough, huh? Well, let me tell you it wasn’t I expected a ho sports withsx with his shy little librarian

I’m scarred for life

Let’s just say shy librarian has a kinky side and I no more about my brother’s sex life than anyone should ever know, let alone a blood relative I went back to my aparte I think if I return to therapy sessions, I’ll soot accepted into the University of Chicago graduate school forThe parents are very proud I’raduation, and I’ to continue to be a student for the next howeverthe inevitability of adulthood Knowing you’ll be going to law school h

On that subject… are you ever going to tellthe Midwest for Stanford like you said you probably would?

Inquiringto be weird next year without the guys I know they’ll be there, but they’ll be doing their band stuff and whatever et signed Our worlds are going to be different All of our worlds are, I guess I didn’t realize how ets clingy when you show him too much affection

Claudia is here at the apartment She said you’re hoood I take it that’s good, right? You, Andie, and your folks are finally back to normal? Claudia seems a whole lot less worried about you and you sound better in your eether for you I’lad to hear it I knohat it’s like to be where you are and it’s not great But you’re strong, Charley I knew you’d get through it

As for Claudia, it’s cool to see how ht we’d fked upher to meet that dick, but it’s all turned out okay Beck’s crazy about her It’s a little unsettling but I’ to live with it since Claud’s happy and deserves to be Although I would like it if she’d stopsoup Our apartment reeks Maybe you could casuallyat et my ass out the door to some party Have a nice weekend with your folks

Talk soon

Jake

I stared at the screen, feeling a whole bunch of eht to feel Jake’s eh and this ti we’d both be at U of C next fall There was the stupid jealousy I felt over the fact that Claudia got to spend ti to a party and possibly uedanybody I didn’t know if he’d meant it when he told me that he’d wait forhis emails, they also kind of devastated s, our broken relationship, or if there was a future for us So I didn’t, either