Silent Run

him down. “Okay, I’ll buy your story."
    â€œIt’s not a story."
    â€œTell me the rest. Please."
    He drew in a deep breath and then said, “Things got worse for Dylan when I went away to college. My father kicked him out of the house when he was sixteen. Dylan wound up coming to live with me. He slept on my living room couch for two years in an apartment I shared with a few other guys. I got him signed up at the local high school and that was that. He was my responsibility."
    â€œYour father didn’t try to get Dylan to come home?"
    â€œHell, no. I think he was happy we were both gone. He threw some extra cash at me until Dylan was eighteen, and then he said he was done supporting either one of us."
    â€œYour father sounds like a harsh man."
    â€œCold as ice."
    â€œIt’s no wonder you’re such close brothers. I’m sure Dylan would do anything for you.” Their tight relationship also explained why Dylan was so protective of Jake when it came to her.
    â€œWe’d do anything for each other,” Jake amended.
    She gave him a thoughtful look. “I came between you, didn’t I? You said something about that before."
    â€œDylan didn’t trust you, but I wouldn’t listen to him. He’d always been a cynic about women. He never got over my mother walking out on us. He went crazy when you moved in with me, and especially when you got pregnant. He pressured me to ask you more questions, to make sure I knew who you were before I married you. But I didn’t want to ask you questions. I didn’t want to rock the perfect boat we were on. So I blew him off. I told him to get out of my life if he couldn’t be happy for me. I didn’t see him again until the day you disappeared. He came back as soon as he heard you and Caitlyn were gone."
    â€œYou chose me over your brother. I’m amazed."
    â€œIt just goes to show how insane I was. But Dylan was right. I was wrong. I should have done everything he said.” Jake drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “In my job, I focus on every detail. I know how important it is to have a foundation that’s strong, that won’t cave in; otherwise nothing else matters. But in my personal life, with you, I screwed up. I didn’t worry about building a foundation. I didn’t care about the details. Our relationship was built on shifting sand, and look what happened. It collapsed. Why was I surprised?"
    She didn’t know what to say. She was still stunned to know that she’d been able to rip apart such a tight bond between brothers. Jake must have really loved her. And she must have loved him, too. But if she had loved him, why had she let him send away the brother he adored? Jake must have told her before how he had practically raised Dylan. She had to have known how close they were.
    â€œDid I know at the time that Dylan disliked me?” she asked. “Did you tell me about your conversation with him?"
    â€œNot completely,” he admitted. “You knew a little, but I didn’t want to hurt your feelings."
    Because he had a big heart, she realized. He’d protected his brother and he’d protected her. Jake was a good man. Why on earth had she left him? There had to be something he wasn’t telling her about their relationship.
    â€œWhat did we fight about?” she asked.
    Jake stared at her. “Nothing."
    â€œSeriously?"
    â€œYou weren’t a fighter. You didn’t complain. You didn’t argue about anything."
    â€œWow. I sound like an incredibly boring doormat of a person. Why did you like me?"
    Jake sighed. “You weren’t a doormat. We didn’t fight because we were in sync. We liked the same movies. We read the same books. We were never bored with each other. We didn’t talk about a lot of personal stuff, but we talked about everything else. And you have a great sense of adventure, Sarah. You once read an article about all the public stairways in San Francisco. There are three hundred and something of them, by the way. You decided that we would find all of them and climb them. And we did. I had grown up in the city, but I’d never seen it before, not until I met you.” He paused. “You made me stop and feel the sun on my face. It sounds stupid, but I’d never done that."
    No, because he was a goal-obsessed person, and right now he was chafing with impatience at having to tell her things about their past