“You didn’t let on.” I looked at him in surprise.

“I knew you wouldn’t tell me what was going on.” He sighed. “So I took matters into my own hands with the help of Lucky.”

“I can’t believe you guys did all that for me.”

“I told you once before, Noah. I always sense when things are wrong with you. And I will always do everything in my power to make them right for you.”

“Thank you, Zane.” My voice was emotional. “I love you, bro. You know I used to think that only my future wife could show me how deep love could be. But your love and devotion for me, well, it almost breaks my heart. But in a good way. You make me believe that the bright side of love is the only side I should ever think and worry about. You make me believe that anything is possible.” I took a deep breath and was about to continue when the doorbell rung.

“You should go and get that, bro.” Zane jumped up and pulled me up.

“Who is it?”

“Open the door and go and see.” He gave me a quick hug and walked away. “I’m going to go up and see if Lucky wants any help reading Skylar her bedtime story.”

“Okay.” I nodded at him and walked to the door slowly, my heart was pounding as I opened the door.

“Hi,” she said with a tight smile.

“Hi,” I replied, and opened the door wider to let her in. “It’s good to see you, Robin.”

“Zane said you wanted to talk? That it was an emergency?”

“Yes.” I nodded, grateful that my brother had stepped in for me once again. “Yes, I’d love to talk. There are some things I want to tell you.”

“Okay.” She looked at me with hurt still in her eyes, and I knew that she was mad at me. I knew that she was upset that I hadn’t confided in her earlier. I knew that I had cracked her veneer and it broke my heart.

“First off, I want to ask you a question.” I took a deep breath. “Do you think that we could start again, from the beginning?” She looked at me, unspeaking, and I continued. “This time I want to get it right. This time I need to get it right. I know you’re mad at me and you have every right to be, but I like you and I really want this to work. Please just tell me yes or no. Can we start again?”

Her eyes looked me over for a few minutes before she finally spoke. “Yes, Noah. We can start again.”

The End