He sat up, snapping the footrest down with a screech. “I’m talking about my sister taking off with Landon Hill and then coming back three hours later, smiling like a lovesick puppy.”
“Don’t be a jerk,” I said, tossing my purse down on the battered coffee table and flopping down on the couch. “It was about business.”
He leaned forward in the chair, the springs creaking with age. “What kind of business could you possibly have with Landon?”
I leaned back on the armrest, crossing my legs at the ankle. “He offered me an internship.”
“You already have an internship. Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be on a plane by now?”
I tried to ignore the guilt that threatened to damper my mood. “I turned it down.”
“What the hell, Taryn,” he said, leaning forward, his elbows propped up on his knees. I’d forgotten how intense he could be sometimes, how much he tried to parent me whenever our mom and dad weren’t around. “Why would you do that? This is your second chance.”
“It just… It didn’t feel right, okay?” I said, trying not to look at him, trying to pretend it didn’t have anything to do with Matt’s cancer. I stared up at the swirls in the popcorn ceiling. If he’d told me even a week sooner, maybe I would’ve come to terms with it and been ready to fly off and leave him behind.
Maybe I wouldn’t have slept with Landon and wanted desperately to stay in town to stay close to him.
“That’s a shit excuse.”
I picked up my head and glared at him. “I was offered another internship. A better one that doesn’t require me spending six weeks in Dallas.”
He snorted, like the idea of me having two opportunities was ridiculous. His reaction crawled under my skin, because I knew if I were in his shoes, I’d have reacted the same way. It had already been a year of working at that dumb kiosk. A year of forgetting my dreams.
Matt was relentless, as if he needed to rid himself of the toxins that were ripping him apart inside by spewing it all out at me. “Twenty-four hours ago you worked at the mall and now you have two internship offers? Where did the second one come from?”
“You don’t need to be a jerk,” I said, glaring. He was pale, with grey-green bags under his eyes. I knew he felt like crap, but he didn’t need to try and make me feel that way too.
“Who offered you the second internship, Taryn?” he pressed.
He knew. The edge to his voice, the accusation… he knew.
“Landon.”
His lip curled up in disdain. “Is he trying to make you his personal assistant or something?”
“Matt! That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” He asked, staring me down.
“Yes!” I said, sitting up on the couch. “For one, I wouldn’t even take that kind of a job. You know I want to work in a lab.”
“So what kind of job did you take?”
“It’s in the labs. I’m not sure what exactly it will entail- “
He laughed, his skepticism obvious. “And yet you said yes.”
“What is up with you?” I asked. “He’s your best friend, and you think he’d make me his secretary? Why does the idea of me working for him infuriate you?”
He stood up, the recliner rocking behind him. “Yes. He’s my best friend. But he doesn’t do friends with women. He needs to stay away from you.”
I rolled my eyes. His big brother shtick was ridiculous. This wasn’t high school any more. “I have a mind of my own, you know. I’m not just going to fall in love with him.”
“Everyone falls in love with him,” My brother said. “But he doesn’t reciprocate. He doesn’t do love. I saw it in high school, when a dozen girls came to me asking for advice. And he hasn’t changed. Trust me in that.”
The back door creaked open then, and I wanted to groan and bury my head under the couch cushions. This would certainly make things better.
“Matt,” Dad called out. “I got us some frozen dinners.”
He stepped inside the living room, and it took a moment for his eyes to shift from Matt to me.
“Oh,” he said, his voice falling as he set the grocery bags down. “I thought you were supposed to be in another time zone.”
I glanced at the bags as a Salisbury steak dinner slid out onto the ground.
“Is this the crap you guys eat when I’m not around?”
“Don’t deflect, Taryn,” my brother said. “Tell him why you’re not in Texas.”
I shot a glare in my brother’s direction, but my dad just stood there, waiting. The man had the patience of a saint and would stand there all day if he needed to.
“I accepted a different internship,” I said, my voice level. “At Prestige Sports Medicine.”
Dad darted a glance at my brother, who was still scowling. “Isn’t that- “
“Landon Hill’s company,” I said. “Yes. He offered me an internship I couldn’t refuse. Cutting edge medicine. I’ll re-enroll at UW and work at the center.”