Dustin stared at the note and everything became clear. Last week, during the reunion dinner with their mom, Nicholas received a call in the middle that he said he needed to take. Dustin was annoyed at the time, mostly because his mother was worried, and when Nicholas hadn’t returned after five minutes she sent Dustin to go find him. His brother was outside smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone. When he finished, Nicholas told Dustin it was Natalia, the girl he had met at rehab. She had just left the facility and gotten her phone back. At the time, Dustin was happy for his brother, because he could tell by Nicholas’s face how thrilled he was to have heard from her. At least one of us still has a chance at love, he thought.

When Nicholas returned to the table, he apologized to their mother, but when she asked him about the call, he lied and said it was a work thing. Dustin said nothing, of course, but he assumed his brother didn’t tell their mom the truth because he knew she was a stickler about following the rules of sobriety, and one of the big ones advised not to get into a romantic relationship in your first year on the wagon, especially with another addict.

The dinner ended well even though it was tense at times, and Dustin walked Nicholas to the subway station afterward, which is when his brother told him Natalia was in Arizona. She was going to some wellness center affiliated with their program. It was for an outpatient program designed to help her get back on her feet. She had asked him to come and visit, but Nicholas told her it wasn’t doable until he saved enough money to get there. Taco Taco! didn’t offer paid vacation. Dustin told Nicholas he would be happy to accompany him out West, once he graduated in a few months. He even offered to pay for the plane tickets and the hotel with his tutoring money. His brother answered saying he’d rather drive cross country, like how Matt Damon did in Good Will Hunting.

Dustin was touched by his brother’s shared reverence for the film, which they had never really spoken about before. But now, he was less pleased, since his brother had obviously decided to rob him and leave him behind.

XXIV