Max made a dismissive noise.

Seb wasn’t having it. “I know. I know why you stayed home. What I haven’t known is how to say thank you. But it’s overdue. So thank you.”

Max’s instinct was to deflect, to minimize, but he thought about what Seb had said about trying not to hide the truth or to hide from the truth, so as uncomfortable as it was, he said, “You’re welcome.”

Seb cleared his throat. Perhaps he was discomfited by the uncharacteristically honest exchange, too. “I haven’t given you the advice you wanted as it relates to Dani.”

“It’s all right.” There wasn’t a solution, really. There wasn’t a problem, even, except that now that he’d acknowledged how utterly, wildly in love with her he was, it was hard not to have that be front of mind at all times.

“All I can say,” Seb said, “is if I were you, I would do whatever I could to hold on to her.”

Max didn’t fall back asleep. He was consumed with thoughts of his brother. He had learned, these past months, that Seb didn’t need his protection anymore. That he was more strategic, and braver, than Max had given him credit for.

Max thought about his desire, his need, to signal somehow to his parents that he was going to live life on his own terms. He glanced at Dani, asleep next to him under the duvet. An idea was taking shape in his head. Perhaps there was a way he could get a version of what he wanted. A facsimile. It would be better than nothing. He would have to tread carefully, though. When the sun started to filter through the cracks in the curtains, Dani woke up and smiled at him. He smiled back and said, “What if we got married?”

“Ha-ha. Good morning to you, too.” She was on her back, and she reached her hands over her head and stretched in such a way that her head turned away from him.

“I am entirely in earnest.”