Eli obviously had more on his mind, because he didn’t say goodbye and leave. He kicked a small pebble across the pavement. “So what’s going on between you and Tia? Given how excited Mom is, it seems it might be getting serious.”

“No, we’re just friends,” he said.

“Friends?”

“Yeah.” Afraid Eli would say something else—something he wouldn’t want to hear—he looked down as soon as his phone signaled a text message, hoping the shift in attention would put an end to the conversation.

But when he saw who’d sent the message, he sort of wished he hadn’t bothered.

Some of what he felt must’ve shown in his expression, because a look of concern came over Eli’s face. “That’s not Kouretas, is it? Mom said you were rid of that dude.”

“It’s not Kouretas.”

“Is it the Iveys?”

“No, it’s Brady.”

“Your biological brother?”

“Yeah. It’s that time of year,” he said with a sigh.

“Are you going to respond?”

Seth didn’t know if he could. Part of him wanted to. Part of him had always wanted to. But he hadn’t been able to make himself so far. Just thinking about letting Brady and Derrick back into his life dredged up too many bad memories. “I don’t know yet,” he replied.

Twenty-Seven

“I was shocked to see you at the assembly,” Seth said to Tia once he returned to Maxi’s. “What were you thinking?”

“I didn’t want to miss your big speech.” As she slid into his arms, he couldn’t avoid the memory of telling Eli only half an hour ago that they were just friends. Maybe he would’ve been able to convince himself it was true, except he’d come straight home from the assembly instead of hanging out at his mother’s with his younger brothers, whom he didn’t get to see very often, because he couldn’t wait to be with her.

It wasn’t that they were just friends. He had to acknowledge that. It was that he couldn’t trust love. Not after what his birth mother had done, and not after losing Shiloh. Love sucked. It wasn’t to be trusted, and he was done letting it mess with his heart.

That was also why he wasn’t going to reply to Brady this year, either. Brady’s text had swirled around in his mind the whole way home, reminding him of the hope he used to harbor of reconnecting with his biological family—and making acid churn in his stomach because what he wished for and what he could allow himself were two different things.

“Are you happy with the way it went?” she asked.