The words struck a chord with Danny. He was finding his joy again too, playing on a team that was competitive but that didn’t have the expectations of an entire city or country on its shoulders. Baseball was the top sport here, rugby far down the popularity ladder.

“What about you?” Sailor took a sip of the lemonade at his elbow. “Settling in okay?”

Danny nodded and told him about the day trip he was planning on one of his upcoming days off. “I’m going to see a sumo match with my housemates.” He grinned. “I can’t fucking wait. Those wrestlers are pure power.”

“I’ve watched a couple of matches on TV, but being there in person, that’ll be something else,” Sailor said and they chatted a bit more on the traditional sport before Danny gave in and said, “Have you seen Catie lately? How’s she doing?”

Sailor raised an eyebrow. “Great,” he said. “You know she put in a blistering time at the latest trials.”

“She told me.” He scuffed his foot on the floor, unable to explain why he felt as if he were fighting to hold on to air.

“Come on, baby bro, spit it out.”

“Don’t call me that,” Danny muttered, but he wasn’t truly angry. He knew his brothers would be calling him baby bro when he was seventy-five and heading into a retirement village.

“Dan, what’s wrong?” Sailor frowned. “Hold on. I’m going to close the door. Emmaline knows not to come in without knocking if the study door is closed.”

He returned soon afterward while Danny was still struggling with what he wanted to say. He wasn’t sure he wanted to say anything at all—because he and Catie, it was something important. Private.

“You and Catie having problems?” Sailor nudged, and when Danny scowled at him, his brother shook his head. “I have eyes in my head. I saw the way you looked at her at the airport, saw the way she hugged you. You two aren’t pretending anymore.”

Danny got all hot, his face burning. “Did Mum and Dad notice?”

“Probably, but you know them. They’re not going to say anything until you do.” Sailor leaned closer to the screen. “No pressure in either direction, Dan. We love you both too much.”

Exhaling hard, Danny shoved a hand through his hair. “It’s just hard to get a handle on things when I’m so far away.”

“You two are talking though?”

“Yeah.”

“Dan?”

“She always replies when I message. Always.”

“Ah.” Sailor leaned back. “But she never sends the first message, is that it?”

Danny stared at his brother. “How do you know that?” It was what had made him realize he didn’t mean as much to Catie as she did to him.