Charles nodded. “There was a part of me worrying that I was second best, that perhaps Jen had latched on to me because she was afraid of missing her chance at love. We all know how Jenna used to feel about Tristan,” Charles went on. “I didn’t know how I could compete with a ghost.”

“But they were over years before you two got together. We were still kids, really, when they were sweethearts,” said Nory.

“And you and Jen had been beating about the bush for years,” added Jeremy.

“Oh my god, the flirting!” Nory laughed.

“I honestly considered locking the pair of you in a room together just so you could get it on and get it over with,” admitted Jeremy.

Charles smiled, remembering, and then his expression clouded, and he said, “But when you’ve watched the love of your life be so in love with someone else, it makes you question whether you’ll ever match up in her mind. First loves are pretty enduring, even after they’ve ended.”

“And what about Jenna?” Guy asked. “Was she worrying about the same thing?”

Charles shook his head. “Not exactly. But that’s not for me to say, not to you anyway.” He looked pointedly at Guy. “My point in telling you this is that the counseling helped. We talked through all of our issues, and we made peace with them. There are no skeletons rattling their bones in our closets anymore, and it’s . . . it’s liberating, it honestly is. This is the healthiest relationship I’ve ever had with another human. We’re from the same stock, you and I, Guy, both from families who would rather die than express an emotion . . .”

“You mean repressed as fuck,” said Guy glibly.

“That’s exactly what I mean. But we don’t have to be like our parents.”

Nory wished her family would adopt a little repression, instead of expressing every emotion they had the second they felt it. She’d been well into her teens before she realized that not everybody expressed themselves quite as openly as her family, and she’d had to work hard at remembering to keep some of her thoughts to herself.

“I get what you’re saying,” said Guy. “And I admire the way you’ve broken the mold, I do. It’s just not for me. I am what I am. Camille knew what she married, and if she’s decided that she can’t handle it, then so be it.”

“You really are the most conceited person I have ever met,” Jeremy mused.

“It’s not conceit. I’m accepting that she doesn’t want to be with me.”

“Do you really think that?” Nory asked. “Because I think Camille is still very much in love with you, even though you are a complete dickhead.”