Blake nodded. “Right, right. I get it. And you called it. We’ve been here before, and then something stupid always happens. Usually it’s been me screwing it up somehow. I know. I hear you.” He leaned forward, his eyes zeroing in on me. “But this time it’s different. I mean it. I’m better. More mature. And I get it. I understand how great Sam is. How supportive and loving. I’m really on it. You know, there comes a time when we all have to grow up. It happens at different times for all of us.” He pointed at me. “You had it figured out sooner. I’m a slow learner. But I got there.”

He seemed sincere. He really did. His clear eyes looked completely serious.

And I knew Blake well enough to know this was something he did. He’d always latch on to some new enthusiasm—a new job, a different major, a girl he met—and claim that everything was suddenly different, that this time everything would work out perfectly.

But it never did. He always blew it up or broke it down and went back to being the same old Blake doing too much of everything. Drinking. Smoking. Eating.

But I could see how desperately he wanted me to believe it would work this time. How desperately he wanted me to approve and share his happiness.

And for all I knew, this would be it. He might have grown up. He might be a fully formed adult.

I wasn’t lying when I said Samantha was wonderful. She was. Pretty and optimistic. Considerate of others. Warm. Enthusiastic. But with none of Blake’s tendency toward recklessness. She was a schoolteacher, and she walked the straight and narrow. I couldn’t count the number of good causes she’d managed to get Amanda or me to volunteer for or donate money to. She wanted to run for the school board someday. She’d already said she wanted my firm to help with social media when she did.

But I understood what she saw in him. I knew how charming Blake could be. How bighearted. How much he could make anyone feel like the center of his world, how much his attention and energy could focus like a spotlight. Samantha was as smart as I was. She could see everything I could see—the good and the challenging.

I knew she played some of the role in Blake’s life I used to play. She told him when to back off, when not to play so hard. And he kept her from working on lesson plans until midnight.

I got it.

And I wanted to be happy for him.

And I wanted him to be happy. I really did.