Chapter 36

“Why don’t you take him upstairs and get him into some more comfortable clothes?” Celine said.

“Good idea,” Brian said.

Brian walked Brody up the stairs and into their bedroom. Tears still flowing, Brody stood helplessly beside the bed, and allowed Brian to remove his outer clothing and replace it with a set of warm-ups. Then Brian quickly changed into warm-ups himself.

“Do you want to lie down, babe?” he said to Brody.

“Not really. Why don’t we go out onto the porch and look at the lake.”

“What about your sister?”

“Ask her to join us. In fact, why don’t you grab that bottle of Penfold’s 707and three glasses.”

“Will you be okay?”

“Yeah,”—sniffle—“once these stupid tears stop flowing.” Brody was speaking more or less normally, but he was still crying. He walked out to the former sleeping porch and settled down in a loveseat.

Brian hurried downstairs, rounded up the wine and glasses, and invited Celine to follow him upstairs.