Accidentally on Purpose

Chapter Fifty-One

In that moment, I forgot all those days when I cursed him for leaving our family, for leaving me with unanswered questions and ignored calls that went straight to voicemail.

I soaked into his warm embrace, not wanting to let it go. The hug felt familiar to me, and I almost believed that four years had changed nothing. But it had, and so I let myself out of his hold, wiping the fallen tears on my cheeks with the back of my hand.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, his voice so light from surprise it was barely a whisper. "How did you—how did you—"

"I drove," I said simply. Then he stared at me for a while, before scooping me into one more hug briefly, as if he couldn't get enough of it.

"I missed you so much," I found myself saying once we had let go again. He didn't answer, but from the look in his eyes, I knew he felt the same way. Or at least, I hoped he felt the same way.

We decided that it would be best if we parked our car first before going inside and catch up on our lost years. My hands were shaking when I parked Mom's car, but I managed to do it without hurting anyone.

I was surprised to see how neat the house was once I got inside, remembering how he had never bothered to make up his bed until Leann yelled at him. But here, everything was in place. The living room was small, and it was connected to both the dining room and the small kitchen. There was a room and a bathroom, and a set of stairs that led to the second floor. It wasn't a very spacious house, but it was homey enough.

Picture frames filled most of the walls in the living room, and I was surprised to see them filled with pictures of our family. Though, on the other side of the wall, I saw faces of strangers, which sparked my curiosity.

When I turned around after studying the pictures on the walls, Tony was stood on the other side of the room, just staring at me.

"It's pretty neat," I commented softly. "What a surprise."

He let out a chuckle and sat down on the couch, gesturing for me to come. "Yeah, it's all Kate's work."

"Kate?" I asked curiously, walking up to the couch and sitting next to him.

His face tinted with pink, just slightly. "My girlfriend. She's back in her hometown for the holidays, though."

I held in an amused smile. "Your girlfriend." He shrugged. "You have a girlfriend." He nodded, and I finally let the smile out. "So things have... really changed a lot."

He took a deep breath and sat up straight, entwining his fingers together in his lap. "I have so many questions."

"So do I."

He smiled at me, but it looked slightly sad. "You first."

"How are you?" I asked the first question that came to mind, because there were too many of them swirling inside my head. "How have you been?"

"I've been okay," he said, giving a light shrug. "Done with college last year, now working at this fancy company owned by my friend's dad. He had a pull and I wasn't about to waste a chance."

"What do you do? Pick up trash bags and clean mugs?" I couldn't help but tease, and he chuckled.

"More or less, yeah." He looked at me. "And you?"

"I'm doing fine," I half-lied. "It's my last year of high school, if you didn't know. So... I have a lot of decisions to make. About the future."

"I know," he said, "that it's your last year of high school. Of course I know. What kind of brother I am?"

Tony apparently noticed the mistake in his rhetorical question the same time I did, because he immediately sealed his mouth shut and looked away from me.