The Next Door Boys (18 page)

“Hey guys, this is my brother Jaron and his friend Brian. And this is Brian's son, and my totally special friend, Nathan.” I punched Nathan softly on the shoulder. “This is Kyle and Jessica. I went to high school with them.”

“Nice to meet you.” Jaron nodded. Brian reached into his car again.

“Do you guys want to join us?” I asked Jaron and Brian.

“No thanks. We'll let you little kids have fun,” Jaron teased.

“Fine. We'll see you old guys later on then.” I started toward Kyle's car.

“Are you coming home tonight, Leigh?” Nathan asked.

“Of course.”

“In time to say good night?”

“I'll make sure of it.”

“Okay.” He darted into my parents’ house. Brian and Jaron followed with Brian's bags.

I ran down the driveway to catch up with Kyle and Jessica, who already neared their car. Eager to go, I was sure.

“Wow, your brother and Brian are so cute.” Jessica smiled from the backseat.

I laughed. “Well, Jaron is dating my roommate and Brian is just, Brian. I don't know. He's, like, five years older than us.”

“And married?” she asked.

“Nope. He's divorced.”

“Well, in that case…” She sounded hopeful.

“Whatever, Jessica.” Kyle rolled his eyes at her. “How about you, Leigh? Dating anyone at college?”

“Nope.” I shrugged. “Just trying to get through school.”

“And how's that working out for ya?” Jessica leaned between the front seats.

“Only marginally well,” I answered. Evan and Noah popped into my head almost immediately.

I barely made it home in time to kiss Nathan good night.

I had just woken up Christmas morning when my phone rang. I reached out to my nightstand to answer. It was a two-oh-six number. Seattle. Noah. Nervous tingles immediately filled my chest.

“Hello?” I beamed.

“Merry Christmas, friend.” I heard Noah laugh on the other end.

“Merry Christmas,” I laughed back. Nervous energy didn't allow for anything else.

“Did I wake you?”

“No.”

“I hope you have a nice day.”

“You too.” I rolled onto my stomach.

“Well, I guess I'll see you back at school.” Was that it? Was he already trying to get off the phone?

“Probably,” I said.

“Probably?” he teased.

“Okay, I'm sure I'll see you back at school.”

“Whew, good. I thought I might have lost you there.”

“Nope.”

“Definitely nope?”

I laughed at him. “Definitely nope.”

“Are you at your parents’ house for the whole break?”

“Yep.”

“All right. Well, I'll see you later then.”

“See you.”

I hung up and dropped the phone on the floor. What a bizarre conversation. I was smiling like an idiot. Noah took the time to call me on Christmas.

Nathan's backpack was a huge hit. The boys dressed up in their pj's like I knew my mom would make them do. I now had a great picture of them, almost like I'd pictured in my head.

Brian handed a small package to my mom. She paused and looked at Brian. “You didn't have to do anything for us, Brian.”

“I know.”

My mom slowly unwrapped it, stealing short glances Brian's way as she did. Her hand came to her mouth, and I saw tears at the corners of her eyes. I stood up and walked over to see. Brian had done a drawing of Jaron and I. I recognized it from a picture my parents had taken on the temple grounds on the day I went through. My head was on Jaron's shoulder, and we were both smiling, our hands together on Jaron's lap. I had chills. Brian was a genius.

Mom tilted the picture so Dad could see. He nodded in appreciation and patted Brian on the back. Mom stood up and pulled Brian into a long hug. I started to wonder if she'd ever let him go. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.

“You're more than welcome.”

Mom finally let him go and set herself on Dad's lap.

“It's amazing, Brian.” I looked over at him in awe of his talent once again.

“Thanks.” He sat back down with Nathan, who immediately crawled onto his dad's lap. They did amazingly well as a little family of two when Brian was able to have him. I wondered what circumstances enabled Brian to have Nathan for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. On top of that, I wondered where Brian's family was—if he had any.

I sat underneath the blissfully warm sun on the patio, my legs stretched out in front of me and my eyes closed. It felt heavenly.

“Leigh?” Mom called through the open window. “Kyle's here to see you.”

“Um, okay. He can just come on back,” I called back.

He walked through the door a moment later.

“Hey, what's up?” I asked. I sat a little more upright so we could talk.

“Oh, I was just driving around.” He sat down on the chair next to mine.

“Don't you leave in a few days?” I asked. “On your mission?”

“Yeah. I'm kind of starting to freak out about it.”

“I'm sure you'll do great.” Why was he here?

“We all kind of missed you last year. No one knew where you were.” He rested his elbows on his knees and looked up at me.

“Oh.” I didn't know how to answer that. I sat there, having no idea what to say to him. He looked like he needed a hug, but I certainly didn't know him well enough to give him any kind of comfort.

“Well, I'd better be off.” He stood up abruptly.

“Okay.” Who drives around and stops for a two-minute conversation? I stood up and walked with him into the house.

“Would you write to me once in a while? On my mission?” He looked worried, like I'd say no. Who would say no to a request from a missionary?

“Sure, Kyle. I'm sure your sister will have the info for me.”

“I wrote down what you need to have. They make it really easy now.” He pulled a note from his pocket and handed it to me. We stopped in the entryway. I slid the note into my pocket, having no idea what to say to him.

“Well, I'd better get home.”

“Yeah, I'm sure your family wants to see you as much as they can before you leave.” I nodded a few times, waiting for him to tell me what he actually came here for. It was like he was trying to say something that just wasn't coming out.

We stood in silence for a few moments.

“Well, good luck.” I reached out my hand to shake his, and he put his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. That was unexpected. I patted him on the back and opened the door for him as he left. How weird.

I heard low chuckling to my right. Brian and Nathan were in my parents’ living room watching TV. Brian looked at me with a smile.

“What's so funny?”

“You are absolutely clueless, Leigh,” he said.

“About what?” I rested my hands on my hips.

“About that boy totally liking you.”

“What? Kyle? No…” Could he? “But I didn't even do anything.” I thought again. “No… You're wrong.” I shook my head. How could Kyle like me? I hadn't seen him in more than a year.

“I'm not wrong, Leigh. It's a good thing he's leaving on his mission or you'd have another Evan on your hands.” His body started shaking in laughter again.

“Not funny.” I walked back up the stairs. Brian didn't know what he was talking about. No way.

“You're too cute for your own good,” Brian called up after me.

I closed my bedroom door. I didn't want to think about another guy liking me. I hadn't done anything! Did I have to be mean to everyone?

I stood in front of the mirror and slowly made myself more presentable than I had since arriving. I ran my hair through a curling iron, which took forever. It had grown in thick and was getting longer fast, resting between my shoulder blades. I took more care with makeup than normal, just for fun, and threw on my favorite ballet flats that weren't nearly warm enough for Provo at that time of year.

“Leigh?” Jaron called up. “You ready?”

“In a minute!” I hollered back down.

“Seriously, what are you doing?”

“I'm a girl, Jaron. The St. George Temple will still be there in ten minutes!”

I looked around for my little fitted jacket before heading down the stairs.

“You look nice. Are you expecting Kyle?” Brian teased as I hit the entry.

I threw him a look. “No.”

“Relax, Leigh. I'm just giving you a hard time.” He smiled at me as he walked through the front door with his son.