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“She might leave me,” Brock said.
That hit like a powerhouse sucker punch in the stomach. Maybe Van should have expected it, but he’d been too busy not wanting to hear it.
Uh, yeah. Aunt Cynthia might leave Brock. Mary might leave Van too.
That thought had never occurred to him before. Always, always, he had been the one who did the leaving. Even Mary expected him to be the one to do the leaving, and she wouldn’t blame him for it. She’d said so. She’d promised. She’d said he was safe.
He suddenly felt unsafe anyway.
Well, so what? That’s what happened with love affairs. They ended, no matter who did the leaving.
Except he suddenly felt very, very unsafe.
He had to steer this conversation back to where it should be, centering on Brock and Aunt Cynthia. “Do you think she would leave?”
Brocktookawhiletoanswer.Vancouldunderstand that. Brock didn’t have just your normal, everyday reasons for thinking Aunt Cynthia might leave.
“Did Mary tell you about us? The Samuel curse, I mean?”
“The guys leave, or so the women believe.”
“I’ve hated seeing that happen, again and again. It hurts to watch someone you love feel so bad, you know?”
“Yeah.”
“I was in love once,” Brock added. “Killed. Drunk driver hit our car. I could walk away. To watch her die.Whatifthat’showthefamilycurseoperateswith me?”
“Oh, man.” Van couldn’t breathe. Imagine. You not only lose someone you love, but you think you’re to blame for it. He didn’t believe in this curse crap, but what if he did, and something took Mary away from him like this? Forever?
He felt as though a five-pound brick of ice had slammed into his stomach.
“It’s always been like that for the women in our family,” Brock said. “Wham, bam, they’re in love at first sight and forever.”
Van grunted.
“I’m the only guy in the family it happened to, as far as I know.”
Van grunted, this time as more of a question than a comment.
“Yeah, I know, too weird. I might not have thought too much about it, but the other part of the curse kicked in too. She left me.”
“But you said — ”
“Okay, she didn’t really leave me. She died. But I still lost her, just like all the women in the family lose the guys they fall for.”
“You think that proves you’re cursed too.”
“Yup.”
“And you think the curse means my Aunt Cynthia will walk out on you eventually.”
“Yup. Or worse. Maybe she’ll die too.”
Van knew what he needed to say. He was scared to say it, though. It applied to him too. Maybe the only reason he could even think it was because he was about to say it to Brock, not to himself.
“Brock, let’s take this one step at a time. What’s it like living without her right now?”
Brock didn’t say a word, for long, agonized moments.
