He looked at her hand, then up at her face. “Just how long have you known my brother?”
“Less than a week,” she admitted after only a momentary pause. “But I think I've gotten to know him fairly well during that time.”
Tim's mouth twisted. “I've known him all my life, and he's pretty much a stranger to me.”
And that, Lucy realized, was a painful admission for Tim. He had a big brother he barely knew, a brother he had tried to turn to in a difficult time, and it hurt him that he hadn't been able to make that connection. And because she was starting to understand Banner-or at least she wanted to believe that she was beginning to figure him out- she suspected he was in the kitchen right now berating himself for not knowing how to meet Tim halfway.
This family needed help, and there was no better time to start than the present, she decided. While it was true that she was no expert in family relationships, she was the only one here at the moment to give it a shot. Tightening her fingers on Tim's arm, she gave a slight tug. “Come on. We're going back in there to talk to your brother.”
Tim shook his head. “It wouldn't do any good. You heard us in there. We barely speak the same language.”
“Then what you need is a translator. And I happen to speak a little Banner. Come on.”
Tim resisted for a moment, making her give him one of the looks she usually reserved for class disrupters. “Don't make me pick you up and carry you in there.”
That drew a reluctant laugh from him. Though an inch or so shorter than Banner, Tim still pretty much towered over Lucy. “Why do I get the feeling that you might try that?”
“Because I would,” she told him cheerfully. “So you might as well come willingly.”
Lucy and Tim had just taken a step toward the kitchen when Banner entered the living room. He looked first at Lucy, who still had her hand on Tim's arm. “What do you want me to do?”
“You could try listening,” she replied. “Maybe Tim would like to tell you why he came here today.”
“All right. Let's talk.” Banner sat on one end of the couch and motioned toward the remaining chairs. “Sit.”
“Maybe it would be best if I leave the two of you alone,” Lucy offered, moving toward the bedroom.
“No!” The brothers spoke in perfect unison, both looking a bit panicky at the prospect of being alone together now.
“Please stay,” Tim added, giving her a look that was just short of beseeching.
She was the one who had initiated this, she reminded herself. Nodding, she took a seat on the couch next to Banner. “All right. But feel free to ask me to step out of the room if you decide you want to discuss private family matters.”
Tim responded to that with a short, bitter laugh. “Rick has less interest than you do in family matters.”
“You could be right about that,” Banner snapped. “I've always minded my own business and let the rest of you do the same.”
“Did it ever occur to you that we wanted you to be part of our lives?” Tim retorted.
“And let Dad try to control me the way he does you and Brenda? I'll pass.”
“You would never let that happen. You've never let him push you around.”
Was that a touch of hero worship in Tim's voice? Lucy studied his young face, seeing just a hint of vulnerability in his eyes, though he was obviously trying to emulate his older brother's inscrutable mask. It wasn't hard to imagine him as a young boy, both impressed and intimidated by the older brother he saw so rarely.
Banner shrugged. “By the time he paid enough attention to me to try to control me, I was already old enough to be set in my ways. Nothing I did seemed to please him, so I stopped trying. You, on the other hand, seemed to be exactly what he wanted from a son.”
“I've spent my whole life trying to be…maybe I didn't have your guts to be able to tell him to back off.”
Looking uncomfortable with the comparison, Banner shrugged. “Maybe you had to reach a point where you'd had enough.”
Tim didn't look particularly reassured. “Maybe.”
The two men fell silent, apparently lost in their own glum thoughts about their father.
After several long moments, Lucy decided it was time to get them talking again. “How did your mother and sister react to the news that you're quitting law school?”
Tim shrugged. “Mother had hysterics and went to bed. Brenda told me I was being an idiot, then left to go back to the hospital, which is where she spends all her time, anyway.”
“Brenda really enjoys her work?”
He nodded. “She told me she can't imagine doing anything else with her life. I never felt that way about the law. And I sure never had any interest in medicine-it was all I could do to get through the basic biology classes with grades my father would accept.”
“Then you have to find something that excites you as much as medicine excites your sister,” Lucy told him firmly. “The way your brother loves working with wood.”
Tim threw a quick glance Banner's way, then looked at Lucy again. “What do you do, Lucy?”
“Dr. Guerin is a mathematics professor,” Banner surprised her by saying before she could respond.
“
“Yes.” Lucy sighed a little and shook her head. “I really don't know why that seems to stun everyone who hears it.”
“I think Tim is surprised that I have a friend who finished college, much less teaches it,” Banner drawled.
A friend. Lucy stashed that description away to mull over later.
Tim sounded defensive when he said, “I didn't say I was surprised that you have a friend like Lucy. She simply seems too young to have a Ph. D.”
“I'll take that as a compliment.” Lucy smiled at Tim, then gave Banner a look that silently requested he behave himself.
Banner cleared his throat “So, uh, Tim-do you need any money or anything?”
Lucy supposed Banner considered his offer to be a show of supportiveness, even though Tim immediately turned defensive again.
“No,” he said. “I didn't come here for money.”
“Then why did you come?”
Tim rubbed his palms on the legs of his jeans before answering, “Maybe I was hoping to find one person who would tell me I did the right thing.”
Lucy held her breath until Banner finally spoke. “You're sure this is what you want to do?” he asked Tim.
Tim nodded, no trace of uncertainty in his voice when he replied, “I'm positive.”
Banner shrugged. “Then you did the right thing.”
The expression that flashed through Tim's eyes made Lucy's chest ache.
“Thanks,” he murmured.
“So what are your plans now? Tonight?” Banner asked.
Pushing a hand through his hair, Tim replied, “I guess I'll find a place to crash tonight, then start looking for a job and an apartment somewhere. Dad's been paying my rent while I've been in school, but that's over. I told him I didn't want him supporting me any longer.”
“That's the only way you're ever going to get out from under his control,” Banner commented.
“I know. I've got some savings stashed away to live on until I find a job. Although I'll have to find one pretty quickly.”
“I'm sure your brother wants you to stay here until you find another place,” Lucy hinted broadly, nudging Banner sharply with her elbow.
“Uh…yeah, sure.” He rubbed his rib cage as he spoke.
Tim's drooping shoulders straightened. “Really? I mean, I was sort of hoping I could bunk here for a day or two, but if you'd rather I didn't…”
He glanced at Lucy as he spoke, making it clear that he worried about having crashed a romantic idyll. It had to have been obvious to him, of course, that Lucy had spent the night here and had just crawled out of Banner's bed when Tim arrived.
“Of course you should stay,” she said firmly. “After all, the closest motel is fifteen miles away. And it's New Year's Eve. We'll have a party.”
Banner frowned. “Does this party involve decorations? Am I going to have to chop down another tree?”
