There was a couple of seconds of silence on the other line. “My brother’s in love?” she asked, and I could sense her softening at the news.
“It seems that way.”
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Sophie breathed. “I mean… Tony kept telling me it would happen sooner or later. No one goes through their entire lives without falling in love, but… It’s still surprising with your track record. Didn’t you always maintain that monogamous relationships were an archaic tradition set up by a society that wanted to limit and suppress natural human instinct and desire?”
“I might have believed that at one point.”
“Wow…”
“She’s an amazing woman.”
“She’d have to be, wouldn’t she?” Sophie reasoned. “To take the most passionate bachelor I know and turn him into the poster boy for commitment.”
“I wouldn’t say I qualify as the poster boy for anything.”
“Fair point,” she said, and her tone was amused and curious. “What’s her name?”
“Natalie,” I said.
“How young is she?”
I rolled my eyes. “She’s twenty-one. I actually met her on her birthday last year.”
“Twenty-one,” Sophie repeated. “What do you talk about with her?”
“Everything,” I said. “She’s young, but she’s the smartest person I know—”
“Excuse me?”
“With the exception of you of course,” I smiled.
“Thank you,” she replied. “Continue.”
“She’s well traveled, well read, hardworking, and unbelievably mature. She’s an old soul.”
Sophie’s voice got soft for a moment. “Dad used to say that about you.”
“There was so much I didn’t know about Dad,” I said, feeling a little prickle of sadness in my gut. “There was so much I didn’t bother to learn. Like the fact that he was actually proud of me.”
“How could you ever doubt that?” she asked. “Dad and you were nothing alike, but he always admired your sense of adventure. He loved how brave you were.”
“Is that why he would talk to Tommy about me?”
“I was angry with you for a long time,” she admitted. “Your need to escape, your need to get away from the family… It reminded me of Mom. And because Dad couldn’t talk to me about you, he started talking to Tommy. I just never realized how much.”
I nodded. “You know, I didn’t start traveling to get away from you or Dad,” I said.
“I know that now,” Sophie said. “But at the time, it just reminded me of her.”
“I know,” I said. “I reminded myself of her.”
“Is that why you became a nomad?”
“In a way.” I nodded. “I think I was trying to figure myself out.”
“And did you?”
“I’m starting to,” I said. “It’s ironic, really; I had to come back home to understand myself a little better.”