Page 136 of Ethan

Charlie grunted.

“You should give Charlie like a quarter of a free pass,” Ethan said.

Livvy raised a blond eyebrow. “I should, huh?”

“Don’t say she should just because he’s Charlie.” Avery shot Ethan a hard-ish look. Probably the hardest look he was capable of, under the circumstances.

“Well, heisCharlie,” Ethan pointed out.

“I hate you all,” Charlie announced, like this was news.

“He should get a quarter of a free pass because he’s the middle child, obviously,” Ethan said, like they should all know this.

“I donothave middle-child syndrome, for the millionth fucking time,” Charlie argued.

“Sure, definitely not,” Livvy said, meeting Ethan’s eyes before they both burst into laughter.

“Was there a point to all this?” Charlie complained.

Livvy straightened and picking up her coffee cup began to gesture with it. “Yes, actually,” she said primly. “The point is that you don’t have to do it all yourself. You never had to, because you had Max, but now you have Ethan and Avery, too. You’ve got all these people in your corner and all these are people who love you, who canhelpyou win.”

Ethan applauded, so loudly they got a few weird looks from the other people in the coffee shop, and Charlie shot him a glare.

“I should’ve brought Max; he’d be onmyside.”

That was apparently the step too far for Avery. His jaw dropped as he stared at Charlie. “To our family coffee? Eth didn’t even bring Tuck—”

“Leave me and Hank out of this,” Ethan interrupted.

“And,” Avery continued with emphasis, like Ethan hadn’t said anything, “they’reactuallydating.”

Charlie’s expression froze. “What’sthatsupposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Avery said, but Ethan was relieved that he didn’t exactly sound convincing.

“We’re getting off topic,” Livvy said gently. “I know you’re all neurotic and shit, Charlie, but this is agoodthing. You’ve got your brother back. And as for that brother—” She broke off,pinning Avery with a hard look. “You get the same lecture, but with a gentler delivery. Enjoy this opportunity, okay?Seeit as an opportunity.”

“How did you get so smart?” Ethan asked, even though he had a few good theories why.

Livvy just laughed. “It’s my extra X chromosome.”

When Ethan just looked confused, Avery barked out a laugh. “She means we’re all idiot men.”

“Well,that’strue,” Ethan agreed.

“As for you,” Livvy said, turning to Ethan. “Stop worrying about the protection thing. And even more, stop worrying deep down about being the next Charlie—”

“Hey,” Ethan argued.

He didn’t do that. Hewouldn’tdo that.

“Sure, you would never,” Livvy said wryly. “Maybe you guys didn’t win that game, but I bet if Silas had put out that line earlier, the Gabby-Max-Eth line, I think you might’ve. You just didn’t have enough time to create enough opportunities. Honestly? Protection or no protection, I’d have put you together ages ago because that’s a powerhouse of a second line.”

Ethan didn’t say anything because he was half convinced his sister was right. And he wanted her to be right, but he also still wanted her to be wrong. To go back to the sure certainty that he was a center, that he’d always be a center. Too many things were shifting, and they weren’t all bad. Livvy was right about Avery. Thatwasan opportunity. Maybe playing on Max’s wing could be the same.

“I’m not gonna disagree with any of that,” Charlie said, apparently deciding that this was important enough to comment on to come out of his sulk. Ethan wasn’t stupid enough to think it was because ofhim; it was probably only because Livvy had brought Max up.

“Me either,” Avery chimed in and Ethan rolled his eyes.