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"Katy," Wayne says, when they're alone in the kitchen for one, no Dan and Daryl, no weekend Shoresy.
"Yeah big brother?"
"Just. Just between us girls," he continues.
"Just between us girls," she says.
"Yeah like, just... between us girls..."
She motions for him to get on with it.
"Well, y'know what Katy, fuck, like," Wayne says. "Well it's like... Just between us girls, I think I've got a problem." He looks extra awkward today, like someone asked him how he felt about how to color coordinate their autumnal wreaths. It is probably way too early for this.
"And what's that, big brother."
"Well... Well it's just." Wayne groans a whine with his mouth shut. With her brother it's always some great shit to have problems over, if it's rendering him grumbling like a dog.
"What?" She says, more forcefully.
"I think I... Miss... Shoresy," he finally trickles out.
All that for this?
"Look at you, being in touch with your emotions."
"No, Katy, Katy no," he says, "it's a problem. There's something wrong with me."
"He's your friend," Katy says. And more, if she were to guess and if he were to ever acknowledge it. "It's normal to miss him."
"No but like, if Dary's gone a week for the dairy convention, I don't miss him like this. Like, if Dan's gone out to 'Berta, I just hope he comes back with some steaks for all of us, right." Wayne's got himself right into a funk with this, she's starting to realize.
"Well," Katy says, unsure how to put it. "You just feel more close with Shoresy, 's all."
"No, Katy, Katy no," he says, stuck in a rut. "That's not it. Because, I've been close with people before, right, and it wasn't like this. Shoresy left yesterday and I'm already wishing he was walking through that door there, Katy, and that's not right. 'S not normal. Not for me."
She grimaces. No easy way to approach this. "Well, you were even closer with Marie-Fred than you are with Shoresy, right?"
"Yes." Wayne says, firmly.
"Yous visited each other every weekend," she says. "Didn't you miss her, since yous were doing that?"
And maybe she really wasn't ready for this conversation, early in the morning and only one dart into the day, because this is what really gets Wayne all crumpled and recalcitrant.
"Well," Wayne says, quietly, a bit choked. "No."
"You didn't miss her when she was gone?"
"No."
"When Rosie left, you didn't miss her?"
"Like, in the same way I miss Dan if he's out west too long, yeah," Wayne says, sounding smaller than he's ever been.
"Angie? When she cheated and it was over, that wasn't you missing her?"
"Of course I missed her. I was hurt, and we did lots together," Wayne says. "It took a while but yeah, I missed having her around."
Katy sighs. "Just... around."
Wayne frowns. "There's something wrong with me. 'Cause Shoresy leaves and I want him back here at the farm pronto, and that's not how I am. Never been... clingy."
"Yeah, girls have said you're distant, mostly," Katy says, and in tandem with Wayne says "because that's just the way you are."
"Yep."
"And now you don't feel distant."
"...No."
She wishes she could make this easier for him. For anything else, she'd push. She'd just give it to him. But for him to even come to her like this... Katy can't fuck this up, but how can she fix it?
"Fuckin' hell, big brother."
"It's not right, for me," he says.
She looks around, just to delay, but her eyes land on the phone, and if this doesn't work she'll make sure someone on Shoresy's team puts cleartape on his rockers.
"It's only a problem if Shoresy thinks it's a problem," she says, "so why don't I just call him and ask?"
"What?" Wayne's eyes go wide. For him. "No, no, no Katy, no, we shouldn't bother him."
"Isn't he the one who calls you every day? You're not bothering him," Katy says, already pulling up his number and putting it on speaker.
It rings out before Wayne can get over and stop her, and now he's looking away, hard angled to the wall.
"Katy," Shoresy says, "how're you now?"
"Good n'you?"
"Well I got a plug tendy up here and d-men that are half my size," he says, "So I'm thinking of doin' a deep dive off the big nickel. Whatcha callin' for?"
She can see Wayne trying to stare her down.
"Well, my big brother got it in his head that there's something wrong with him."
"Oh?"
"Yep. Says, he's never missed someone as hard and fast as he's missing you, there's something wrong with him causing that." She says it calm, peaceful, and with clear intent that she'll gut him if he fucks this up.
There's silence.
"Got myself a stalker, eh?" Shoresy says.
Katy could kill him right now.
"No," Wayne says, quietly.
"Don't hold out on me now, farmboy," Shoresy says with a huge grin in his voice. "Tell me all about how ya wanna keep me in a cage in yer basement, I knew it. Ho-ly."
Her brother looks like he's about to keel over.
"Shoresy," Wayne says.
"Oh my god," he says. "Never been so fuckin' honored. Like, what, 're y'wantin' t'wear me like a coat then, Wayne?"
"No."
"Going soft, then? Like, am I not worth the coverup?"
Wayne grumbles.
"Stick that lip back in, I can hear it," Shoresy says. "Come on, big man, this is what every kidnappin' psycho wants at the end of the rainbow, I'm sittin' here kickin' my feet over you wantin' t'open me up and sleep in my guts 'n yer gonna turn back now?"
"I don't," Wayne says.
"Well you were sayin' there's somethin' real wrong with you, and I thought it sounded like regular missin' me but ya say it mustn't be, so," Shoresy reasons. "I'm tellin' ya, ya don't need to worry. You could watch me through the window all night ya creep, and I'd just let 'cha in."
Katy wants to roll her eyes. Figures Shoresy'd think being obnoxious would solve the problem. But she can't deny, Wayne's done a complete about-face from looking like he wants to saw his own limbs off to just embarassed and annoyed and a bit fond.
She can't deny, she'd rather have to watch Wayne's face twitch and crinkle into his awkwardest smile as Shoresy serenades him with ways he'd love for Wayne to hide his body, than watch Wayne panic over having actual strong feelings in a relationship.
Katy's still not sure she's ready to think about the full implications of that. She knows Wayne isn't.
Maybe that's why Shoresy took this path.
Not so dumb, perhaps.
"And what, ya miss me so bad it makes you an evil goon but ya can't be bothered ta come fer a game?" Shoresy asks.
"When's the next —" Katy asks.
"Huh?"
"Wednesday, 8PM," Wayne mutters.
"So y'do know!" Shoresy crows. "'Spose I should 'spect nothin' less from my stalker, eh Katy? Get yer bums in a seat, fuck, you'll love watchin' me heckle those North Bay losers."
"We'll be there," she says, and hangs up.
Wayne looks stricken. He's never handled plan changes well.
"Come on big brother," Katy sighs. "If you miss him, just visit him. Sounds like he wants that too."
And when they go, they watch the Bulldogs pull out a win and Shoresy trick three separate idiots into instigating penalties. And when Wayne starts shuffling about the long drive home, Shoresy invites them back to his place.
Her brother and his man make up an excuse about sharing his bed since they're both guys. Of course they do. Katy wonders, almost asleep on the couch next to Shoresy's parrot, when they'll be fully honest with her. With themselves.
In the meantime, she'll take this indirect truth. She will, when it means she gets to see Wayne happy like that.