“It went well, I take it?” Katie asked, smirking at him over the menu.

“What? Oh, yeah. Very productive.”

Katie raised an eyebrow and set her menu down. “Where were you?”

“The…bathroom?”

Sighing, she ran a hand through her messy hair. “What did you say to him?” Her voice sounded resigned, and it was clear she wasn’t Aaron’s biggest fan at the moment.

Aaron picked up his menu and surveyed it briefly. “I didn’t say anything.”

“I can fight my own battles, Aaron.”

He set his menu down and stared hard at her. “Can you?”

Taken aback, it took her a moment to answer. “Yes. I don’t need you to beat up every guy who’s mean to me.”

“Listen. I care about you. And when someone is unnecessarily rude to someone I care about, I do something about it.”

“Fine! But you don’t have to knock them around!”

“You’re not still angry about the Josh Young thing, are you?”

“Still!?” Katie repeated heatedly, lowering her voice when she realized most of the deli was looking at them. “I only just found out this morning!”

Aaron seemed reserved and looked sad, which was odd to Katie because she couldn’t recall a time when he had been before; at least not recently. “I didn’t want you to be angry at me.”

Katie snorted derisively. “Good call.”

He reached across the table and took her hand in his; she stared at him, her eyes flashing angrily, but he ignored her ‘don’t touch me’ signals and rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. “Kate.”

She blinked. “You never call me Kate.”

“I know.” He smiled wanly and licked his lips, stalling for time. “I told him to leave you the hell alone. That’s all. I didn’t even hit him; I didn’t need to. He cowered away like the scared little shit that he is.”

Katie took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Thanks.”

One side of Aaron’s lips quirked up into a smile. “You’re welcome.”

“I mean for everything. For the Josh Young thing. And for the Bruce thing. And for when Tommy Roberts stole my ice cream cone when we were six, and you stuffed it down his pants. And then when we were ten and Jason Waterson pushed me and I skinned my knee and you threw the kick ball at him so hard that his nose bled and he had to go home early. You’ve always protected me, Aaron, and I appreciate it. I know I never said so.”

Aaron’s smile became larger and he tipped his head to the side and stared at her, his eyes shining. “I---”

She pulled her hand away and wiped a tear from her eye. “You’re like a brother to me, you know? More so than my real brother.”

He cleared his throat and sat back. “Yeah, well, that’s not saying much. Kyle’s a little prick.”

Katie laughed. “You can say that again. He called the other day and asked for money. Again.”

“I should beat him up next.”

Katie opened her mouth, gasping, and slapped him playfully. “Don’t beat anybody else up for me, okay? Maybe you should go to anger management.”

Aaron chuckled. “Are you kidding? I love my anger. I embrace it.”

“Well, I don’t,” Katie replied, picking up her menu again.

Aaron wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Maybe you should.”