Simon watched me zone out and asked what I was thinking.
What was I thinking? I was thinking about how this whole thing had turned out to be a misunderstanding, and after all these years, I was finally getting a reasonable explanation.
When I still didn't speak, he continued.
"After she hung up the video call, she told me about it. I messaged you, but you ignored me. I asked your brother about it. He said you were perfectly fine—happy, healthy, studying hard. I believed him. I figured you were still young and I shouldn't bother you too much. Everything could wait until I came back. Turns out you'd been mad at me for years. Looking back, your brother really was the biggest obstacle on my path to winning you over."
That set me off. "I wasn't ignoring you! I really was studying hard. Stop
