“Well for starters you can stop calling me that, I grew out of the name a long time ago” Marcus replied, rolling his eyes at the hated nickname.

“Okay, I can work with that…no more outdated nicknames I swear”

“Good” Marcus paused “I…all that stuff with the loan sharks…its all been sorted yeah?”

“Yeah” Harper nodded seriously.

“Why didn’t you call then? Just to let us know you were okay…”

“I…I don’t know – I was afraid I guess – afraid of what Tad would say” he chuckled ruefully.

Marcus smiled slightly “yeah he was always scary when he got angry at us…” he then stepped closer and put a hand on Harper’s shoulder.

“Look, when you left I was hurt okay? But I know deep down that if we just let things go on as it is we’ll just regret it in the end. Regret we were too late to fix things…”

Harper looked his brother in the eye with hope on his face. He wanted his brother’s absolution, but only if Marcus gave it willingly; not out of obligation.

“So…does this mean…?”

“I think we should at least be on civil terms yes” Marcus finished bluntly as he let go of Harper. He felt a slight pang of guilt when Harper’s face fell in disappointment, but decided to ignore it.

“I want to know why you asked to meet me here first” Marcus added, hoping to silently convey to his brother that he wasn’t going to just absolve him completely.

“I…right yes…” Harper stumbled, suddenly feeling flustered at Marcus’s sudden change of topic.

“I wanted to say goodbye” he finally said.

“That’s it? That’s why you asked me here, after ten years of no contact whatsoever – you just call up out of the blue to say goodbye?” Marcus asked incredulously.

“Well guess what fy brawd” he spat out, anger rising up inside “you should’ve just not called me at all – as far as I’m concerned – because you said your goodbyes the day you left!” he shouted.

Harper was stunned as his little brother turned and began to walk away. He let him go this time, knowing in his heart that Marcus was right. With shoulders slumped in defeat, he stood at the edge of the cliff and watched him drive away from him and out of his life…for good.