Evan watched his brother from those few steps away. Listening to each word that he spoke as if it were the Biblical verses being read aloud by Jesus Christ himself. Each word making his heart ache all while patching the cracks and holes that were scattered across it. The apology wasn't needed as far as the younger of the two men was concerned. Evan didn't feel that Dale had done anything wrong. He'd been upset and he'd not been listened to, he hadn't been heard out and his feelings hadn't been given enough consideration. It was what hurt Evan the most. He hadn't thought enough of his brother. He hadn't considered anyone's feelings but his own. He'd been selfishly following his dreams or at least chasing after what he thought were his dreams.
The twenty-eight year old man disappeared the moment that Dale's arms wrapped around him and all of a sudden it was like he was replaced by his eight year old self. Getting reassurances from his big brother, being held onto and told that everything would be okay. It felt like whatever large, gaping hole that had been in the middle of him was suddenly filled up again. Such a simple thing as an embrace had pulled him back into the land of the living when he'd been walking around in a death-like haze. It seemed funny now that he'd been trying so hard to avoid death and in the end had been walking around almost as though he were dead himself regardless. He'd been running off in the wrong direction and had been lost and not even realized it. At least until now.
Evan lifted his arms and wrapped them around his brother. Holding tight to the other man's shirt as a strangled sort of noise escaped him and he lost the ability to keep the tears back. He didn't want to cry and though the tears slipped from his eyes he tried desperately to pretend that they weren't there. To choke them back.
He didn't even know what to say or how to say it. He wasn't sure what the right words were or how he'd even be able to deliver them and make everything okay. He didn't know how to make Dale understand that even though he'd been gone, he'd never really left. At least not entirely. As stupid as it sounded in his head, Evan knew that home was where the heart was. And Peach was home.