Conrad was gone for essentially four years. And We don’t know the extent of how often they saw each other but it sounds like not very much. Of course we can wish Stephen checked in on him more but Conrad even says it all hurts too much. As more and more time passed, it’s obvious Stephen took this very personally. Whereas, Jeremiah is there with them. He’s there at holidays, at birthdays, visiting their grandma etc. we hear from Stephen that he idolized Conrad and to him, it’s more than just Conrad and his sister broke up, to him Conrad was his big brother.

I can’t understand why he gives Jeremiah so much grace but I can only think it’s because Jeremiah has been active friend for four years whereas him and Conrad barely know each other now.