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Eli shrugged. “Mom will be out every other weekend, I guess. She’s got a couple of big cases running at the moment, she’s probably glad not to have him underfoot.”
Billy’s wife, Nina, had decided in her mid-forties that she was tired of just following her husband around the world and raising kids, and had gone back to college, followed by law school. These days she was a very successful lawyer. Zach had never been sure how their marriage survived being split into two very different worlds and very different schedules, but they made it work. Billy said he kept asking Nina when she was going to retire. Her answer was that she’d started late so she still had years to make up for.
“At least he’s only attempting the steaks,” Zach pointed out. He looked at the rows of bowls holding potato salad, green salad, pasta salad, and something made from one of those hippie grains he could never remember the name of lined up on trays ready to be taken out to the deck. He was pretty sure they’d all come from one of the delis in town. Fine by him. As a tourist town, Cloud Bay did food well. When he’d been a kid it had been more basic, burgers and pizza and Chinese and one nice French restaurant. But every time he came home there seemed to be a new café or restaurant. And the food was getting trendy. “And we’re not going to starve if he burns them. Hell, we can go to a bar and get a burger if we need to.”
Eli nodded, though the movement was half-hearted to Zach’s eye. “Maybe.” He rolled a shoulder, and a muscle tightened in his jaw.
Zach frowned. Was Eli in pain?
He was supposed to be recuperating. Zach took that to mean resting. But if Eli and Billy had been sailing half the day then that hadn’t happened.
“How’s the arm?” he asked and picked up the tray with all the salads before Eli could attempt to carry that and the steaks.
“Fine. Thanks, Mom,” Eli said sarcastically as Billy yelled “Beeeeeffffffffff!” from beyond the door.
“A guy is allowed to ask how his best friend is feeling when said best friend is a klutz who manages to smash himself up a little too often.”
“Three times isn’t often. Besides, the first time wasn’t my fault.”
True. That had been Billy. Who made a bet with the boys that they couldn’t climb the massive oak tree that dominated half the lawn to the side of the house. The same tree that Zach could see in the distance now.
It hadn’t grown any smaller and it had already been a monster when they’d tried to climb it. Apparently Billy’s skills hadn’t stretched much to judging the climbability of trees. Or knowing that ten-year-olds couldn’t defy gravity. That had been the first time Zach had seen Eli snap a bone. Not his favorite memory. Not the scream as Eli had slipped off the branch they’d been balanced on, or the sickening thump as he’d hit the ground, or the sickly white of his face when Zach had finally gotten down to him. Or the quiet fury on Nina’s face as she’d come running out onto the lawn to see what had happened as Billy had carried Eli back toward the house.
“The second time wasn’t either,” Eli mused. “Someone skied into me, not the other way around.”
He’d fractured a cheekbone and a few ribs and sprained an ankle in that collision if Zach remembered correctly. That had been the year they’d both turned twenty. Eli had spent Zach’s birthday in bandages.
“Maybe not, but you’d think a guy with your history might not think a motorbike is a good idea.”
“You owned a bike long before I did.”
“Stopped riding it too,” Zach said. “Once I realized how easy it would be to kill myself on it.” He slid the door to the patio open and waved for Eli to go in front of him. “But you don’t seem to have learned that lesson yet. So I get to keep asking you dumb questions.”
“What dumb questions?” Billy asked, blue eyes lighting as he saw the steaks in Eli’s hand.
“Zach was asking if he could have his steak rare,” Eli said, grinning at his dad. “I’ve been telling him that your prowess with this contraption means that it’s pot luck around here.”
“Oh ye of little faith,” Billy said. He slapped the steaks on to the grills with a grin that matched his son’s. “I am the grill-meister.”
“Okay, but if you’re the grill-meister then you’re also an alien who replaced my dad last night. Because last night, the steaks my real dad cooked were mostly charcoal.”
“No one ever said I was a slow learner,” Billy said. “I’ve got this now.” He waved an arm at the table. “You boys sit and watch and learn. Zach, you want a beer?”
Zach shook his head. “Thanks, I’m good.”
Billy frowned. “You saying that because you don’t want one or because you’re trying to spare my feelings?”
“I’m good,” Zach repeated. Eli was still taking painkillers. Billy was a recovering alcoholic. Zach didn’t need a beer. He didn’t drink much these days anyway. Didn’t like the way it messed with his playing if he got loaded. Damned if he knew how all those legendary musicians with equally legendary drug and alcohol problems managed to perform every night. Grey had pulled it off, but he wasn’t here to ask any more. And he definitely wasn’t going to ask Billy.
Besides, Zach had tied one on the night the tour had wrapped up, drowning his sorrows in very good tequila with Ian and Austin, the three of them venting their mutual frustration with Ryder. That hangover had taken nearly three days to get over. He was getting too old for that shit. And it was way too soon for him after that to have any interest in repeating the experience. He’d stick to soda. He wanted to start work in the morning. Hole up in the studio and start digging into some of the ideas that had been running around his head the last few months.
The studio.
That reminded him of Leah. Of their exchange. Of the flash of hurt in her eyes when he’d said “no” to her proposal. Of how much he’d been enjoying looking at her before they got to that part.
“Something on your mind?” Eli asked as Zach followed him back into the house to finish bringing out the rest of the food. They made two trips, then Eli went back in a third time and came out bearing two bottles of some hipster-looking soda. He held out to Zach
Zach took the drink and glanced sideways at Billy. He loved the man as an uncle but he wasn’t going to talk about Leah in front of him. “Nah, I’m good.”
