“You saw TJ?” Siobhan sat back and grinned. “You always had a thing for him.”
“I’m staying with him. He’s dealing.” Cody grinned. “He still sees me as a kid who needs help.”
Laughing, Siobhan’s eyebrows shot up. “You are nothing like the kid who left here. Poor TJ.” Smiling, she asked, “Does he know?”
“Does he know what?” Cody returned her smile.
“About the not so little crush you had on him?”
“I kissed him before I left, and he rightly put me in my place. Things are different now. I’m a man and not a child. He’s adapting.”
“Poor TJ,” Siobhan repeated. “He doesn’t stand a chance.” Grinning, Siobhan asked, “How long before he figures it out?”
“I told him the night I came back for him. Like I said, he’s adapting.” Leaning on the table, he asked, “Tell me about everyone. Who’s doing what? Who’s married or not? I have four years to catch up on.”
“I’ll start with the bad stuff.” Siobhan pursed her lips, then exhaled, a shadow crossing over her face. “Danny passed. An accident. Trucker fell asleep at the wheel, crossed the lane, and took Danny’s car out. He survived the crash but died a few days later in the hospital. His family is still struggling. They’re suing the trucking company.” She paused, then added, “The driver took his own life not long after. Couldn’t live with what he’d done.”
“Fuck. Not Danny.” Cody rubbed his chest. He’d known Danny Becker since they were kids, and now he was gone. “Shit. When did it happen?”
“Almost two years ago. The anniversary will be coming up soon. I try to celebrate his life but some days it’s so hard. He was the joker of our group.” Cody nodded. Danny always had a smile on his face, a stupid joke to tell. His almost white, blond hair used to shine so brightly when the sun hit it. Cody used to tease him about it. “I miss him.”
“I can’t believe he’s gone.” Fuck, not Danny.
“Keira married Jacob. They have a newborn. A little boy who is such a cutie. Jacob can’t keep the smile off his face.”
That news did make Cody smile and helped to wipe away some of the sadness he felt over Danny’s death. “They were always meant to be together. I’ve never seen two people so in tune with one another as them. What did they name him?”
Siobhan paused. “Danny.”
Cody leaned back in his seat, his lips parting. “What?” They named their son after Danny.
“You should call Jacob.” Pulling her phone out, she gave Cody Jacob’s number.
Taking the number, Cody made sure he’d saved it to his phone. “I will. I’ll call him.” Cody ran a thumb over the screen of his phone. “Can’t believe he named his kid Danny.”
“We were all close growing up. Still are now, but Danny’s death hit us hard and now Keira and Jacob have a baby.”
“When things are more settled, we’ll have a get-together.”
Siobhan took his hands in hers. “I am so glad you’re home.”
Squeezing Siobhan’s hands, Cody said, “Me too.”
***
Changing into his workout clothes, Cody jogged down to the basement and began a warm-up routine. It had been a few days since he’d last worked out and he could feel the kinks in his body.He needed to get back into his routine now. He wasn’t working daily on a ranch.
Focusing on his arms, Cody moved his head from side to side, then picked up the dumbbells and began a rep of bicep curls. Standing tall with an underhand grip, he kept his elbows close to the waist and curled the dumbbells up towards his chest, squeezing his biceps, and then he slowly returned the weights to their starting position.
His mind, as usual, strayed to TJ. He’d missed TJ while he’d been gone. Not the first year. That was a hazy, drugged up, messed up year where he lived every excess there was. And some he probably couldn’t remember.
That year didn’t matter now. It was a year he had to experience to understand what he wanted from life. To live.
Sighing, Cody continued his work and thought about Danny. God, Danny had been such a happy kid, an easy smile on his face and a stupid joke to tell. Cody could hardly wrap his head around the fact Danny was gone. That he would never see Danny again. And his poor family. Cody could remember them from the times he’d gone over to Danny’s house, had sleepovers where they laughed and joked and snuck some beer into Danny’s bedroom. That was all before he realized he liked boys and not girls, and his home life fell apart. Not that it had been great before, and Cody wasn’t going to think about them.
His life was with TJ now. Poor TJ, as Siobhan had said.
Cody moved on to the tricep curls and sat on the bench, leaning back and moving the dumbbells overhead. Working through his sets, he stood when he finished, pulled his T-shirt off, then got into position to begin hammer curls. That was when he heard someone coming down the stairs. He heard the gasp and knew who had made the sound and looking in the mirror confirmed it. Behind him stood TJ.
