Page 11 of Pick Me This Time

“Sure,” the first one said, extending his hand toward me. “Jerry. It’s good to see you again, dude.”

I shook with him, drawing a complete blank on the name. I’d thought hearing it might spark a memory of who he was, but it hadn’t. Steve, the other guy, didn’t spark any memories either. Allisburg was a tiny podunk town but I didn’t know everyone in it, even back when I had been one of them.

Shaking it off, I happily accepted the beer Eric handed over and then he and I said goodbye to the others and headed out to the enclosed patio. We found an empty table and sat across from each other. Breeze ruffled my hair, but now it felt energizing instead of cold. It took away some of the gloom from earlier.

Eric cocked his head at me. “Your reunion with your old man didn’t go so well, huh?”

“Nope.” I gripped my beer, brought it to my lips, and savored the burn of the bubbles as I poured a generous amount of the liquid down my throat. “Did you manage to finish that car you were working on?”

“Just in the nick of time. You know I work better under pressure.” He suddenly waved at someone behind me before pointing at my head and grinning at whoever it was. “Jakey! Look who’s here, man.”

I twisted around to see Jake Garrison standing in the open doors, gaping at me before he recovered and strode over to us. Despite the years it’d been since I’d last seen the guy, he looked exactly the same and I smirked, getting up to offer him my hand.

“Good to see you, Barbie. How’ve you been?”

He scoffed down laughter as he shook his blond head at me. “No one calls me that anymore, bro. When’d you get in, man?”

“This afternoon,” I said after shaking his hand and sitting down again.

Jake grabbed the other beer that had been sitting untouched in front of Eric. Clearly they’d been planning on meeting up tonight. Jake looked at me, his sparkling blue eyes less friendly now than they used to be.

“It must be a culture shock being back here after spending so much time in the big city, huh?” he said as he tapped his nails against the bottle. “How’s it been? Life in the Big Apple, I mean.”

“Yeah, it’s alright,” I said, trying to process that I was really here, with these two guys who were probably still like brothers while I was now the odd man out. “It’s busy and loud, but there’s never a dull moment.”

Eric laughed. “I bet. I hope you’re ready to rediscover relaxation and boredom now you’re here, man.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but Jake spoke before I could. “Fuck boredom. I have a nursery to paint and he was the class president. He can take my spot on the planning committee now that he’s decided to grace us with his presence.”

Surprised at the hint of bitterness in his tone, I did a double-take at the fact that he was painting a nursery. “Excuse me? Are you doing that as part of a construction job for your dad or⁠—”

“No, man.” Eric laughed. “It’s not his dad’s company anymore. It’s his, and Rachel’s pregnant. It’s their first baby.”

“Our?” Jake narrowed his eyes at him jokingly. “Is there something I should know about you and my wife?”

Eric shrugged. “Sure. She’s agreed to let me be the cool uncle, which makes it mine too.”

As they joked about it, I blinked hard. I’d completely forgotten that Jake had married Rachel. It’d been just a couple years after I’d started at my current firm and I hadn’t wanted to leave town for the wedding. The partners wouldn’t understand.

“I could be a cool uncle too,” I offered, wondering if I was ever even going to meet the kid. The three of us used to be so damn close, but I was definitely an outsider now while they seemed tighter than ever. “How was the wedding? I’m sorry I missed it, boys. It just wasn’t a good time for me.”

Jake tensed, his jaw clenching as he averted his gaze and looked away. Eric swiped his tongue across his lips, silent for a beat before he gave me a tight smile. “Yeah, we got that. It was great. It was also three years ago. We’ve moved onto the baby talk now.”

“Right,” I said slowly. “When is it due?”

“She is due within the next six weeks,” Jake said. “It’s a girl.”

“Wow. Congratulations.” I reeled at the revelation. “A girl, huh? That’s awesome. Rachel must be thrilled.”

Out of all of us, I never thought Jake would be the first to become a dad. I also didn’t think that when the first of us had a baby, it would be planned or with a wife, but it seemed Jake, for one, had really grown up.

“We both are,” Jake said before bringing his hardened gaze back to mine. He took a long pull of his beer before he sighed and let go of whatever had been bothering him as Eric started talking once more.

“If you ask me, Rachel’s the most thrilled about those lattes Daph keeps making her at the bakery every day,” Eric said, shocking the pants off me.

The only bakery I knew about around here was the one my mother used to run. “Whoa. Daphne’s working at the bakery? At my family farm?”

Eric and Jake exchanged a look while more shock radiated through me. They both knew what that place had meant to my mother and, by extension, what it still meant to me. Now I had to learn that it was still open, that Eric’s little sister worked there, and that Jake’s wife went there every day for lattes.

Life really had moved on in Allisburg without me, and while I’d known that it would, none of it sat right with me all of a sudden. Jake was not only married, but his wife was pregnant and I hadn’t even known. Eric was going to be the cool uncle. Daphne worked in my mother’s bakery…

My mind spun and I got up, needing something stronger than beer while I tried to process it all. “I’m going to get tequila. We need shots.”