AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I fucking knew it was you! I know I already said it, but holy shit, man! It’s fucking good to see you, brother!”
“Jesus, Eli? Is that who I’m looking at right now?”
“As I live and fucking breathe, man. How the hell are you?!”
Eli was a couple of inches taller than me, despite the fact that I stood at a respectable six foot three. I let him swallow me up in a bear hug that drove the air from my lungs. He even bounced me up and down a couple of times.
What with the hug and the amount of profanity flying around, we were still making a scene, but it wasn’t a scene that involved somebody telling me what an asshole I was. So, I was more than willing to take it. Besides, Eli was a dude I was actually happy to see. I hadn’t thought about him any more than I’d thought about anyone else I’d left behind over the years. But seeing him brought back a flood of memories of all of the trouble we’d gotten into together. Also, as girly as it felt to admit, even to myself, it was good to find that I still had a friend in town. Not a friend I had kept up with, but a friend. That was worth something for sure. He clapped me on the back one more time and then let me go, grinning at me widely and shaking my hand.
“Seriously, brother. It’s been a lifetime, right?”
“Yeah,” I answered, painfully aware that I was being let off lightly. “I guess it has, hasn’t it?”
“Sure as shit has. Hey, man, I heard about your dad. I’m sorry to hear. Sucks.”
“Shit, you’re telling me.”
“Guessing that’s what you’re doing back in town?” he asked.
“Pretty much. He left me the house, and there’s a bunch of stuff I’ve got to take care of with the business. Everything’s way out of order, and I guess I’m supposed to put it all right again.”
“That sounds like a bitch.”
“You’re not lying. But hey, you get to catch up with old friends, right?”
“True, that’s true.” Eli nodded thoughtfully. “Speaking of which, how long are you gonna be in town, do you think?”
I shook my head. “Shit, at this rate? At least a month? A month if I’m lucky. There’s a good chance it’ll be longer. You know how these things go.”
“Me?” Eli laughed, an honest laugh that made me legitimately happy to see him again. “No way. I run a barber shop, dude. I don’t have a fucking clue what it’s like to try and handle everything you’ve got going on. But I’ll tell you what; I know what I’d like to do if you think you’ve got the time.”
“Lay it on me, man. The shit I have to do is going to take a long time, but it doesn’t take up a lot of time, if you catch my meaning.”
“I guess so. And that’s good! That means you’ve got time to come out for a drink or five tomorrow night. What do you say? Feel up to it?”
I surprised myself by telling him that yes, I was pretty sure I did. I still hated being back in Ashville, and I didn’t see that ever changing, but I was also surprisingly happy to see an old buddy. The idea of getting out of the house for more than just groceries had an appeal I couldn’t ignore. Besides, it wasn’t like I was likely to see Fay there.
I was remembering more about her all of the time, including the fact that partying had never been her thing. If any place in Ashville was safe, it was probably a bar. It had the added benefit of meaning I would have a night where I wasn’t drinking alone. Seemed like a win-win to me. Considering I was in Ashville, that was something I was happy to take.
Chapter 7: Fay
“So, are you ready to talk about it yet?” Courtney asked.
“To talk about what?” I asked. “I never said there was anything I didn’t want to talk about.”
“Sure, I know, but I think I know you well enough to know when you aren’t ready to have a conversation about something. Which you weren’t earlier. Which is why I’m wondering if you’re feeling up to it now.”
I stopped my sweeping, sweeping both me and Courtney were both technically supposed to do in order to get the diner cleaned up. In reality, I did it all by my lonesome. Courtney sat up on the countertop, her favorite place to be, with one of the diner’s beers popped open.
This was pretty much her nightly ritual, and one I almost always pretended to disapprove of. On this particular night, I just wasn’t feeling up to it. Honestly, this had felt like one of the longest days of my life. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d been so relieved to flip the open sign to closed.
I didn’t think there was anything that could have made me feel any more pitiful and low, but part of me had spent the whole day after my strange meeting with Neil expecting to see him again. Every time I’d heard a car engine, my eyes had flown to the big plate glass windows lining the front of the diner. I was sure that it would be his old beat up red truck once again.
There had been exactly five sets of customers that afternoon, and every time the bell rang, I was sure it would be Neil. My stomach would drop at the same time as my heart leaped up into my throat. My mind raced with all of the things I would say when I saw that it was him. Except that it had never been him, not any of the times when the bell had rung.
Of course, it hadn’t been him, I would admonish myself after each disappointment. Why the hell would he come back in here after the first time? It wasn’t like he had looked happy to see me. The more I’d thought about it after he’d gone, the more sure I had become of what his true reaction had actually been. Mortification.
He’d taken one look at me and been absolutely mortified. He hadn’t been able to get away from me fast enough. Courtney was right, although I didn’t want her to be. I hadn’t been ready to talk about anything, and I wasn’t sure that I would ever be ready, either. That face to face with Neil had made me feel like complete shit. I was pretty sure it was something that would take a little while to recover from.
