AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We both know dreams change.” Jax rubbed his thumb through the circle of wetness on the table from his glass of water. “Sometimes they don’t turn out the way you expect. Or they don’t mean what you thought they would.”
“No. They don’t.” Chase pushed away his plate. “Look, I’m just going to say it straight out. I was a dick to you all those years ago. You got something I wanted and I couldn’t handle it.”
“It wasn’t only that. You didn’t think it was fair. I get that. You’d been practicing all those years for a baseball career and one day I took it up on a lark, like I’d taken up so many other things, and next thing you know I was playing for the best team in the league and you…weren’t.”
Chase chuckled, shaking his head. “Understatement, bro. Serious understatement. The Diamonds weren’t even worth making the trip out for the draft. But I eased up on my training senior year. I got overconfident and lax about a lot of stuff. None of that was your fault. My jealousy was my problem.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I thought about your mom a lot. Even at a distance, I kept tabs on her. If I’d had bigger balls, I would’ve gone to see her. She was like my mom too. Better than.”
“Nothing stopping you from going to see her now. You know she’d love it.”
“Yeah.” Chase stared at Elvis’s picture and wondered how it was possible The King’s eyes now seemed sad. “Yeah. I will.”
“Good.”
Chase sighed and tugged on the end of his ponytail. He’d turned into some kind of surfer hippie when he wasn’t looking. Minus the surfboard. “You know, Summer’s mom really fucked her over.”
“How do you figure?”
“She overprotected her all those years and then she took off and left her on her own.”
“I’m guessing she probably needed some space to live for herself after all those years of living on lockdown to protect her daughter. And it’s been good for Summer. She’s branching out.” Jax reached for his water, then drained it in a couple of long sips.
“You mean running away?”
Jax set down his glass. “It’s not running if you’re still searching for something you haven’t found.” Jax forked up eggs, chewed thoughtfully. “Besides, look at us. We lived out of suitcases for years.”
“Yeah, and now we’re home again.”
“She’s young. Give her time. She may come back. Or maybe this isn’t her home at all. Home’s more than where you lay your head, man.”
Chase knew he was right. Knew it bone-deep. It didn’t make it any easier to imagine his life without Summer in it so soon after he’d gotten her back. Sort of. “Yeah. I get that.” He sighed, tipped back his head to stare at the cracked ceiling tiles. Years of grime layered over them. How many conversations like this had they been privy to? “Hearing what happened with Summer’s dad makes me realize how short life is, you know? Wasting time is a debt I might not ever get to repay. I don’t want to be that guy who looks back at my life and can’t remember when I really laid it all on the line.”
“Doesn’t make sense to lay it all on the line if you’re not certain what you want.” Chase looked at his buddy and Jax nailed him with his way too perceptive gaze. “But I think you are.”
“Think I’m getting closer anyway.” He took a deep breath, let it out. “So, ah, you saw the business cards.”
“I did.”
“Which means you saw how I said we were co-owners.”
“Yep.”
“You cool with that?”
Jax lifted his brows. “I’m sitting here, aren’t I?”
“Guess you are. At some point, we’ll have to look into renting some office space. Make it all official.” Chase cleared his throat again and wondered if he’d have any throat lining left by the end of this conversation. “I’m glad we’re doing this.”
“Me too.”
“And I’m glad we’re friends again.”
The corner of Jax’s mouth kicked up. “Ditto.”
Chase extended his hand, and yet again, Jax stood up to haul him into a bone-crushing hug that was the exact opposite of a manly fist bump. Then they pulled apart and stared at each other, grinning goofily the same way they had when they were ten. They had more lines around their eyes, more scars on their bodies and war wounds in their heads, but somewhere down deep, the carefree boys they’d once been were still there.
Looked like the best friends were too.
She was really leaving.
