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“I’m supposed to convince you not to move?” Levi asked, keeping his tone light to match his brother-in-law’s.
“Brook said you were going to talk to me and set me straight. I figured, since she didn’t want to move, that’s what this was about.”
Dennis’s sentence stunned Levi, and he had to set his pint glass back on the table. “Do you two ever talk to each other?”
His best friend shrugged and knocked back half of his drink. The night had started off okay and, as Levi had predicted, was quickly headed downhill. “Sure. I told her I was applying to a job in Bozeman. She said she didn’t care. So I took her at her word.”
No, you didn’t, you idiot. “She doesn’t want you to move. But the reason is she saw a hospital bill that you didn’t tell her about, and she’s afraid you have cancer. You seem to be coughing more.”
As if on cue, a coughing fit overtook him. When he finally stopped, he said, “This is why I drink whiskey. Beer doesn’t do a damn thing for my cough.”
“Do you have cancer?”
“No.” They stared at each other in silence, Levi’s chest heaving in relief, until Dennis relented. “The test was for cancer. I’m clean. The doc thinks it’s too much bad food, too much alcohol and not enough exercise that’s making me feel worse. Oh, and I’m old. Apparently age doesn’t help coughs.”
Levi let the bitterness in Dennis’s voice slide. “Have you told Brook?”
“She hasn’t asked.” His second coughing fit after finishing his beer was gentler but still looked painful. He signaled to Mary, and she nodded, reaching for the whiskey behind the bar.
“Do I need to pass you a note from her?”
“I didn’t ask you to get involved in my marriage.”
Levi sighed. “No, you didn’t. My older sister did. Tell her the truth. She’ll lighten up.”
Dennis didn’t respond until he’d taken a long sip of the drink Mary had brought him. “God, that feels better.”
They nursed their drinks in uncomfortable silence. Only when Levi waved off another beer did one of them say anything.
“What do you think about me moving?” Dennis asked.
Levi almost changed his mind and signaled for another beer to ease the second surprise of the night down his throat. “It’s your life. Move, if you want to move.”
That wasn’t at all what he wanted to say. He wanted to say that he would miss Dennis. That he wished he wouldn’t go. That he didn’t know what he would do with his Friday nights. Those were all things he could think of to say and even tell Mina. He had no effing clue how to say them to the man he’d known most of his life.
“That’s it?” Dennis said, looking wounded and pissed at the same time. “I’m moving to a new town, taking your sister and your niece and nephew, and all you can say is ‘Have a nice life.’”
Yes. “No.” He opened his mouth, but “I’ll miss you” still didn’t come out. Hell, he wasn’t sure it would be true if he said it. Their regular nights at the bar had become...not routine, but tedious. Until Mina had come into Levi’s life, and then Dennis had decided to move, they hadn’t said anything new to each other in over a year. Regret, anger and sadness were as regular at their table as whiskey and beer.
Instead he said, “Missoula’s a good town.”
“Missoula was supposed to be a new start for both of us. No more mining. But it was only a new start for you. Here I’m still the sick friend married to your sister. Hell, Brook’s more your sister than my wife. I want a fresh start, and I want one on my own terms.”
Levi blinked several times, then signaled to Mary for that other beer. “I didn’t realize being my friend was that awful.”
Dennis ordered another whiskey, and Levi got some fries to absorb the alcohol so that at the end of the night, he’d be able to drive his friend home.
“It’s not awful,” Dennis said after their liquid courage had arrived. “But I’m not your friend. I’m your sick friend. I’m the friend who didn’t make it through the mine accident untouched. I’m the friend who struggled to find work when we moved. And I’m sick of being that friend. I’m moving on my own terms. I’m taking my wife and kids with me. Anyway, it’s a better job. I can make it a better life.”
