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JAY
Iwas thinking about her again. How the hell could I not? Dream was back in my life, and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she was as beautiful as ever. Hell, a quick check of her Facebook was enough to confirm that.
“Earth to Jay!”
Evan waving his hand in front of my face was enough to derail my train of thought. Probably for the best – last thing I needed was to let my mind linger on thoughts of Dream.
“What?” I asked, the word coming out in a slight snarl. It wasn’t anything personal – not like I was mad at Evan. That’s just how I talked sometimes. Probably one of the reasons I’d had the reputation in town of being “prickly,” as Duncan liked to say.
I was in the hot tub, my arms draped over the side as I watched the sun set over the western horizon. I’d always loved nature - preferred it to people most of the time, to be honest. The sunsets of Charmed Bay never failed to impress.
Nothing like your brother’s giant hand in front of your face to spoil the moment, however.
“Need to ask you a favor.” A slightly sheepish grin was on his face.
“Let me guess – you had a few too many and now you need a ride home?”
He laughed. “That’s it. I’ve only had three, but I don’t want to risk it, you know?”
“Sure, sure.”
With that, Evan gave me a thumbs up. I glanced over my shoulder, spotting Duncan seated at the table, his left hand holding a beer on top of his propped-up knee and his right resting on the book he was reading. The Bluetooth was still playing music, some early Led Zeppelin drifting out of the speakers.
The evening together was typical for the three of us. We were all different in our own way, but that didn’t mean we didn’t love spending time with one another. Since it wasn’t often that we were all in the same place, what with our crazy schedules in the service, we were all determined to enjoy one another’s company now that we could Losing our mom all those years back had taught us that you can never take family for granted.
I watched the sun dip lower and lower into the Pacific, the sky turning a deep, twinkling purple above.
“Yo!” I said, calling over my shoulder at Duncan. “Thinking it’s time to peace out. I want to get an early night’s sleep in and hit the gym tomorrow.”
Duncan checked the time on his phone. “Not a bad idea. Might go with you, unless you were thinking of doing a solo thing.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Thinking seven.”
“Works for me,” he said. “Someone’s got to make sure you’re not slacking.”
He flashed me a grin and I let out a laugh, splashing a little water in his direction. It’d always been wild to me how much Duncan looked like our old man. He was tall, with dark, close-cropped hair, and a serious face. But unlike the old man, he was as gregarious as they came. Everyone in town knew the Wolf brothers, but everyone especiallyknew Duncan. He’d always been one of those guys who always made things happen, was always setting up social events and connecting people to one another. He was a nice balance to a guy like me, who preferred to keep to himself.
“I’m coming too!” Evan chimed in as he stood on the edge of the deep end of the pool, preparing for a jump.
Without waiting for a response, Evan jumped into the water, curling his huge body into a cannonball right before hitting the surface. The guy landed like a boulder, water splashing all over the backyard. He bobbed his head up from under, the usual big grin on his face.
Evan and I helped Duncan clean up, the three of us finalizing our plans to meet at the gym in the morning. Once that was taken care of, Evan and I headed out for the night, both of us giving Duncan a hug before he shut the front door behind us. Evan’s car, a bright red Jeep, was parked in his driveway. My black BMW convertible was on the street. Moments after saying our goodbyes to our big brother for the night, we were on our way.
I drove through the winding roads of Duncan’s neighborhood. The area was a mix of small, ranch-style homes like Duncan’s and huge mansions – one of which was our childhood home, and where our dad still lived. Evan’s place was downtown, close to the bars and all the rest of the action. My own pad was nearer inland, by the local parks where I loved to go for runs, or just to get away from it all.
“Man!” Evan said as he rolled down the window and stuck his arm out. “That was fun! Nothing like throwing back some beers with your bros, right?” He flashed me another huge smile. Evan and I…well, we didn’t have the same energy level. But in spite of my closer to the chest way of doing things, his friendliness and enthusiasm was still pretty damn infectious.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “It was a nice night.”
Evan nodded in response, then pursed his lips. I could tell there was something on his mind.
Just because he was more fun loving than most people didn’t take away the fact that he was smart as a whip. The three of us had all scored in the ninety-fifth percentile on the ASVAB, which meant that the military had all but rolled out the red carpet for whatever positions we’d wanted.
So, he was always thinking. That moment was no exception.
“You know what I’ve got on my mind?”
“What’s that?” I asked.
