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“Lawyer asshole told me you got the old house.”
I grunted.
“That good?”
“It’s two hundred years old and falling apart in just about every way that matters. Just trying to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to do what Chris wanted without it taking over my life.”
“That’s the point, isn’t it?” he asked quietly. “None of this plays out in a way where it doesn’t take over our lives. We didn’t ask it to. And maybe most days it’s the last fucking thing we want to think about. But they didn’t get a choice in how they left. I don’t see why we should be any different.”
“I know that, Davies.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “But don’t tell me you reacted perfectly, either, when he called you.”
“No, I didn’t,” he stated baldly. “I blistered that fucker’s ears off with the things that came out of my mouth. Because Chris, of all people, knew why I didn’t want a family. He knew better than this.”
I managed a grim smile. “So we have that in common, then,” I said.
“What?”
“Chris knew that when I retired, all I wanted was peace and quiet. I wanted rest. I’d chased someone else’s dreams for too long.”
Liam was quiet again, both of us processing that single thread of commonality between us. What it might mean that our friend had made these huge choices that we didn’t understand.
“Directing our lives from the bloody grave,” Liam said quietly.
“Seems so.” My throat went tight. “How’s the kid?”
“Doesn’t sleep for shit,” he growled. “Hates vegetables. Looks like her mum.”
When his voice softened at the end, I decided not to point it out.
“And the best friend?”
“Drives me up a fucking wall, she does. Living in the same house with her is not something I can take much longer, not if they expect me to stay sane.”
Another thing we had in common, and this time, I didn’t stop the laugh.
“What’s so funny?” he barked.
“I have a woman like that too,” I said. “She came with the house.”
He grunted.
Another text came in on my phone, and I saw Charlotte’s name. I exhaled heavily.
“You better go to the game,” he said.
“Shit,” I muttered. “It’s at a game?”
“September. They want to do something before kickoff honoring Chris and Amie. If I have to go, so do you.”
“That the new rule now? Mutual suffering?”
“Yeah.”
“What is it?” I asked. “Anything besides showing up and standing on the sidelines?”
“Open up your fucking mail and read it yourself.”
“I sincerely hope Mira doesn’t absorb your people skills.”
