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Then, in a voice much more like the Theo Auggie knew, he said, “Talk to me, Auggie. Please?”
All the possibilities spun in front of Auggie, like some sort of horrible roulette wheel. Which one will make him start shouting? Which one will make him shut down? Which one will make him scared, because scared is the one thing Theo can’t ever allow himself to be?
“I don’t like what I saw back there.”
Theo nodded.
“In John-Henry’s office.”
“Ok,” Theo said.
“He’s our friend, Theo.”
“He wasn’t acting like our friend. He shouted at you. He was starting to get threatening.”
“Threatening? John-Henry?”
“You saw him.”
For a moment, Auggie didn’t know what to say. The best he could come up with was “Right now?”
“He slapped the desk. He screamed at you.”
I can’t do this, Auggie thought. He was surprised by the voice. By how clear it was. By how much it sounded like him. I can’t do this again.
Maybe Theo heard something in the silence too because he said, “I was keyed up, that’s all.”
Auggie nodded.
“I know he’s our friend. I know he wasn’t actually, you know, coming after us.”
“He is our friend, Theo. He’s a good guy. Our families spend so much time together. We trust him with Lana. We’ve been through some really bad stuff with him.”
“I know.”
“He would never threaten me.”
“I know.”
“And if he did, I can handle it.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, God, of course.” Theo wiped his eyes; they looked dry and red. “I just wasn’t thinking clearly, that’s all.”
Auggie spun that roulette wheel of possibilities again. This time, he got “You need to sleep.”
A rocky attempt at a laugh. “God, yeah, I do.”
“And eat, Theo.”
“I’ll pick something up for us on the way home.”
Auggie nodded. There didn’t seem to be anything left to say.
But Theo reached over the center console and took Auggie’s hand from the steering wheel, wrapping it in his own.
