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He blew the hair out of his eyes and kept talking. “To tell you the truth, it’s kind of freeing to just talk to people I’ll never meet in real life. Or you don’t have to talk at all. Either way, it’s a lot less lonely than sitting by myself in my apartment for another night, you know? And, hey, we could totally play together online. I think it would be a blast.”
For sure. There was no time to decide whether to say so out loud, though, because Will poked his head out the door.
“Dinner’s ready. Liv says there’ll be cake too, so get your asses in gear. She won’t let us start without you.” He didn’t wait for an answer, just disappeared back inside the house.
With a grin, Robby saluted Will’s back. “Guess we’ve got our marching orders.”
The fettucine and garlic bread tasted every bit as good as they smelled. Butter dripped from the bread, and the garlic gave it a little bit of bite. Plus, Liv had broiled some parmesan cheese into a crispy top. The alfredo sauce coated the pasta and small pieces of chicken inside. Matt couldn’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed such an amazing meal.
Though he’d never tell his mother.
Laughter and conversation drifted all around him. He felt included but never pressured to talk. It was…kind of perfect.
Liv served cake, as promised, rich and chocolatey. By the time he finished eating, all he wanted to do was crawl into his bed and sleep for a year. He rarely went anywhere after work, other than his Tuesday evening computer science class.
He bowed out after half a piece of cake and a chorus of warm goodbyes.
On the way home, he scrolled through the night in his head, reliving Kane’s bad jokes, Amanda’s toast to her husband, and the easy camaraderie among Robby, Brick, and Kane.
He envied the simple friendship the three men shared. He’d never made friends easily, especially with other guys. The only person he’d ever really clicked with had been Patty, and their friendship had soured after they fell into bed together. He might have connected with his college roommate, Shawn, if he’d paid a little more attention and acted like a friend when the guy had needed it most.
But he couldn’t turn back the clock. Couldn’t fix either of those mistakes now. He could only move forward.
Maybe tending bar. Robby thought he could do it, but could he really? It’s not like he could walk away if people expected him to talk too much.
But what had he said?
Just follow directions and flash your gorgeous smile.
The train of his thoughts came to a crashing halt, and the wordsgorgeous smilekept repeating over and over again. His heart sped up.
Surely, it was one of those things people said.
Right?
It had to be.
He reached for the radio and cranked the volume, bobbing his head to the music. Stupid to let his thoughts drift this way. Robby was his co-worker. Maybe he could even be a friend.
God knows I need one of those.
Matt’s phone buzzed, and he gripped the steering wheel, stuffing down the anxiety the familiar ringtone always inspired.
Patty. It was only ever Patty who’d call him this late.
Dangling their son in front of him like a carrot on a string.
The thought stilled his hand for a second as he reached to pull the phone from his pocket, but only for a second. Even if she only called him at the most inopportune times, he wouldn’t risk missing a chance to see Jimmy.
His son always came first. So he always answered when she called…and he always would.
She didn’t even wait for him to say hello. The moment he swiped to answer the call, she was already talking. “You need to come pick up the baby.”
“This late?” He kept his voice neutral.
She sighed into the phone. “Yes, this late. They called me in to work.”
Ah, the new job. She’d been cryptic about her new gig when she started a few weeks back. Said talking about it would jinx it. More likely, she took pleasure in holding out on him.
