suburb on the outskirts of Houston. “He’s only here a week out of the month, if that. He lets me and CJ stay here.”
Ohhh. That kind of explained things. The bare minimum furniture. The fact the house looked brand new, because no one really lived in it.
“No use wastin’ money stayin’ somewhere when I won’t be there for long, you know?”
Something slender and sad slipped over and into my chest slowly. God, I hoped things went well for him. I hoped he could settle down for the remainder of his career and be happy.
I understood what he meant. I’d followed him closely enough to get it. He’d been released once back in Dallas, and now Oklahoma had said, “See ya.” I had a tiny memory of overhearing Zac tell Boogie years ago about how much he and his mom had moved around Texas before they’d moved back in with her parents.
I kept my mouth closed and my thoughts to myself.
“Not so bad, huh?” he finished, but I didn’t like the way he asked it.
I should bring it up to Boogie, have him make sure he was really fine. That was best friend territory, not person-I-haven’t-seen-or-remembered-in-ten-years territory.
I was going to stay in my lane. I knew my lane and felt comfortable in it. I still hadn’t even gotten around to asking him about his tryout in San Diego. Part of me hoped he’d bring it up on his own, but I’d give him a chance. Or at least a little while.
“I’m glad you think living in this big-ass house isn’t so bad,” I told him with a straight face, hoping to lighten him up a bit in the meantime. “I’m sure it’s hard to slum it in the master suite.”
He stared at me for a second. Then his laugh drawled out of him, all slow and lazy. But even his features lit up.
“I mean, these hardwood floors aren’t marble, old man. I don’t know how your sensitive feet can stand it.”
He straight-up groaned, but I caught a peek at those flashing white teeth, and it was nice. Real nice. “All right. I deserved that.” He glanced up at the vaulted ceiling, those lean cheeks pulled wide with the smile still on his face, a big smile. “This place is bigger than five of the houses we grew up in, huh?”
“Yup. You know I’m just messing with you. I know you’re used to the finer things in life now. Boogie showed me some pictures of the house you were living in in Oklahoma. You’ve worked hard for everything you have. You don’t need to apologize for being able to afford buying nice things, or for not wanting to buy a place. If I could afford it, I’d live somewhere this nice too.”
“That house in Oklahoma was just a rental.” His smile got a little smaller as it kept on being aimed up at the ceiling with its wooden beams, so I wasn’t totally expecting his next question. “Why didn’t you ever come visit with him, Peewee? You really thought I didn’t wanna see you?”
And we were back here. He still wasn’t totally letting this go. Shit.
I didn’t want to lie to him though. “Pretty much.”
I didn’t appreciate the face he made.
So I made a face right back at him. “You know, you’re putting this all on me when your ass could have visited me too.” If you’d remembered I’d been alive. Luckily, there wasn’t much bitterness in the thought. Just a little. So that was good. “I didn’t change my name or go into Witness Protection or anything, you know.”
I was in a good mood. I was moving forward. I wasn’t going to let this affect our friendship.
Not anymore.
Zac instantly shut his mouth, blinked, and then reopened it. His gaze totally settled on me then, and it took him a second, but he finally got out, “You know, nobody talks to me like that to my face except Boogie and Trevor.” He paused. “And Mama.”
Ah. More familiarity.
I went up to the balls of my feet, reached forward, and tapped his still-straight nose. “I don’t know about Trevor, but the rest of us knew you back when you wore tighty-whities, so….”
Freaking Zac laughed again, and it made something warm pop up in my stomach. “I still do.”
I snorted. “Please tell me they still have little Spiderman on them.”
Zac shook his head. “They’re big Spiderman now.”
This idiot.
We both laughed, loud, and he was still cracking up as he added, “Goddamn, I missed you, Peewee.