weary body into the last arm chair in front of the fire. “Tell me you saved a bottle for me.”
Brad passes him an unopened bottle of Jed’s favorite scotch. Nick unscrews the top and lifts it to his lips.
I raise a brow. “You aren’t in training?”
Tearing his lips away, Nick barks out a bitter laugh. “When am I not in training? Someone has to teach those young punks how to fight. But this only happens once.” Pinning us with the glare he used to give his opponents in the ring, he tacks on, “At least it better.”
Kody mutters, “I’m not the one with a suicide wish getting my ass beat by guys half my age on a regular basis.”
As if that pleases him, Nick sits back and resumes drinking.
We catch up before I bring us back around to a topic I’m curious about. “Did anyone else get anything resembling the letter from the attorney like Brad did?”
Heads shake around the small space. “I called and asked Maris about it,” Brad admits.
“What did she say?” I take another pull.
“Just that she was the executor of his estate and everything would be explained then. Rainey wanted to see if we could drop anything by, a casserole or something, but Maris shut us down. She said Dean’s family is in too much shock. She was polite but firm. Said she’d see all of us at the viewing.”
We all spend a moment digesting that because that doesn’t sound like the outrageously outgoing Maris Smith who’s as much our little sister as she was Jed’s. I’m about to ask more about it when Nick pipes up. “I’m surprised his husband isn’t the executor.”
Brad shrugs. “Grief maybe? Who knows?” He takes a sip from his second glass. After all, one of us needs to remain sober enough to drive to the wake. Later I’m absolutely certain he plans on catching up.
Kody shudders. “I just hope it’s not one of those open-casket things.”
“Why?” Brad demands. “It’s respectful.”
“It’s kinda creepy,” Kody counters. “All that makeup and crap they use to make the person look like they’re still alive when all they end up looking like is a wax figure out of some museum that’s preparing to scare the fuck out of you.”
We’re all stunned by the vehemence of Kody’s words when Nick yells, “Boo!”
Kody fumbles with his bottle, spilling it all over himself. “You’re such an asshole,” he fumes.
“Yeah.” Nick smiles lazily. “But you know damn good and well if you said that shit if Jed was still alive, he’d have done the same thing—if not worse.”
Kody looks away, but not before I catch the glint of tears the firelight illuminates. “You’re right.”
“Want to repeat that?”
“Fuck you, Nick.”
“Nah, I hear that often enough.” He pauses for a moment before he says, “Though it’s normally, ‘Fuck me, Nick.’”
We all laugh, but my mind is stuck back on something Nick said earlier. “I still can’t believe he got married without us there.” Jed had married his husband less than two years before at a destination wedding in the Caribbean Islands.
Nick nods. “Even when he was with us, he never spoke much about Dean. But I know he loved him, man. From the moment they met on that vacation, he was gone for the man.”
“Wonder why we never met him. I mean, that trip was a couple of years ago now?” I muse aloud.
Brad snickers. “Would you introduce a respectable man to the group of us?”
“You did,” I counter. “Many, many years ago.”
“Much to her lament,” Brad laughs.
“To Brad’s point, I wouldn’t introduce a woman I was serious about to you assholes on a good day,” Nick agrees. “Which is why it’s going to suck meeting him on the worst one imaginable.”
I lift my bottle in acknowledgment. But I’m just grateful Jed had a few good years with someone who made him happy. “He must have been something special though. Jed wouldn’t have fallen for just anyone.”
There’s general agreement around the group of us after which we lapse into our own memories and regrets of time passed.
Finally, Brad stands. “We have to get ready if we’re going to be on time.”
“Right.” Shoving to my feet, I place the mostly empty bottle in front of me with some regret. I wish I could bring the rest of it with me to numb what I’m about to endure.
But Jed deserves better.
With that in my mind, I climb the stairs to put on one of the two suits I brought with me.