Page 74 of Revival

My neck muscles tighten. “Are the two of you talking about me?”

He shakes his head. “Hell no. Hadn’t heard from him for years until he called to check on me after the fire.”

“Probably wanted to know if I was dead,” I mutter bitterly around the glass rim. Licking the heat from my lips, I set the drink back down.

Danny conspicuously avoids my statement.

“Things are good out here, aren’t they?”

“I have a family back home. Friends.”Her.

Fuck, I miss her. The way her head feels on my chest at night as we listened to the ocean waves crash on the shore. The smell of her coconut shampoo. Her simple touch. How good it felt to hold her in my arms.

“You’ve done some reconnecting.” For nearing his seventies, he’s still plenty sharp, and he knows me too well.

“I want to get back and see my mom before it’s too late.”

“I get that.”

“And my brothers. I even have a niece that I met for the first time. She’sseven.”

Danny fails to hide his wince.

“She’s not even scared of me,” I go on. “Doesn’t look twice at my scars. She isn’t fazed by the fact I look like a scary bastard. She put a tiara on my head and demanded I have a tea party.”

“Sounds nice.”

I give up on the shredded napkin. “Would you go back if you had something to go back to?”

Danny just shakes his head. “You’ve got a nice life here.”

I had a nice life here.

“Didn’t think we’d wind up talking about your departure.” He clinks his glass against the wooden bar. “Thought maybe you’d say you’re coming back to work.”

“I’m not cleared yet. PT has me doing some exercises for the scar tissue on my shoulder. It’s limiting my range of motion.” I lift my arm, demonstrating where things get tight. I let the limb drop. “To be honest, I'm not sure I want to.”

“I get that. It hasn’t been the same without the two of you around.”

Grief swirls with the bourbon sitting in my gut. “Yeah.”

His knuckles rap twice on the bar. “Job’s there if you want it, but I’ll get by if you don’t. At the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for you. I’ll just say I don’t think Jim’s the type to let bygones and all that shit.”

“Just to add, I think your nephew is a dick.”

“Don’t I know it. Some people get drunk on power and don’t know what to do with it.”

Silence falls over us as we both turn our attention to the Major League Baseball game playing on the screen. I watch the players without paying much attention. My thoughts are miles away. Hundreds, to be more precise.

My phone vibrates in my pocket.

I consider not checking it, but knowing it could be Sutton or Silas or even Mom, I drag the device out.

A burst of adrenaline floods my veins at the name on the text.

I urgently tap the notification, and a picture opens up.

The backdrop is painted in tangerine hues as the sun begins to dip below the horizon. The ocean is silver and navy blue, white-capped waves suspended in the still shot. Our legs touch, feet crossed at the ankles, and sand sticking to our skin.

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