“Good,” he said, clapping his hands together. “How about a beer? You still drink, don’t you?”

I smirked. “I still drink.”

As he was getting me a beer from the fridge, I noticed a small suitcase in the corner next to the couch. I realized that there was also a woman’s coat by the door and a couple of books on the table that definitely didn’t belong to Brent.

“Have you shacked up with a girl?” I asked. “I thought you and Carly broke up?”

“Fuck yeah, that break up is definitely sticking. She was fucking crazy,” Brent said.

I looked through the pile of books on the table, and then I held up one with a title that read Business in the Modern World.

“Then who does this belong to?” I asked. “Because you’re definitely not smart enough to be reading something like this.”

“Hey, I’m not going to pretend like I am smart enough for shit like that,” Brent said. “And even if I was, I’d be bored sick. Nah, it’s no one special…just Rachel.”

“Rachel?”

“My little sister,” Brent replied.

“Oh. I thought she lived in Virginia.”

“She was studying there,” he replied. “But she moved into town a couple of days ago and needed a place to crash.”

“Oh.” I nodded.

“What?”

I smiled. “Nothing…just somehow can’t imagine you with a younger sister.”

“I’m sure there’s an insulting reason why you think that,” he said. “So I don’t want to know.”

I burst out laughing. Brent might not have been the most responsible person I knew, but he was good for a few laughs. We didn’t exactly have a huge amount in common, either, but apart from the men I worked with at the station, he was the only friend I had.

And lately…I needed a friend.