Page 92 of Sapphire Spring

Chadwick drew back as if his fingers had been burned andturned to face Mason as Shirley drove away at a crawl. “Jesus. What is it,Asshole Day at Capo Beach? Youbangingthat oldprune?”

“She’s a friend. Don’t talk about her like that.”

Chadwick grimaced, lifting his hands in a sarcastic gestureof surrender. “So…what? Some new therapist told you I was a bad influence or something?”

“We can talk about this later. Go hook up with the girlsbefore Lenny tries to attach them to a drone. Have fun. Enjoy your night. I’mgoing to bed.”

Chadwick snorted and started for his car. For a second,Mason thought that might be the end of it. The end, perhaps, of a lot of otherthings too. But as soon as he gripped the door handle of his Maserati, Chadwickfroze. “You joined a cult, didn’t you?”

“AA’s not a cult,” Mason answered.

“Oh, shit, man,” he groaned. “The Jesus People with thetokens? Nofucking thanks.” When Chadwick swung oneleg inside the car, something inside of Mason seized up.

“There’s no Jesus in AA. Unless you want there to be. It’s ahigher power of your own understanding.”

And I haven’t found mine, yet.

Or I have and his name’s Naser.

“Yeah, well, mine’s Maserati. Over and out.”

As Chadwick went to shut the door, a nagging voice toldMason he’d played this moment wrong, and his new sober friends would encouragehim to be more spiritual in his approach.

“Chadwick.” His friend—possibly his former friend—froze. “Wecould have lunch.”

Chadwick stared at him for a while. “Lunch?” he finallysaid, as if he’d never heard the word before. “Will there beteatoo?We’refucking warriors. We don’t havelunch.Fuck off, dude.”

Mason watched the Maserati make a loud U-turn before itheaded off into the night.

He heard footsteps approaching and caught a draft of Shirley’ssweet floral perfume. They stood there in silence for a while. Shirley brokeit. “Dreadful best friend got your tongue?”

Mason grunted in the affirmative.

“Want to tell me what happened?” she asked.

“Well, there’s what I did, and then there’s what Ireallydid.”

“Let’s hear both.”

“I hid the key so he couldn’t get into my house unannouncedand start partying.”

“Sensible. Which version is that?”

“What Ireallydid is pick a fight with my bestfriend because I was too afraid to tell him I’m falling for a guy.”

Shirley nodded.

“What should I do?” Mason finally asked.

“Yeah, I’m not the right one to ask on this one. I’m toobiased. It’s been a hell of a lot quieter around these parts since he stoppedvisiting. And if that littleshitcalls me Grandma again,I’ll hand him his balls in a brown paper bag.” She rubbed his upper backgently. “Sleep on it. Maybe there’s something to clean up there. But I wouldn’trush to bring all that energy back into your life. You did a good thing for myfriend Hugh tonight. Let that be the note you end your day on.”

“We all did a good thing.”

“You helped.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, thenheaded for her house.

By the time he reached his kitchen, his hands had started toshake. But he didn’t feel queasy or even anxious. Instead, he felt elated. Ithad felt good to shout Chadwick down. Damn good. Good to meet his slur with aburst of authentic anger and the volume it demanded.

Adrenaline. That’s what he was feeling.

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