Page 71 of Code Word
I laughed and laughed, and he trudged up each step and gave me the bird before the door shut behind him.
I sighed happily—truly happy—finished my coffee and the remaining toast, then cleaned up. I went out to the patio, the warm salt air and sunshine felt amazing.
I lay back on the lounger and thumbed out a quick text to my folks.
In Mexico with Luke. Everything’s good now. Not sure how long for. Will be in touch.
Mom’s reply came straight through.
Becca let us know last night you were okay. Glad to hear it. Keep us posted. Love you.
I sighed.
Becca.
She really was the best, and I genuinely hoped our friendship would survive intact. Being Luke’s sister aside, I really wanted her in my life. She understood all the shit going on in my world and she seemed to be happy for Luke and me. I just hoped it wouldn’t get weird for her or that I was asking too much. Was it selfish of me to want her as a friend?
Maybe.
But I didn’t have many friends. I was beginning to wonder if I had any.
Outside of Luke, anyway.
It got me thinking about Wes, and how when he and Amy had the baby, he’d all but dropped out of our circle.
Or was it us not making the effort? Was it us excluding him?
Wes had a whole new life now, that was true. But I hated realizing how alone I was this last week, now Atrous was over, and I had to wonder if he felt the same.
So I sent him a text.
Hey. In Mexico with Luke, figuring shit out. Just wanted you to know I miss your stupid face. Any time you wanna hang out, just let us know. Give that cute kid a kiss for me.
Before I could second-guess myself, or wonder if that was too sappy, I hit Send. I needed to be a better friend to him, so that started now.
I considered texting Jeremy, and maybe I would later. I needed to apologize to him. But Maddox was still a nope, andI knew that was something I’d have to unpack. But for now, I’d been sappy enough.
But then my phone buzzed. It wasn’t a phone call but a FaceTime.
It was Wes.
His concerned face appeared on screen. “Hey. Everything okay?”
I smiled and rolled my ass off the lounger to show him the view of the beach. “It’s pretty damn good.”
“The view is nice,” he said. “But I’m talking about you. It’s not like you to text like that.”
I sighed and scrubbed my free hand over my face. “Yeah. I’m fine. I... I’m figuring shit out. Band stuff. Life stuff. I realized I haven’t been a great friend to you. I know you’re busy and all, being the dad of the year, but still. We should hang out more. Grill some shit or something.”
Wes snorted. “Well, I prefer to grill meat, but if you wanna grill shit, you can put that on your own grill.”
I laughed. “Do the dad jokes come naturally once you have a kid?”
Just then Luke came out, all showered and wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I showed him the screen. “It’s Wes.”
He waved. “Oh, hey,” Luke said. “How’s the fam?”
Wes fumbled the phone for a second, then a chubby little face appeared, bright eyes and what looked like jelly sandwich on her face. “Can dadda have some?” Wes asked.
