Page 16 of Regret Me Not
“Judgy?” Pierce finished, then grew thoughtful. “There was more. There was… I guess there was just this sort of… I want to say superficiality, but that’s not the word. Like I said—she could be kind. Her best friend in the world was a big girl—plain and shy—but whenever she came over, I watched Cynthia just light up, and I could tell that when she looked at Wendy, she was seeing an angel from heaven, you know? So she had depth, and she was capable of really nice moments. But it was like she needed a list—she needed someone to tell her what was right and what was wrong, and if she had permission to think it was wrong, boy, did she do that shit up right, you know?”
Hal nodded, looking thoughtful. “I do.” He flashed a smile. “Father’s a judge, right?”
“Yeah. It was that kind of thing too. The law was the law was the law—but there was no… no understanding that the law could be changed. It’s like….”
Pierce searched hard for a simile—it was just such a hard idea to pinpoint.
“Like, when I was in high school, my best friend, Derrick—the guy whose condo I’m currently freeloading in—his older sister got pregnant right when her husband was deployed.”
Hal grimaced. “Is it just me, or do you know a lot of pregnant women?”
“That kid just turned sixteen, give me a break. Anyway—Derrick’s sister called the school and begged him to take her to the doctor when she went into labor, but he didn’t have a car, and I did. So we left school—just left. I didn’t call my folks, he didn’t call his, ’cause we were kids and hey, lady with a baby.”
“Well, yeah.” Hal took a pull of his iced tea. “They scare me too.”
“They’re not so bad—seriously. Derrick and his wife want to have kids. I’m rooting for them. I’ll get to play with kids that I don’t have to take home with me. It’ll be brilliant.”
“But about leaving school at seventeen?” Hal was good at keeping up with him.
“We got her to the hospital, and we were even in the room with her until their parents got there. And the next day we go back to school, feeling like heroes, and—”
“You got detention for ditching out on school.”
Pierce stared at him. “For two weeks. How did you guess?”
“Because. It was a story about rules and why some of them are stupid. And I got it. I mean… I get it. It’s a good analogy.” Hal was gazing at him now with a sort of softness in his eyes.
Pierce’s face heated. “Sorry. Just… haven’t been out with a friend in a while. I… I was talking too much.”
“No,” Hal said. “You… it’s just, I saw the end coming, and I felt bad. You were a unicorn once too.”
And that flush wouldn’t quit. “I had my moments,” he mumbled. Oh God, he really had talked too much.
Hal’s smile went quietly blinding. “You’ll have more.”
Pierce’s throat went dry, and he was sucking the dregs of his Arnold Palmer when the waitress came by with the food and two plates.
The mood, successfully broken, lightened up with discussions of amazing spices in the breading and other great things to eat. By the time they were done, Hal had Pierce nodding his head and saying yes to chicken and waffles when they went out again in three days, and that sudden bolt of intimacy between them was forgotten.
Or over.
Maybe not forgotten.
THE TRIPto Target didn’t take long, and they emerged victorious with a box of the rubberized mesh mats and an office chair. By the time they got to the car, though, Pierce was limping fiercely, and the arm holding the cane was cramping too.
“Oh man,” Hal muttered as he piloted his CR-V over the skyway to the outer beach. “I’m so sorry. All you asked was for stuff to make your condo not awful. I didn’t mean to break you.”
Pierce let out a weak laugh. “Don’t apologize,” he said, meaning it. “It was my best day in a long time.”
Hal darted a look at him before looking back at traffic. “You mean that?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?”
Hal just shook his head. “Tell you what. We get back, you sit and watch television while I put the mats all over the place. Then I can make us some dinner while we watch TV.”
It was such an easy plan—simple and domestic. Hal made him put on sleep pants and a T-shirt and watch the TV in the bedroom with a prop behind his back while he ran around and put the mats down. Dinner was an english muffin sandwich again, and Pierce started dozing off not long after, but he pulled himself awake long enough to say, “You don’t have to leave. Watch as much TV as you want.”
“I need to look some stuff up on my computer,” Hal said. “If you give me the keys, I can go get it and come back.”
