“Hi, Walker,” he said quietly, accepting my handshake.
Beckett and Holden now lived a few doors down from Ren, who, apparently, was loving his new role as grandfather. While Hikaru called Beckett and Holden by their names, Ren was already “jiji.” Pride was beaming out of Ren’s eyes.
I was pretty sure my grandfather had never once looked at me like that, and he’d known me all my life.
I stood, redirecting my thoughts to the project at hand. “Can I assume your happiness with my presence has something to do with my willingness to climb very tall ladders?”
While the Meeting House was lovely, no one had considered the logistics of changing out the can lights in the vaulted space, an issue that was especially pressing since several of the bulbs had apparently come from a bad batch. It seemed I was the only one of the Lost Boys who wasn’t afraid of heights and creaky ladders.
“Yes, but we’ve totally missed you,” Beckett insisted. Gesturing at the rest of the Lost Boys, he said, a little too loudly, “We love Walker, don’t we?”
Laughing, everyone exclaimed that they did indeed love me and miss me and find me valuable beyond my light-bulb-changing abilities. I accepted hugs from Ren, Holden, Joel, Tristan, and Major. Ozzie was the last, grinning down at me as he took me into his arms with a faux-serious arch to his brow.
“You said you’d be at Saturday lunchtwoSaturdays ago. You got a new girl or something?”
I let out a tired sigh, appreciating the contact. “You know it. Walker Tire Service is a demanding mistress,” I joked.
“Well, fine. But Beckett was right—we love you very much, Walker, so don’t be such a stranger.”
I was probably red as a beet, but I played along. “I won’t, Ozzie. I promise.”
He wrapped me up in his arms and gave me a big squeeze while he laughed at our silliness. It sounded a little like a scene out of a romance book, describing it like that, but honestly, it felt better than anything had in the last few days.
I let myself enjoy his hug for a moment longer, then stepped back with a big grin.
Beckett materialized a light bulb and pointed to a darkened spot in the ceiling.
Chuckling, I set the bulb in the front pocket of my overalls. Turning to Ozzie, I eyeballed his stylish huaraches. “I know you make fun of my country-boy attire, but at least it’s practical. Or at least it was, until someone tossed every single pair of cargo shorts I owned, leaving me with impractical scraps of fabric and these,” I said, running my thumbs under the tabs of my overalls. “Which I had to dig out of the back of my closet.”
His eyes lingered on my thumbs, and then a smile split his face. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, Walk. Besides, whoever saved your closet from those unfortunate cargo shorts probably thought you looked cute in overalls.”
I covered my face, never not embarrassed when he complimented me.
He nudged me. “Just be careful up there, okay?”
I sent him a salute, then made my way up the ladder. While it was tall, I still had to stand on the very top and stretch up on my tiptoes to reach the burned-out bulb. A few extra inches in height sure woulda made this easier, but I’d always had excellent balance and was able to switch out the bulb and make my way back to solid ground none the worse for wear.
While the rest of my buddies gave me a prim-looking golf clap, Ozzie looked ill.
“Hey, you okay?” I asked, rubbing my knee.
“No. You scared the shit out of me up there. I’m getting this place one of those extension rods for changing bulbs,” he huffed out, plucking the dead light bulb from my overalls. “You shouldn’t be going up ladders anyway, with your knee.”
His concern felt nice, if only because I was never gonna get used to somebody giving a shit.
“My knee is fine, Oz,” I replied, hooking my thumbs into my pockets. “And it wasn’t that dangerous. I used to replace the light bulbs on top of the cell towers in the area for extra cash. This was nothing.”
“But you were making decent money at the tire shop before you became a teacher, right? How much extra cash did you need?”
I laughed. “They’re called college loans, Oz. Look it up.”
He grumbled about predatory lenders and loan forgiveness, then gestured for me to join the crew for lunch in the new cafeteria. As we passed the massive floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the gardens that Major had sponsored, I spotted Leo and Ginger. Ginger, recently promoted to assistant director at Lupe, worked closely with Leo and the other kids. Leo was our resident troublemaker, but he volunteered whenever he could.
They were accompanied by a third person.
“Who’s that with Leo and Ginger?” I asked.
Ozzie rubbed his hands together, a mischievous look in his eyes. “That’s Lyle.”
