I had no idea what to make of that exchange.
I finished my second beer. “Seriously, what the fuck happened here? So y’all aren’t fucking?”
Major shook his head, still in good humor. “Hell no. That one is a lost cause.”
Joel, who hated awkward social situations, made a valiant attempt to get this train back on the tracks. “I take it the issue with Walker is that you don’t want to cause trouble for him.”
“Basically? Yes.”
Beckett tapped his chin, taking another beer from Major. “So, here’s the thing. You can’t engineer his reality for him. All you can do is tell him how you feel and then give him the space to go where he wants to.”
I clinked beer bottles with him. “That’s awfully mature advice, Padre. I think I’ll take it.”
Sawyer set down his drink. “I do have one concern.”
“Name it.”
“This is going back a ways, but didn’t Hendrix have a huge crush on Walker in high school? After Walker saved him from a DeWitt beatdown?”
“I FaceTimed Hen, and he acted like I was ridiculous for even asking him. He had naked people crawling all over him and told me to go forth and conquer, so I took him at his word and ended the call before I needed brain bleach.”
The guys threw their heads back, laughing. Except for Sawyer.
“Speaking of Hen,” Joel said, “we still need to talk about what’s going on with him, right?”
Sawyer’s lips thinned. “Definitely.”
“Even that FaceTime call seemed off,” I said. “I mean, yes, he’s always joked about having a bunch of people in every port, but he didn’t seem happy. He’s emaciated, and his eyes were so dark he didn’t need eyeliner to look goth.”
“What do you think we should do?” Major asked.
“Well, I think this extended tour is almost over. After that, I say we drag him off the road, like Mr. Paige wanted. Make him stay in town.”
Sawyer nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that, too, but I didn’t know if I was overreacting.”
I shook my head. “Not overreacting. I think it’s more than the contract he’s under, but I can’t imagine what. Something’s going on with him, something that’s stressing him out, and he’s not saying.”
“Do you think it’s his finances?” Sawyer asked. “Like, you help him manage that, right?”
“Uncle Ry asked the same question. I’ve only ever helped out with some backup accounts. Those are flush, so I’ve got to assume his main account is doing fine.”
“Do you think he’s heartbroken or in love or something like that?” Joel asked.
“I don’t think so? For the ten years he’s been on the road, he’s refused to consider being with the same person longer than a few hours. At some point you’ve got to believe somebody when they keep telling you they aren’t relationship material.”
“Do you think there’s something wrong with his health?” Sawyer asked.
That quieted all of us. Finally, I shook my head. “I don’t think he would hide a serious illness from us. I don’t know what the problem is, but my gut tells me we need to sit on him for a while, make him take time off. Only then will we get the truth out of him.”
We nodded in agreement.
Major clapped his hands, then rubbed them together. “Have we pregamed enough? Are we going to the jazz club? Or are we going to sit around bemoaning our sorry asses?”
“Jazz club,” we all answered in unison.
CHAPTER13
walker
