“You like coaching soccer?” he asks.
I twitch.
I actually fuckingtwitch.
He lifts his massive hands and spreads them in aDon’t shoot the messengergesture. “Community isn’t built by a single man. You step back, someone’s gonna fill your shoes. Will they do it your way? Nope. Will they do it better or worse? No telling. But will the kids get to play? Yep. Yep, they will. You don’t show up to help patch a chicken coopthat doesn’t even have chickens in it right now, world won’t end. Skip helping on someone’s moving day, the moving still gets done because there’s more of us around to do stuff. You get crankier and crankier and resent your friends because you don’tletyourself say no to anything, that’s on you, man. That’s on you. All I’m saying.”
George puts a beer in front of me while I stare out the window at the bluffs. “How about that light?” he says. “Maisey knew exactly what was wrong with it, and it hasn’t blown a bulb for us since she fixed it right up.”
I wince. “Sorry I couldn’t—ow.”
“Flint says he loves it,” Kory tells George, like he didn’t just kick me in the shin with his damn boot. “And he says thank you.”
George grins.
Kory grins back, but his is full ofTold you so.
“Why do I pick asshole friends?” I mutter to him.
“Being honest isn’t being an asshole, and you know it. Bigger question is why I keep putting up with you, Mr.Martyr.”
I slink back in my chair.
Considering he doesn’t need me to fix his damn fences anymore, that’s a really good question.
“It’s because you’re a good dude,” Kory stage-whispers. “Sometimes, all people want in a friend is someone to shoot the shit with over a beer.”
Hell.
That was my favorite part of hanging out with Tony.
Didn’t mind helping with the upkeep of the ranch. I wasusingWit’s End. Only right to help keep it in good shape.
“You remember when Tony bought that box of lamp pulls?” I ask Kory.
And yeah, I waited until he was taking a sip of his own beer.
Means I’m wearing it now.
Worth it.
“You ever talk to him about those?” I ask while he wipes his face.
“If the old man didn’t talk to you about them, I’m not either.”
“Was he ... he wasn’t lonely, was he?”
“He was.” All the smirk is gone from Kory’s face. “He was fucking lonely, and he was fucking up in his own head, and he spent his whole life trying to feel like he was worthy when all he really needed to do was look around and see that he had friends who loved him and didn’t care who he loved. Sound familiar?”
Not so sure I can stomach that beer after all. “Yeah,” I mutter.
“That why you’re asking, or were you planning to tell me you know where Tony hid those artful lamp pulls?”
“I don’t like having a crush on a woman I can’t date.”
He rolls his eyes so hard, they should’ve gotten stuck in the back of his head. “Who says you can’t date her?”
“I do. She does. Her daughter does.Youdo.”
