“I’m fine,” the deeper voice, presumably Rodney, growled. “I’ve been sober for three months.”
“You’ve been a dry drunk for three months,” Hobbit corrected him tartly. “You need to go to meetings and?—”
“Fuck you and fuck those fucking meetings,” Rodney said.
“See what I mean?” Hobbit said. “We’re a little hostile over here tonight.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake...”
“Hmm,” Jules said. “You guys are getting along as well as always.”
“Who the fuck are we talking to, anyway?” Rodney asked.
“Hey, Rod, it’s Jules.”
“Cassidy! Ah, I thought that was your voice. I’ve been thinking about you, man. You still at the Bureau, holding the line?”
“No,” Jules said. “I am not. I quit before they could fire me.”
“I’m so sorry,” Rodney said quietly. “The fuck is wrong with these people?” He made a disgusted noise. “I didn’t have to make that hard choice, since I was already out.”
“Yeah, but they want you back,” Hobbit said.
“Well fuck them and the fascist horse they rode in on,” Rodney said, but his voice immediately softened as he was back to telling Jules, “I was sorry, too, to hear about the pregnancy loss. That’s... brutal.”
Said the man who’d lost both his child and his wife in the span of a few short years.
“I always thought you’d make a great dad,” Rodney continued. “You gonna try again?”
“Mmmm,” Jules made a noncommittal sound. “I... don’t know. I don’t... think so.”
“What?!” Hobbit came back loudly. “That would be a crime against humanity! You and the movie star need a baby right! Now! What is wrong with you, Jules?”
“I’m... human...?” Jules asked.
“Kevin, give him some fucking space,” Rod grumbled. “This shit is still fresh. I love you, man, but you need to back the fuck off.”
“He loves me,” Hobbit said. “That’s why I stick around. That and every time I make noises about going back to New York he saysplease don’t go. Not so much in words but in hisbehavior.” He lowered his voice in a clearly meant to be overheard stage whisper. “I think we’re the new odd couple.”
Jules was laughing now, but he was wiping his eyes, too.
So Sam cleared his throat. “Hey, guys, my name’s Sam, and I’m here in the car with Cassidy. He didn’t mean to call you on speaker like this, but shit happened, and... Anyhoo, I thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself. We’re driving to Palm Springs from Los Angeles, ETA some time between twenty-two and twenty-three hundred, depending on traffic?—”
“Military time!” Hobbit gasped. “Sam! Oh, my God, are you one of Jules’s hot Navy SEALs?”
“I... was a SEAL, yes,” Sam responded. “I’m currently helping him set up an LA branch of Troubleshooters, Incorporated.”
“What? That issogreat!” Hobbit enthused as Jules cleared his throat and shot Sam a small smile of thanks. “Troubleshooters are the best! I was hoping they’d give you a parachute, JC! How perfect is this? For you to work in LA...?”
“Yeah,” Jules said, clearly trying to sound more enthusiastic than he felt.
“And you’re coming to Palm Springs!” Hobbit continued. “Tonight? Rod and I will prepare the guest room, although you’ll need two, won’t you? You can have my room, I’ll take the sofa.”
“Yeah, thanks, no,” Jules said. “But I did call to ask, well, a favor. A pretty big one.”
“Yes!” Hobbit said. “Whatever it is, yes. Right, Oscar?”
“How can I help?” Rodney said.
