Jules had led an investigation and he and his friends had actually found—and caught—the boy responsible.
“I’ll carry that memory to my dying day,” Rod told her quietly. “Watching Jules jump on top of the fuck-up with the gun when everyone else was running away, or ducking for cover. And maybe it was because we were small-town kids. Lot of us were raised around firearms and we knew what thatkind of ordnance did to flesh. And maybe Jules simply didn’t know—he grew up in the suburbs—but he just launched himself at this kid who was much bigger than he was. I mean, you look at him today and you don’t thinkThat guy can probably beat the shit out of me, but...” He laughed a little. “You’d be wrong. He took that kid to the ground, knocked his gun away. And then, he’s bleeding—he caught an elbow to the nose—but now he’s talkingmedown from the ledge, because I picked up the gun and well, I was dead serious when I aimed it between that fucker’s eyes and... Jules put his body between the gun I was holding and that kid—and he didn’t do it for the kid’s sake. He did it for me. After all the shit I gave him, the way I treated him and Kevin and...”
Rod cleared his throat. “After it was over, and I went to thank him for stopping me, he just kinda brushed it off. No big deal. Don’t worry about it. One thing he said, though, I still remember it so clearly... He said it was something this one teacher, Mr. Harrison, said to him—that the special kids always somehow manage to find each other, and I remember thinking,This fucking fearless gay kid who is obviously brilliant and courageous and... he thinksI’mspecial?I’m pretty sure that being friends with him—with all of them, especially Kevin, God... It changed my life.”
Emily sat there, sipping her coffee, thinkingGod, please, let Jules be as amazing as Rod believes him to be. Let him find Mick and bring him safely home...
“What ever happened to Sadie?” she asked.
“I honestly don’t know,” Rod admitted. “We lost touch. You know, in high school everything’s so intense. You fall in love and you think it’s gonna be forever, but... Although Belle and Tom still are. Together. They were living in... Guilford or Madison, I think. Somewhere on the shoreline. Last time Ichecked, anyway.” He laughed a little. “They always did love going to the beach.”
Rod’s phone rang.
He’d disconnected it from his car’s speaker, no doubt because he wanted to intercept any bad news that might be coming. But he did tell her, “It’s Jules” as he picked it up, putting it up to his ear.
Emily’s heart was pounding, but Rod quickly told her, “Mick’s okay. They’ve got him,” and she exhaled for real for the first time since Mick’s phone went dead.
Thank God, thank God, thank God...
“He’d like to talk to you,” Rod said, uncertain if she was open to that, because yeah, he’d heard herWe’re donespeech back in his living room.
But she was already nodding and holding out her hands, so he gave her his phone and... “Mick?”
“Em, are you okay?” Mick asked.
“Yeah, are you?”
“Yeah, I’m... They’re taking me to the hospital. I’m okay, but I got hit in the head and Kevin thinks I need stitches.”
“Which hospital?” Emily asked as Rod started his car, clearly ready to take her there.
“It’s probably Desert Regional, it’s pretty close,” Rod said as over the phone Mick told her, “I’m not sure, but it’s the one where Kevin works.”
“Is that where Kevin works?” she asked Rod as he pulled onto the main road, and he nodded, so she told Mick, “We’ll meet you over there—God, I’m so glad you’re alive. You know, I got a taste of what it would be like if you were gone—if we really were done, permanently, and... I didn’t like it at all.”
“Em,” Mick whispered. “I know I fucked up, but... I was so afraid of losing you. I love you so much.”
“Yeah, well,” Emily said. “I love you, too, asshole, but I also hate you, so that’s gonna be problematic, but... Good news! Your not being dead means it’s probably something we can fix. Okay, we’re pulling into the hospital parking lot. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
She hung up the phone and handed it back to Rod, who smiled at her. “Connie would’ve loved you,” he told her. “She would’ve told you to really make him grovel.”
“Oh, I will,” Emily said. “Believe me. I will.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Jules: Age Seventeen
Connecticut
There was a crowd of kids hanging out in the main hallway after school, and as Jules walked toward them, they all fell silent, turning to look at him.
He was heading to Mr. H’s classroom, where they were holding the official first meeting of the school’s new gay-straight alliance, which Jules had been looking forward to.
He’d been part of a similar group in his former high school, and he’d given Hobbit a heads-up warning. “It’s not like it’s going to change the culture of the school overnight. I mean, yeah, there are things we can do to increase awareness, and it’s gonna be great to see which of the straight kids are real allies. We’ll know, when they show up to this meeting, they’ll be like, you know, Joey and Topher. Kids we can count on to help if there’s ever a threat.”
In other words, don’t expect too much.
But on the other hand, he hadn’t expected to have to run a gauntlet to get there.
