“Nonsense.”
James sat at his usual chair, and I took a seat on the loveseat next to him.
“Are there new developments with Elise?” he asked as he leaned forward.
Oh, yeah.
“Yeah. I found out this morning that Elise is pleading not guilty. I—”
“Andrew.” James got up from his chair and sat beside me on the loveseat. “Andrew, why didn’t you call me?”
“I figured I’d see you tonight, and we’d eventually talk about it. It was just before lunch when my attorney called and gave me the news. I ended up leaving the construction crew at the coffee shop and went home.” I took a deep breath and glanced at James when I felt his hand grip my shoulder.
“Did your attorney say what his plan was?”
“No. Not over the phone. He asked me to come into his office this week so we could talk about everything. I’m assuming that chat will include the plan of action.”
“Would you like for me to accompany you to the meeting?”
“Thank you, James.” I sighed. “At some point, I’m going to have to stand on my own feet.”
“Andrew, you were standing on your own feet the day you came into this club, just as you are now.” James moved his hand from my shoulder to the back of my neck. He jostled me gently and leaned closer so that only I could hear him. “Just because you’ve flown my coop doesn’t mean I’m not right behind you.”
What I wouldn’t give to be tucked inside that coop of his. I scrubbed my hand down my face and took another deep breath.
“I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything.”
“Talk to me, Andrew. Tell me everything that is on your plate, and I will find a way to lessen the load.”
“I don’t even know what you can help with exactly.”
“We’ll figure it out together.”
I wasn’t going to turn him down again. I needed all the help I could get.
2
Andrew
Over the past few days, I had tried to concentrate on what a not guilty plea actually meant. When I got home last night, I was too nervous and hyped up on adrenaline to sleep. In the wee hours of the morning, I sat in the living room and researched what not guilty pleas entailed exactly. Of course, all of the info was courtesy of the internet. For anything concrete I’d have to wait until I actually spoke to the attorney, which wouldn’t be until Wednesday.
It had been the longest weekend of my life, and the start of the week was long and drawn out. Luckily, James was at the club to help me out Saturday and Sunday. Everything there went smoothly. I thought Friday night’s calmness was a fluke, but Saturday and Sunday were also pleasantly calm. The upside to also having a new coffee shop in the works was things surrounding it kept me occupied, at least during the day.
The evenings were when I started to feel like I was going to lose my mind with worry and stress. Monday night I met James for dinner at a place close to the house. I wasn’t very hungry and pretty much just pushed food around on the plate. James was fully aware of why I was nervous, and he knew this was how I’d get when stressed about things. Thankfully, he hadn’t pushed me about eating.
Tuesday night I met Josh and Brandon for pizza and a beer downtown close to the new coffee shop. As I swallowed the beer, I could feel it burn a hot trail down to my nearly empty stomach. Fuck. That didn’t feel good. I set my hand over my stomach and waited for the burn to settle.
“Dude,” Josh said. I looked up in time to see him lift the beer mug in front of me and set it on the other side of him. “Have you eaten anything today?”
Had I?
“I had a granola bar and coffee for breakfast and some crackers and water for lunch,” I recalled.
“You can’t drink beer on an empty stomach,” Josh warned. I agreed with him and nodded. I wasn’t going to debate with him because really, the beer didn’t taste good to me at all.
The next time our server came by, Brandon ordered some plain breadsticks for us and an iced tea for me. I turned my head to gaze out the window while Josh and Brandon chatted about the Lakers game that was on the TV. I was lost in my thoughts about the appointment tomorrow when I glanced down at Brandon’s feet. The bottoms of his jeans had come up some, exposing his bright blue socks. I smirked and bumped his arm, halting the Lakers talk.
“What kind of socks do you have on today, man?” I asked him.
