Glenn laughed. Pete dropped his shirt and pointed at Jed. “Yourturn.”
I took my place on the arm of the couch as Jed rose and lifted his shirt. The four-inch scar on his belly was smaller than Pete’s but no less grisly. A flashback of Pete, hunched up on a hospital bed, ashen with pain, invaded my mind. Pete felt my shiver and touchedmyarm.
“How long have you had the pacemaker in your stomach?” heaskedJed.
Jed dropped his shirt. “Six years. They figure I’ll need a new one after ten,though.”
Glenn grimaced. “Jesus. Never fucking stops,doesit?”
“It’s not so bad.” Jed’s grin was wry. “We’re both alive,ain’twe?”
“Goddamned hippie. Max haschangedyou.”
“For the better, dude. Always for thebetter.”
Jed twisted the band on his ring finger while Pete and I absorbed the fond exchange. I didn’t know Glenn that well, but he’d become a good buddy to Pete, and it was clear his bond with Jed ran deep too. We were all lucky to have friendslikethat.
Pete tilted his head back and closed his eyes. He looked tired, but an evening with Liam always did that to him. The kid was easy to please and never asked for anything, but sometimes I thought Pete would’ve coped better if he’d been a brat. I squeezed his hand. I felt Jed’s gaze on us, but he’d looked away by the time Iglancedup.
Jed said something to Glenn I didn’t understand. Glenn muttered something back that Jed didn’t seem to like. I tensed up. Surely Glenn wouldn’t bring someone around who had a problem with two guys together? I didn’t want to believe it, but even in the gay heart of Chicago, I’d seen people I’d known far longer than Jed turn out to beassholes.
Glenn abruptly got up and left the room. Jed shook his head slightly and then met my gaze. “Don’t mind us. We’ve been bickering in Arabic for twentyyears.”
“What are you bickeringabout?”
“He thinks I should go home and be with Max. I think he could do with a few more days of my foot uphisass.”
Oh.That nixed my fleeting and craptastic theory about him being a homophobic douche. I eyed the ring on Jed’s finger again. “How long have you been marriedtoher?”
“Who?”
“Max,wasn’tit?”
Jed snorted. “Max is adude,bro.”
That would teach me for making assumptions. How many times had Pete and I had the phrase “but you don’tlookgay” thrown at us? “Sorry.”
“That’s okay. I don’t talk about Max much, so you’re not the first to assume he’s a chick. He’ll laugh when Itellhim.”
I winced, glad Pete had apparently dozed off. “Do you have totellhim?”
“Yeah. He’ll ask about you because I was just talking about you on the phone with him. But to answer your original question—we’re not officially married. I wear his father’s ring, and he has my best friend’s old pendant around his neck. A bit of paper can’t mean more to usthanthat.”
It was a sentiment close to my heart. Maggie would’ve loved to see Pete marry me, but he wasn’t interested, and we were on the same page most of the time. Sometimes I grew tired of explaining my relationship to the world. But would being married change that if it didn’t meananythingelse?
Probablynot.
“Anyway…” Jed stood and held out his fist to me. “I’d better go find Glenn, but listen—I’m going to the VA hospital tomorrow. Glenn said you painted a mural there? I’d like to see it if you’ve got time toshowme.”
It crossed my mind to ask why he couldn’t search it out by himself or with Glenn. The mural was tucked away in the refurbished psychiatric ward, and I’d never visited it since I’d delivered it to an entirely different part of the hospital. I’d never visited a psychiatric ward either, but that was all down to Pete—and Joe. They’d cared for me when I couldn’t care for myself, and even in my darkest days, I’d known how luckyIwas.
“Ash?” Jed was staring at me, though he didn’t seem particularly impatient. “I’m gonna go,” he said. “I’ll be heading down there around noon, but I’m sure I’ll find your work if you’re not there. Thanks for thecompany.”
He left, taking Desta with him, and with Pete using me as a pillow, I didn’t get up to seehimout.
ChapterThree
Pete
