“I thought that might be the case.”
They ate quietly for a while. Then Denny sighed. “I don’t think anyone else would’ve realized. You’re too perceptive, I think.”
Josiah reached over the table and squeezed his fingers. “Or just enough.” He pulled his hand back, looked at Denny and smiled. “What else did he like?”
Oh, so they were starting this early? Might as well.
“Ice hockey.”
Josiah’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, Number Three, right?” He remembered them talking about how Denny had named his record label in honor of his brother. “Wait, where did you live back then?”
“Near Anaheim, so, you know, hockey country.”
“Ah, makes sense.” Josiah gestured with his fork to make him continue.
“Yeah, so he got pretty good at it too. Some people were sure he’d go and play in college, you know.” He smiled at the memory. It was a nice one, because Dave had been humble and proud of his accomplishments at the same time.
“You said once that he was a bit of a jock?”
“Oh yeah, he really was.” Denny sipped from his coffee mug and grinned. “But he was also really just an overall good guy. Like super responsible. So even if he’d get someone to buy us booze, he’d also make sure we had a designated driver and nobody was left behind.”
“Sounds great. Definitely safer than a lot of kids have it when they experiment.”
“It felt safe, even if I was a couple of years younger. Our parents weren’t super protective but they didn’t have to be, you know?”
Something painful flashed in Josiah’s eyes. “Can’t relate.”
Denny thought back to the short conversations he’d had with Jo about his childhood. He’d always gotten the impression it hadn’t been very good.
“Do you want to elaborate?” he asked, wondering if his friend needed to talk too.
Josiah’s nose wrinkled as if he’d smelled something bad. “Not really. But it was… you know, at first they must’ve been okay. But then as soon as I was able to fend for myself, they both worked all the time and I guess they thought I was safe when they tossed me into whatever afternoon activity or summer camp they could find where someone else could drive me.”
“You said you were blue-collar?”
“Pretty much. Dad sold used cars and mom was his secretary. In reality she did a lot more than just answered phones, so she really needed to be around for the place to run as it was supposed to. I’m not sure they actually ever planned for me.”
“That sucks,” Denny said with conviction.
“Yeah. And then on top of that, you know what happened when I came out.” Jo frowned at his French toast.
Josiah was one of those young gay men who had been kicked out of the house and disowned when he’d come out to his parents. Denny couldn’t understand that sort of thinking. Even if Jo’s parents hadn’t wanted a kid, they were still responsible for him, no matter how he turned out or what his identity might’ve been.
“At least you found the Hare, eventually.”
The thought of the bar and the family he’d made there in the last fifteen or so years made Josiah smile again.
“Yeah, at least there’s that.”
They finished the breakfast in silence, and then Josiah insisted on cleaning up and doing the dishes.
Denny went outside and walked through the still dewy grass to the rock that had gotten enough of the first rays of the sun to be dry. Once the sun got high enough, the dew would vanish quickly off the lawn too.
He sat and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. He tried to remember what Sammie had told him about the breathing technique she used, but somehow drew a blank on how and what exactly he was supposed to do. Instead, he just concentrated on breathing in and out as he listened to the nature around them.
He thought they should send a message to Sammie to have her call them when she was available. The three of them had been welded together by a deep love of music and the Hare, and one another. Nelson had once said that Jo, Denny, and Sammie were the weirdest threesome he’d ever seen. The kid might’ve been right on that. Not that Nelson wasthatyoung, but still younger than any of them.
“I texted Sammie,” Jo said as he walked across the lawn, wincing at the wet grass.
