“I’m here, Sammie.” Josiah smiled tiredly. “I’m going to stay with Denny for a bit.”
“O-kay…. I have questions, but those aren’t as important as what’s going on with the kiddos?”
Denny cleared his throat. “We were all at the Hare for open mic, then we all left and went home. When Yolanda and Drea got to their house, it was on fire.”
“Oh my God!” They could hear the muffled sound she made after covering her mouth with her hand.
“Old Guy forgot he was cooking something,” Josiah said in a sad tone. “He’s gone, they said he didn’t suffer.”
Sammie let out another choked noise. “Okay, okay, so it started from his side of the house?”
“Yeah. When they got home, it was already too late. They could hear the fire trucks, but Drea thought she could still maybe save something so she ran inside and to her room which ended up being full of smoke. She’d had the door closed, so when she opened it, she inhaled some of the smoke, but not badly,” Josiah explained.
Denny added, “When I got there, they were giving her extra oxygen just in case, but she’s going to be fine.”
“Okay, okay, that’s good.” She sighed with obvious relief. “Did they lose a lot?”
“We don’t know yet. We packed what we could and we’ll see what’s salvageable, but—” The air fryer beeped, and Denny got to his feet. “You continue the discussion while I make us plates.”
Josiah smiled at him. “Okay.” Then he started to explain the cleaning and other things to Sammie.
Denny watched at him, his heart feeling achy for some reason. He loved that man. So, so much—his kind, protective, gorgeous friend.
As he put the meal together, he smiled at the memory of a conversation from years ago. How the three of them had been at the cabin, a little high in a pleasant way, and talking about random things. Then Sammie had suddenly told them they were her people. They’d all agreed that they were, in fact, one another’s people and vice-versa.
It had been them against the world ever since, but they’d extended their circle to encompass more people. The twins and Nelson—who they all called kids, even though Nelson was thirty and the twins in their mid-twenties, and Sammie was only thirty-five—were Josiah’s contributions to the circle, and the closest to all of them. Sammie’s band, now that it had solidified, was another little bubble in their friendship Venn diagram.
Denny froze. He hadn’t added anyone to their group himself. Ever. Melody was the closest to a friend he had, but she was very careful to keep things friendly at work and to not hang out at all after they left the office. She said it wasn’t personal, she just didn’t want to mix her private time with business, and he could respect that.
His wives… well, Janet hadn’t been around long enough to get to know his new friends that well before the inevitable divorce. Stacey had hated Sammie and disliked Josiah. That should’ve been a sign if nothing else.
Kristin had had her own friends and they’d liked to keep things polite and casual, never attempting to bring their friend groups together and rarely socializing with each other’s friends. It had just worked like that.
He jumped when the oven beeped.
“You okay there?” Jo asked from his other side.
Denny startled again. “Holy fuck, you move like the mist, Josiah.”
Jo grinned. “All right.” Then he hugged Denny from the side, holding him close for a few seconds. “Check the nuggets. I’m going to dish up the fries.”
They ate in silence, yawning every now and then. Eventually they started cracking up at the whole sad scene. The slight hysteria faded, and when they made their way upstairs to sleep, Denny started to feel not-so-good again.
He stopped at his bedroom door and glanced at Josiah who was walking to the guest room.
“Jo?”
Josiah stopped and looked at him. “Yeah?”
“I….” He really, really wanted to ask Josiah to come sleep next to him. He didn’t want to be alone, not after the kind of day they’d had. He just didn’t know if it would be fair for either of them if he asked. “Uh… just… sleep well? I love you.”
Jo smiled, seeming tired yet happy. “I love you too. Sweet dreams.”
Denny watched as Josiah entered the guestroom and left the door slightly ajar. For a second, his body swayed after Josiah, but then he pulled back and went to sleep in his own bed, alone.
