“Oh, I’d kill for some,” he said. “How are you hanging on?”
Zach shrugged and attempted a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Good. Good. Thanks.”
He passed a mug of coffee to Duke along with a blueberry muffin.
“Here. I made these yesterday. They’re still fresh,” he said, and Duke practically inhaled the whole thing. Not that I could blame him.
There was nothing quite like a homemade pastry, especially if made by Zach’s wonderful hands. I swear I’ve put on an extra ten pounds this past week alone from all the delicious goods he’d been making.
Thankfully, he’d adjusted his portions to a more manageable number, or I’d soon have to look out for a whole new wardrobe.
“Gosh, I miss your stuff, dude. When are you going to open the truck again?” Duke asked.
Zach laughed with a bitter tone.
“You’d have to ask my insurance company. But I don’t even know if the truck will ever be back.”
“No! Don’t say that,” I told him.
I didn’t want any defeatist language around here.
“That’s right,” Duke added. “The Wandering Bundt is a staple of Mayberry at this point.”
Zach sighed.
“While that may be true, that truck took me forever to find and convert. I doubt I’ll be able to find such a bargain again and even if I do, it’ll take me ages to get it done up, inspected and all that jazz.”
There was a sadness in his eyes. Of course there was. Fucking Victor had taken away his dream job. His calling. How could he not be sad?
“You’ll find a way. We’ll help. I’m sure we can figure something out,” Duke said before I could.
And as I opened my mouth to agree, there was another knock on the door.
“Wow, aren’t you popular today?” Duke commented.
I walked to the door and opened it to find Warren.
“Hey, man,” he said.
“Hey! What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see my friend. Is it a bad time?” Warren replied and stepped in. “Oh. Busy house.”
Duke chuckled.
“And who’s this tall glass of water?” he asked.
Warren smirked.
“Warren. Warren Goodman.”
Duke’s gaze narrowed and his lips pursed into an o-shape.
“You’re Wyatt’s brother?” he asked.
“The one and only.”
