I had gone over the plan a million times in my head, thinking through every angle and every possible way it could go wrong. Even accounting for my uncle’s predictability, however, I had worried the details to death. My intention was to give Gunner a little guidance and show him how to make smarter choices instead of letting his hothead tendencies lead the way. Screwing up the plan and getting us both in trouble would fly in the face of all that, and I had no intention of letting anything bad happen to him under my watch.
“Head down to the Industrial District,” I said. “My uncle keeps a weird office location.”
“Will he recognize you?” Gunner asked as he started the truck and pulled down the street. “Do I need to keep my eye out for anything?”
“He won’t be there. He never works a weekend. If he did get a good look, though, it’s hard to say whether he’d recognize me. You’d think a man would remember his relative, even after a decade, but my uncle is a pretty selfish prick. He might well have forgotten about me altogether.”
“So he’s not the uncle of the year,” Gunner said. “Got it.”
“You said Malcolm will be able to meet up with us after?”
“Yup,” Gunner answered, smiling a bit wider at Malcolm’s name. “He has the day off work, too.”
Knowing I was going to see them both again made me smile a bit wider, too. I needed the week alone in my house and valued every minute of peace, but I was ready for a little distraction.
Gunner pulled us onto the highway and sped up as we headed down toward the center of the city. He steered the truck like a pro, flipping the gearshift and handling the steep Seattle inclines like it was nothing.
“Actually,” he continued, “I wondered if I could ask you a question.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve taken Malcolm out twice now. First, I took him to a park by the lake, and after that, I took him on a date to your house.”
I barked a laugh. “A dateis one way to describe it. What’s your question?”
He gripped the wheel a little harder, the water stretching out in the distance beyond us. “Well, that’s kind of all the date ideas I have. I thought about taking him to a movie, but that seems boring. And then I can’t really afford any fancy dinners or whatever he’s used to, and I don’t think Malcolm really likes bars.”
I had to bite my lip to stop from chuckling. He was asking me for dating advice.
“What makes you think I’d have a good date idea?” I asked. “For all you know, I’m some loner off in the woods.”
Gunner rolled his eyes, hitting the gearshift again. “I heard some of your stories, Maddox. And trust me, Malcolm and I have both noticed how sexy you are. If you don’t have some good date ideas, I don’t know who would.”
“I’ll take the compliment,” I said, glad to hear the charm hadn’t warn off me yet. “But I can’t really tell you what to do on a date. You have to be thoughtful about Malcolm and about yourself and figure out what’s going to be right for the both of you.” I punched on his radio, flipping through the stations. “And maybe try to think of something that breaks fewer laws this time.”
He laughed. “Malcolm likes it, though. He’s into having fun with me.”
“Of course he is. But if you’re the one pulling him out of his shell, you have to take care of him, too. If you make the wrong choice, he could be the one to pay the price.”
Gunner sighed, tapping his hand on the wheel. “I still can’t think of a date, though.”
“You’ll figure it out,” I said, then noticed the highway again. “Take this next exit and then an immediate right.”
Once I finished guiding Gunner through the nearly empty streets that ran through block after block of large industrial buildings, we pulled up near a brick building down a side road. Taking up half the block, it had a few nondescript businesses operating out of the first floor and a sign advertising office space for rent.
“This is my uncle’s,” I said. I hadn’t seen it in years, not since the time Declan and I had robbed the place.
“What are we going to do?” Gunner asked.
“We’re just scouting the place out for now,” I said. “Making sure nothing has changed.”
“Does it look the same?”
I nodded slowly. “It sure does,” I said. We sat there in silence for a minute while I studied the building and battled down memories I’d rather bury. “You see that blue door on the side? Behind the chain-link fence?”
“Yeah, I see it,” Gunner said.
“And can you see that gigantic pile of cigarette butts on the ground?”
