“I know that, brother.” I punched him lightly on the shoulder. Sure, I’d taunted the dude relentlessly over the many years of our friendship, goading him to admit just that. But hearing him say it out loud? I could let him off the hook. Truth was, I’d always envied him, too. “Guess we can both bedouchecanoes.”
“Huh?”
“That’s what you called me this morning,right?”
“Uh, that was uberdouche. Can’t really take credit for that one, though. Katie called me that, few days ago, when I looked at her sketchbook without asking.” He rubbed the back of his neck the way he only did when he was anxious. “She hates when I do thatshit.”
“So stop doingit.”
“Yeah. She was, uh, prettymad.”
I stared at him. He actually looked pretty bent out of shape about it. “I didn’t think you guys fought likethat.”
“We don’t. I still feel bad aboutit.”
“So, go tell her you love her and you’ll do anything to fixit.”
He blinked at me, looking halfway stunned. As if I had no clue how to talk to a woman orsomething.
“What? It’s not hard. You just look in those big blue eyes of hers and admit you made amistake.”
“Christ. Are you giving me relationship advicenow?”
“Yeah. Think I justdid.”
Jesse groaned, maybe realizing his love life was in serious danger. He looked out the window as we moved through traffic. After a moment, he said, “They’re blue-green.”
“What?”
“Katie’s eyes. They’re blue-green. They’re kind of like a turquoisecolor.”
“Uh-huh.”
He looked at me. “You never noticedthat?”
“Would you want me to noticethat?”
He just shrugged and lookedlost.
“What’s up withyou?”
“Nothing.”
Right.
“She’s, uh, been kinda moody lately,” hesaid.
And I actually got a bit worried. Something was definitelyoff.
“What’s going on between youtwo?”
“Nothing. She’s gonna kill me for telling you, but… she’spregnant.”
I stared at him. Maybe I was waiting for the punchline for a moment or two… until it kicked in that he wasserious.
And the fucking relief hitme.
“Holy shit.Jesse, man.” I gave him another hug. “Thought you were gonna tell me your marriage was falling apart or some shit. But…shit.”
