Page 130 of Floodgates

“What happened to ‘Dimah’s a bad guy, and none of us should go anywhere near him’?”

“I was wrong about him, and so was Alex. We know that now.”

I had taken crap for years, and I was just supposed to let it go? How was that fair?

“It’s not like we’re wrong often.”

The things you learned when you weren’t even trying were astounding. But to find out that the mere suggestion that I had invited two of my oldest friends out to dinner with us that evening was upsetting him left me stunned.

“Cord, why—”

“Did you replace the couch?”

I was lost. “I’m sorry?”

“I remember you told me you came home and found Breckin fucking Sean Granger on the couch,” he said, his gaze locked on mine. “Did you ever replace it?”

Was he serious? “That’s what you’re upset about?”

He nodded.

“Not our friends?”

He shook his head.

My smile was uncontrollable. “What precisely led you from thinking about Matt and Eric to the couch?”

“It just”—he coughed—“popped into my head, and I actually didn’t even hear what else you were talking about.”

I chuckled. “I see. Well, you’ll be relieved to know that I replaced the couch the day after that happened. I got the one we have now from Ikea.”

His relief was apparent. I was grabbed and kissed and hugged and finally tucked up against his side as we walked together up Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley toward Moe’s Books. I was looking for a gift for Beth for her birthday, and she had shared a fondness for Elizabethan poets, so I was going to poke around and see what I could find.

“So,” he began slowly, “I saw Breckin’s wedding invitation on our refrigerator. Are we actually going to that?”

“Oh no, I just wanted to remember to call and congratulate him.”

“And did you?”

“I didn’t, but I don’t have to now, because I ran into him last week when I was picking up Thai food from that place you like. He was coming out of the Italian restaurant across the street.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t important. We talked for maybe ten minutes.”

He arched an eyebrow and waited.

“What?”

“There’s a reason you didn’t tell me. I know you.”

I sighed deeply, and his eyes widened almost comically.

“Are you kidding me?”

My groan was loud as I started walking away from him. He caught up easily and swung me around to face him. “He was with somebody else?”

I let my head fall back on my shoulders.