Hiswalk back to the table faltered as he offered a short nod. “Ah. Right. At hisplace.”
“Yeah,”I replied quietly. “Brendan’s got some work thing going on over the next fewweeks, but once he’s done with that, we’re moving my stuff. And then, I'll betherefull time.”
“Ibet you're excited,” he said, doling out the wings.
“Imean, yeah, sure.” I nodded, sittingdownandaccepting the plate. “It'll be nice to have more space. He has a little area inhis apartment that I can turn into an office, and that'll be amazing, tofinally have an actual office instead of a kitchen table.”
“Youthink that'sgonnabe the answer to your writer'sblock?” he teased, sitting across from me and grinning.
Irolled my eyes, before biting into a wing. “I think the answer to my writer'sblock is to get this kid out of me. I'm too distracted and exhausted witheverything right now to get a single coherent thought out.”
“Ormaybe it's what you're writing that's the problem.”
Liftingmy brows, I cocked my head and said, “Oh, so you become friends with an authorand now you're an expert, huh?”
Heshrugged one shoulder as he chewed, then swallowed and said, “Nah, it's justthat, I'vesortabeen there before. I don't make anyprogress when I'm giving all my attention to the wrong things. But when I focuson therightstuff,” he pointed the clean bone in his fingers at me,“that's when the good shit happens.”
“Okay,wise guy,” I replied, folding my hands to hover over my wings. “What do youthink I should be writing, then?”
Laughing,he said, “I already told you. Yougottawrite about agirl named Kenny who walks into a bar and meets a guy named Goose. You’d getfamousoff ofthat.”
Inodded and moved my folded hands onto the table, feigning serious intent to makethis happen, before asking, “Okay, so what kind of book are we talking abouthere? A comedy? A thriller, or—”
“Iwasthinkin' something closer to an autobiography, ormaybe a, you know, inspired by a true story type of thing.”
“Okay,”I snorted, picking up another wing. “And how does it end?”
Heshrugged casually and diverted his eyes, as he replied, “Idunno.I guess we'll see how this thing plays out.”
Hisreply was sincere, with no hint of humor on his face, and the joke I was tryingto carry died with the pitter-patter of my heart. I shouldn't have read intoit, I shouldn't have let my mind wander, but I couldn't help it, when it wasimpossible to decipher what he was trying to tell me. It was just too vague, ormaybe that was the point.
Wedropped the topic and finished our wings with conversation about the baby andwhat his room would look like at Brendan's apartment. He told me about hisdaughter who had never been into princesses or unicorns, and instead had a roomat his place decorated with sharks and pirate ships. I snorted and made acomment that she was a girl after my own heart, and he replied with candor,“You should meet her sometime.”
Afterwe finished our lunch, we cleaned up and decided to watch a movie—my pick,Goose insisted. I couldn't decide, so I offered him a choice of my threefavorite movies, as I fanned out the Blu-rays on the coffee table.
“TheCrow,Breakfast at Tiffany's, orShawshank Redemption,” hemuttered, listing the options out loud. Then, he brought his eyes to mine andsmiled. “You have interesting taste.”
Offeringa smug grin, I replied, “I'd like to think I'm an interesting person.”
“I'dhave to agree with you there,” he said, pluckingThe Crowfrom the assortment.“I'mgoin' with this one. I haven't seen it in a longfreakin' time.”
“Thisis my favorite one of all,” I said, as I popped it into the Blu-ray player.“Brendan doesn't like it, so we've never watched it together, but I love it.”
Helaughed, as I sat at the other end of the couch. “Notgonnalie, it's hard to understand why you guys are together in the first place.”
“Yeah,I know. Everybody saysthat,” I muttered, pressingPlay.
“Traceyand I broke up.”
Theannouncement was abrupt and took me by surprise, and I stared unblinking at thescreen, not quite hearing the opening monologue. My mouth dried instantly, myheart hammered wildly, and my stomach flopped with more than just thenever-ending nausea I seemed to be plagued with.
“I’m… I’m sorry to hear that.”
Henodded solemnly. “Yeah. When we were both at my apartment the other night, she,uh, told me we weren’tworkin’ anymore.”
“Ialways thought you guys were great together,” I admitted, remembering thejealousy I felt whenever I saw them together.
Heshook his head. “Here’s the thing about Tracey. She’s a good person, I won’tever talk shit about her, but she’s also a performer. She’s in the public eye,so she made sure things always looked good to everybody else. But when we weretogether?” He pursed his lips and shrugged. “Things hadn’t felt right for awhile. I thought it was all in my head though, and I didn’twannathrow something away over nothing. But I guess the feeling was mutual.”
