Joshua didn’t know where to start or what to do. But he couldn’t do nothing. He couldn’t just sit and wonder. He glanced toward the door to the hotel. There was a bar in there. He imagined the soothing, obliterating bite of alcohol in his throat. It could wash all the obsession away.
Joshua rubbed his forehead and cleared his throat.
“Hey there, partner.” Chris’s voice was cheerful. His long brown hair was braided, and he was dressed in a bright orange sweater with a fall pattern on the arms. He carried a steaming thermos, and he dropped onto the bench beside Joshua. “What’s going on?”
Joshua smiled at his welcome company. He, at least, would be a distraction from the tempting fantasy of getting wasted. “You a cowboy now?”
“Nah, but you’re my partner.”
“In what?”
Chris’s bright smile nearly blinded Joshua in the midst of his angst and gloom. “Friendship! Life!”
“Oh, of course.”
Chris leaned closer. “Plus, we shared Neil once, remember. That’s something we never talk about.”
Joshua tried to smile, but the mention of Neil had hit him like a punch to the solar plexus, and he couldn’t breathe. He hadn’t heard Chris say Neil’s name in years. He’d almost started to think Chris had forgotten him. But Chris wasn’t one to cling to grief. He moved on from life’s difficulties with determination.
“Speaking of Neil,” Chris said, not seeming to notice how close to coming undone Joshua already was, or possibly thinking that indulging in memories of old times might cheer him up, “I saw this guy last week—right here on this bench, well, onthatbench—” He motioned across the way. “And he looked exactly like Neil. Talked like him, too.”
“You saw someone who looked like Neil here? On that bench?”
“Yeah, looking lost as all get out. I thought I was being ridiculous, but then when his mouth opened? Boom! All Neil—just pouring out. It was wild. And kind of creepy.”
Joshua’s heart thumped in his chest. “What did he say?”
“Oh, I don’t know. He said he needed to get back home to Atlanta. I offered to have Declyn drive him to Nashville to catch a plane. He seemed weirded out by that suggestion.” Chris laughed. “But then he was gone. Just disappeared into thin air like a ghost.”
Joshua blinked. “While you were watching? He vanished right in front of you?”
“Oh! Of course not! No! Don’t be silly!” Chris laughed again. “No, I was over around that corner rounding up Declyn, and when I came back, the little booger was gone. Did I mention the guy was young? Like, I don’t know—a teenager. Younger than Declyn. And such a smart mouth on him. I sure hope he has some brains to back that mouth up.”
“Oh, believe me, he does,” Joshua muttered.
Chris leaned closer, his hazel eyes sparking with interest. “What? You know him?”
“Kind of.”
I know him, Joshua’s mind insisted.I know him like I know myself—less and less, and more and more.
“Doesn’t he look just like Neil?”
Joshua could only nod in agreement, not trusting his voice.
Chris drew close enough that his thigh pressed against Joshua’s, and Joshua could smell the coffee on his breath. “It’s bizarre, isn’t it? Who is he?”
“A doctor—well, researcher. From Emory.”
“Neil was a researcher.” Chris frowned, like he was putting it together.
“Yeah.”
“So how do you know this guy?”
“He applied for grant funding for nanite research. Like Neil.”
Chris’s eyes bugged out. “Okay. Seriously?”
