Chapter 9

About a month since Rob's departure, and he realized that it was getting worse. He had hoped that it would get easier with time, but instead he was missing Rob more and more. Despite their almost daily emails and a phone call every other day, Ethan found himself wondering if it was really time to head up to Montana and see his friend. Julia had nodded at his suggestion, although he hadn't missed the way she had pursed her lips. At this point, he was surprised that she hadn't lost her patience with him yet. She was having a rough time at work, and he knew that she had had a fight with her mom about something.

He had tried to listen when she was pouring out her troubles to him, and he tried to help by suggesting possible solutions for her to make up with her mom and her boss. But instead of being appreciative, she had just shaken her head at him and said, "You just don't get it, do you?" He had been confused and hurt, but he had said nothing.

On a phone call with Rob, his friend chuckled when Ethan told him what happened. "You're not supposed to offer solutions, dummy. Just listen and let her cry it out a little. Geez, do I have to teach you everything?"

"But I was just trying to help!" Ethan protested. "I really don't get it."

"See, you're already falling to pieces there without me." Rob's low laugh on the phone sounded so good.

**God yeah, you're right**. But Ethan would rather rip out his own arm than admit it. "Ah go to hell, Hutch. So how are they treating you over there? How many times have you fainted already? Fourteen?"

"Shut up." Rob chuckled. "God, the first week was hell. Like I was telling you, they were trying to wean me off caffeine, simple carbs and sugar. I almost died. But after the initial 7-day diet, they're letting us eat some complex carbs now. So that's not so bad."

"How much weight have you lost in your first month so far?"

"36 pounds."

"Wow, are you serious?"

"Yeah, my face is already getting smaller. I've lost one of my triple chins."

Ethan laughed. "Now you just need to work on the other five."

"Har har, very funny."

"How are the people there?"

"Really nice. There are two other gals and a guy who are here to lose the weight too. And the staff are seriously great. My trainer's this really buff guy from South Africa, his name's Ruud. God, I hated him so much at first. He made me discover muscles that I didn't even know existed."

"Pah, you're such a wuss." Ethan was smiling so much that his cheeks hurt.

"Shut up, man. But at least I can jog for a mile without collapsing somewhere." Rob really did sound quite proud of his achievement.

"That's good, man, keep it up."

"Thanks. How's the start-up thing going?"

Ethan sighed and wanted to tell Rob about the doubts he had, but he didn't really want his friend to be so worried about him when he had his own weight loss goals to think about. "It's okay," he said at last. "I'll send you an email over some stuff I had been going over."

"Great."

About an hour later, Rob was begging off because he was yawning constantly, and Ethan had to admit that he was pretty tired too. After hanging up, he marked a date on the calendar for a drive up to Montana, and prayed that Barnes was going to be generous and let him take Friday off so he could make a weekend of it.