Chapter 15

He arrived earlier than usual, so he was pretty certain none of his friends would be there yet. He was right, but a couple of guys he knew were. He stopped to talk to them on his way to the bar—just the usual hellos and “How’s it going?” chatter.

After finding a seat, Tony ordered a beer and opened the book he was in the middle of reading. Since it had nothing to do with the kind that he wrote, it was a nice change.

“Is that good?” Tony heard a husky voice ask from behind him. He turned to see who it was, just as Kirk slid onto the stool next to him. Kirk’s eyes were red, as if he’d been crying, which surprised the hell out of Tony, so he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I took your advice,” Kirk replied gloomily. “It didn’t go so well.”

“Your father blew his stack?”

“He wasn’t there. My mother…” Kirk shook his head before ordering a beer and a shot when the bartender came over.

“Want to talk?”