Chapter 9

Scotty inhaled the scent of bacon and cheese. “God, this smells great. I’m starved. You cook?”

“Had to when my wife left me. Or else starve.” Preston shrugged.

Scotty tried a bite. “It’s heavenly,” he declared around a mouthful. He chewed and swallowed. “So, um, Marilyn left you?”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry.”

“We hadn’t had a real marriage for a while. It wasn’t a surprise.”

Scotty nodded and took several more bites of the omelet and potatoes. He didn’t really know what else to say. Preston didn’t exactly encourage deep discussion and if he questioned him more it would definitely be prying.

“I know, by the way,” Preston said after a lengthy silence.

“What?”

He smiled a little. “That we had sex. I was there.”

“Oh. Well, yeah, I guess you were.” Scotty took a couple more bites, then set his plate down on the end table. “Look, I can understand if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Good. I don’t.” Preston stood and picked up Scotty’s plate. “You done?”