Chapter 10

Not that Ben didn’t think Rick should have that money if he needed it. Rick had had to put up with a lot from him toward the end. Ben would come home dirty and sweaty, and while Rick used to say he liked the way Ben smelled after a hard day’s work, in the months before Rick had left, he would push Ben away. “Take a shower,” he’d snap. “You smell like a tramp.”

Which wasn’t fair, but Ben would go into the bathroom and get washed up.

* * * *

By the second week after he’d mailed the card, Ben was becoming antsy. He’d race home from work and rifle through the mail, but there was nothing with the Wooster postmark.

By the third week, his boss was getting ticked. “Jesus, Haggerty, would you get a grip?”

“I just have to—” The certainty that Rick had answered him todaywas so strong he had to go home to see what was in that day’s mail.

His boss gave a helpless shrug. “All right, go.”

“I’ll be right back. You won’t even have time to miss me.”