Page 127 of Rhodes

The line drops.

May twenty-ninth. That's when Coop comes home. I can dodge him over the phone. I won't be able to do it with him standing in front of me.

It’s stupid I haven’t told him. All of this didn’t go any way I thought it might.

Whatever is left of our friendship will probably not survive him coming back home. The guilt alone is enough to end it.

Reeves comes through the gate a little before dark with a six-pack in one hand and no explanation for why he's here.

I'm already on the front gallery with my feet on the rail, watching a delivery van squeeze past a parked car under the oaks. He takes the steps two at a time and drops into the chair beside mine.

"You planning to live here forever?"

"Rent's good."

"Ridge says you missed dinner Sunday."

I take the beer Reeves holds out and twist the cap off. "Tell him I'm alive."

"He knows. He sent me."

"Of course he did."

Reeves drinks and settles back. He's been in and out of Creston for weeks now, mostly before work when he comes to swim. The first few times, he knocked. Now he lets himself in, swims, takes whatever leftovers I have in the fridge, and leaves without asking when I'm going home.

I appreciate him for that more than I've said.

The street is quiet except for somebody dragging a trash can over concrete half a block down. Creston's wrought-iron gate throws long bars of shadow over the front walk as the light drops behind the houses across the street.

"You talk to her?" he asks.

"Not a word."

He rolls the bottle between his palms. "You tried?"

"At first. She made it clear, so I stopped. It's been over a month."

Reeves nods like that's enough. I take another drink.

"I saw her good friend a few weeks ago to make sure she was okay."

His eyes shift to me. "Good."

"Yeah."

I prop my feet up on the banister.

"She did exactly what she said she would do," I say. "She handled it, from what I can piece together."

"You surprised?"

"No."

That almost gets a smile out of him. I turn the bottle in my hand. "I never told you, but she took the blame for the Corps review."

His brows pull together, but he stays silent.

"She told her family she made the call."