“I’m glad you did! I’ve missed you, we used to have such a good time in the old days.”
“Too good a time sometimes as I recall.”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “Smoking and drinking up on the hillock peak. I remember it well.”
“Yep. But of course, you weren’t a cop then.”
“Ha, we were also a lot younger then.”
“Ain’t that the truth. Honestly, I wish we’d stayed in touch better, but that’s probably my fault. Got sucked into married life and, you know.” I made air quotes. “Couple friends.”
Laughing, Paul shook his head. “You can’t take all the credit for that, Varley. I might not be married, but I get a lot of pressure to hang out with ‘cop friends.’ I’ve lost touch with a lot of people too.”
Paul’s smile was open and friendly. He was a good-looking guy in a wholesome, babyfaced kind of way, neatly trimmed brown hair, kind blue eyes. He’d filled out since high school, but was still fairly lean, and the uniform complimented him. “You just get out of work?” I asked.
“Actually, I was just leaving. Gotta work a late one tonight. But hey, we should get together and catch up. I was sorry to hear you and Violet split up.”
“Oh, thank you. Yes, definitely. I’ve got a lot of time on my hands lately. You wanna grab breakfast or something one day?”
He huffed. “Rather go out for a stiff drink, to be honest.”
“Oh thank God, me too,” I said and Paul laughed. “Let’s do that. I’m a sad divorcee with no life.”
“Oh come on.” He chuckled. “You look healthy, anyway. You look good, Kurt.”
“Thanks man, you too. Justice blue suits you.”
He snorted. “Thanks, but I’d rather be in street clothes. I haven’t had a night off in a while. You free Thursday?”
“Yeah,” I said, probably a little too enthusiastically. I really needed to get out of the house though, with someone besides a bad date. And already, even after this short conversation, I felt comfortable with Paul again, like no time had passed. “That sounds great, actually. Thursday it is.”
“Good. How about The Beach Club? I can pick you up.” He glanced down the road and chuckled. “You’re obviously on my way. Be stupid to take two cars.”
“Sounds good. I’ll let you get to work.”
“Have a good night, Kurt. See you Thursday. Oh, and thanks for bringing Blackie home.”
I laughed. “No problem. Next time I’ll just let her find her own way.”
I walked back down the road toward my house, and halfway there, something hit me. Orion’s website. It said he danced at The Hillock Beach Club on Thursday nights. “Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. Maybe I would suggest another place when Paul picked me up on Thursday. There were certainly plenty of bars down the seaside we could go to. The last thing I needed was Orion thinking I was stalking him.
And seeing him dance in that skimpy little outfit was definitely a bad idea. Especially in front of Paul. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hide my reaction, because there was always a reaction when I saw Orion. And anyway, it was supposed to be about reconnecting with an old friend. I could use all the friends I could get right now. If I wanted to rekindle my friendship with Paul, it would be best not to go somewhere I’d be distracted by someone else the whole time. Yes, definitely suggest another place.
I’d almost reached my house when Paul’s police car rolled up beside me, stopping. Paul’s arm rested on the doorframe as he leaned out the open window. “Hey, Kurt? You got a minute?”
I walked to the car, noting his pinched expression. “What’s up?”
Sighing, he stared through the windshield a moment, then met my eyes again. “I wasn’t gonna say anything, but screw it, we’re friends. It’s about your dad.”
“Oh.” I scowled. “What did he do now?”
“I had to drive him home from The Crusty Claw last week. He’s been getting pretty drunk. And that’s his right, but he takes his car down sometimes when he doesn’t go with Skip or Henry. Caught him trying to drive home, but I made him leave his car at The Claw and gave him a ride.”
“Ah, shit. Yeah, he’s been kind of off the rails lately. I’ll talk to him. Is that it?”
Paul winced, then gave me a tight smile. “Well…”
“Just tell me.”
“Also last week. I had to break up a fight in the bar over a pool game. Jasper punched some college kid.”
My jaw dropped. “What? Is the kid okay?”
“Oh, yeah, he’s fine.” Paul shrugged. “The kid was asking for it, he shoved Jasper first. Apparently, the young guys were hogging the pool table, not letting your dad and his buddies play. They knocked Skip’s change off the table when it was his turn. Your dad had something to say about that, the kid shoved him, and…well, Jasper dropped him.”
“Oh, Jesus.”
“Don’t worry, no one’s pressing charges or anything. I think those three old coots were more trouble than expected, and that kid will never admit an old man knocked him flat on his ass.”
I groaned, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “Shit. My dad’s been going through some things lately.”
“I know, and I like Jasper. Just…make sure he understands he can’t be driving drunk, okay? I’d hate to have to nab him on that. Maybe introduce him to ride sharing or something if he’s not in the know.”
“I’ll talk to him. Thanks, Paul.”
“All right, then. See you Thursday.”
I was cursing my father’s name as I walked back through my yard. He seemed to be on a self-destruction mission. Getting in bar fights, for crying out loud. I never even had to deal with this kind of trouble from my kids. I’d have to make another trek down to Jasper’s and have a word with him, which I wasn’t looking forward to. I decided to put it off until later. I was finishing up my latest tree carving, and I wanted to get it polished and set out to dry.
It was a unique one, and I wasn’t in denial about the fact that Orion had inspired it. All of my little tree carvings were fairly eccentric, which was likely why my friend Danny told his wife I was working on ‘some weird shit’ down in the basement. Violet had asked if I was ‘exploring my dark side’, which made me laugh, since she’d more or less called me boring before we separated. I didn’t think I had a dark side. It was more that I wanted to create something unique, especially after going through all the trouble of carving them.
They all started as twelve-inch blocks, but with my special tools, and several hours of YouTube videos, I’d learned to create something beautiful, and it was extremely fulfilling. I wasn’t exactly Michelangelo, but I’d gotten pretty good. It was delicate work, the branches especially, but extremely satisfying.
On my first ever try, I’d whittled the branches down too thin. They were flimsy and broke off, so I’d started again, making them thicker. They were delicate, but sturdier now, and the gloss kept them intact and solid. Each tree was free-standing on a nest of roots at the bottom, which was a challenge, making sure they were properly balanced and wouldn’t fall over. And they all had animated faces carved into the trunks. That part was the most fun, giving them unique expressions, which was all about the eyes.