Page 78 of Indigo Sky

"Okay," I muttered, grabbing my eyepatch off the nightstand and pulling it on almost begrudgingly.

“Rev?”

“Hmm,” I grunted, trying hard not to let on that I’d been hurt when I shouldn’t have been.

“Thank you for caring so much about me,” she said quietly.

I blew out a breath that was meant to cleanse my mind and calm the nerves threatening to take over. But it didn’t. Still, I filled my lungs and belly with a deep breath and grabbed the phone off the dresser.

“It’s what I’m supposed to do,” I replied.

It’s all Iwantto do.

***

The taco place on Meadowlark that Nate had mentioned was really just a food truck that looked like it'd rolled in from the 1980s. Old and dingy, barely held together by a few rubber bands and a prayer. I was dubious about the quality of their tacos, especially after noticing the beaded fringe in the shape of sombreros dangling from the lip of the awning.

I pulled into the lot it occupied and looked around for Nate's dirty pickup and spotted it immediately, but Nate wasn't in the driver's seat. He was standing outside, leaning against the rusty bed and looking down at his phone with a small smile on his face. He had been too sweaty at the gym the other day, and I hadn’t noticed that he had started to grow his hair out just a little bit. No longer was he rocking the buzz cut he’d worn every day since the first day he’d defended me in first grade. And the beard he’d grown his facial hair into was nicely groomed and short.

He looked good.Healthy.

Honestly, it was startling when I hadn’t seen him look so put together in … well, ever, and I was torn between wondering if he’d completely lost his mind altogether or if this girlfriend he’d mentioned should be nominated for sainthood.

I got out of my car, and he looked over his shoulder to watch me approach. He grinned like he hadn’t expected me to show up, and, yeah, that might’ve made me feel a little guilty because I almost hadn’t.

“Bro,” he said by way of greeting, extending his hand toward me.

I clapped my palm against his, and he pulled me in for a solid one-armed hug.

I sniffed the air around us and looked at him with a suspicious, narrowed glare. “Are you wearingcologne?”

He squeezed my shoulder before letting go, laughing. “Of all the things you could throw in my face, that’s what you picked? Not the hair, not the beard, not the clean clothes …”

“Dude, I have seen you do laundry, but I don’t think I’ve ever known you to wear fuckin’cologne.”

I was stunned, staring at him, wide-eyed, and shaking my head a little. It was like I didn’t know him, and, hell, maybe that was a good thing. Maybe this woman had nothing to do with it. Maybe my pushing him away had been the best thing for both of us.

“I took over Roy’s shop,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. “You know he died—"

“No, I didn’t know,” I said, still bitter. “I only found out on social media.”

He looked confused at that. “Nobody told you? Not even your dad?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Nobody said a word to me.”

It stung. I had known Roy my entire life, had been his employee for years, and in a cold, shitty post, I’d had to find out that the man had passed months earlier.

“Ah, man …” Nate looked genuinely remorseful as he stuffed his phone into his pocket. “I’m sorry. I would’ve told you sooner.”

“Doesn’t matter now.”

He squinted his eyes toward the taco truck and nodded. “Yeah, guess not.”

“How did it happen?”

He lifted his shoulders in a helpless shrug. “He just … fell asleep and didn’t wake up. They said it was a heart attack.”

I frowned. “Sucks.”

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