Page 39 of Stay in Your Lane!

But you didn’t ask me a question!I knew what he meant, though. I gave him a thumbs up and a fake smile. “Clean shirt, ten minutes. Got it.”

“Good, good.” He headed back inside, leaving my spirit feeling as deflated as an old tire. I sighed heavily and began to follow him, but a tug on my arm turned me back toward my brother.

“Is it a romantic apology?” Stuart asked.

I blinked at my brother. “What?”

“The person you want to apologize to. Is it a romantic apology? Like, is this someone through work, or is it someone you want to really impress?”

“Um.” I was tempted to say “both” but when it came right down to it… “Romantic. I really like him, but I jumped to some conclusions and was kind of rude and now I’m afraid he might think I’m an asshole.”

My brother nodded sagely. “Instead of just thinkingaboutyour asshole, I get it.”

“Oh my God, shut up.”

“Hey, do you want my help?”

I nodded, because screw him, but I did.

“Then listen to me. An apology is only as good as the effort you put into it. Saying sorry for something big isn’t enough. You need to prove you’ve thought about the best way to show him you appreciate him too. Get him his favorite food, flowers if he’s into that—hey, are guys into that?”

I stared at my brother. “Dude. Youarea guy.”

“Yeah, but I’m not gay.”

“Does that matter when it comes to flowers? You steal the leftover arrangements all the time.”

“To give to Penny,” he said defensively, then added, “Plus the smell of gardenias reminds me of Mom. Whatever, anyway. Do something specifically nice for him, hand it over without expectation of immediate forgiveness, and be sincere. It’s the triple-threat approach to apologizing.”

“Very strategic.”

“Fuck yeah, it is.” He glanced at his phone. “You’ve only got five minutes left to change.”

Shit.

Two services later, I’d had plenty of time to think about how to apologize to Kyle. I went with food—I already knew he liked apple pie, so I splurged and bought a whole one from Waffles? that, if I was lucky, he would share with me. I thought about flowers, then maybe about a new plant for the piranhas, but they had a lot of plants already and I didn’t want the cats to feel neglected, so I went with fresh cat grass instead. Then I drove over to Kyle’s house, saw the black windows and missing truck,and realized I hadn’t even called ahead to let him know I was coming over.

Wow. Your methods are lacking today, man.

Kyle was probably working, and if so I didn’t want to interrupt him, so I decided to wait for him to come home. I got really hungry after the first hour but resisted digging into the apple pie. I couldnotnibble on his apology pie; that would be the worst apology ever.

It was past eleven by the time he got back, coming to a slow stop in his driveway. He got out and headed for the door, then did a doubletake and turned back toward me. “What the…Everett?”

Was it normal for my stomach to feel this unsettled? Maybe I was coming down with something.

Like nerves, dumbass.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted as I grabbed my offerings and walked over to him. “I was a dick. I know you’re doing the best with this case that you can, and you’re the only other person who believes that Ricky deserves justice, and I don’t want you to think I’ll leave you to figure it all out alone even if it means putting up with your family, so I got you apple pie from Waffles? and some cat grass.” I held them both out, waiting to see what Kyle would do next.

He was still for about ten seconds, like stock-still, not reaching for the stuff or rejecting it out-of-hand. Right as I began to think this had all gone terribly wrong, he started to laugh. Like, laughhard, the gut-clenching, diaphragm-quivering kind of laugh most people were too self-conscious to do in public.

“Cat grass?” he gasped through his giggles. “Cat grass, oh my God, that’s perfect.”

Nice, he must have just run out. Go figure, my brother had been right about something.

“You’re perfect,” he went on, andha, that was blatantly untrue, but I guess it meant he forgave me.

“How long have you been waiting here?’ Kyle asked as he straightened up.

---