Page 9 of Ewan

Maybe she was married at some point, and it ended badly.

She dusted herself off and started from scratch. Whatever her story, I’m not her man.

I peel my eyes away from them without gracing them with an answer.

They get the hint quickly and start talking amongst themselves, not commenting on my behavior.

They know better than that.

“Can I have another one?” I toss at the barista, who brings the bottle to the counter and fills up my glass while I clean my palate with cold water.

My phone buzzes, and I take my damn time to reach inside my pocket and check it.

There is no good reason for anyone to be calling me at this hour. Sometimes, I get calls from my men, but it’s usually stuff I need to approve of.

Nothing crazy.

Things are quiet these days.

They have been quiet for a while.

Maybe too damn quiet.

It can’t be one of them.

My brothers.

We’re all living in our own little worlds, none of us feeling like talking, let alone socializing in a formal setting. Who the fuck wants that?

The phone buzzes again, and I take a sip of whiskey before fishing it out from my pocket and staring at a number I don’t recognize.

This better be good.

I weigh my options for a couple of seconds before picking up the call.

“Yeah?”

A pause comes first, followed by some muffled voices blended in the background, punctuated by the electronic beeps of what sounds like medical machines. Is that a hospital?

I’ve only heard those unmistakable sounds over there.

“Hello?” I say again, my voice rough like I just smashed a few faces in before getting my drinks.

“It’s me,” a hesitant voice travels from the other end.

“Ezra?” I ask, unable to stifle my surprise.

A pang of guilt grows in my chest while I’m waiting for my son to speak.

We haven’t talked in a week.

The last time we chatted, he was in Colorado.

He found a girl there.

I push away from the bar, my phone pressed to my ear, my eyes on the view outside.

The sky has shifted colors like crazy, from blue to gray to dark, and now that the evening has crawled in, snow comes down in a curtain of white.

---