Page 12 of Love Notes and Late Nights
“I can be there in a few minutes.”
“Great. I’ll be waiting.” Wolf stood in front of his house, beer in hand. He’d switched from coffee when Harris decided to come by. Eventually, his alarm app advised him that the gate had beenopened and headlights ascended the long, steep driveway before Harris’ Porsche came into view.
Wolf expected Harris to have been at a club or something, but the guy was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. “Where are you coming from?”
“I couldn’t sleep either, so I was just taking a drive.”
Wolf led the way into the house and Harris followed. He retrieved a beer from the refrigerator, handed it to Harris, and they sat at the breakfast bar. “Why couldn’t you sleep?” Wolf asked.
Harris picked at the label on his bottle. “I was worried.”
Wolf studied the crease between Harris’ brows. “About what?”
“About you.” Harris lifted his eyes and met Wolf’s gaze. “You had another nightmare. Didn’t you? That’s why you’re up.”
“How’d you know?”
“I woke up and had a weird feeling in my gut. I couldn’t go back to sleep until I made sure you were OK. I didn’t want to wake you if I was wrong, so I thought I’d just drive by and see if it looked like you were up.” Harris paused. “I wasn’t on Mullholland when I called you. I was at the bottom of your driveway. That’s how I knew your lights were on.”
Wolf didn’t know what to say. This guy probably drove 40 miles in the middle of the night because of a feeling.It baffled him but also made his insides melt because it was thoughtful and kind. Humbled, his throat closed up. “Thanks. I’m glad you came by,” he said quietly.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Wolf shook his head. He never wanted to talk about it, but he appreciated the company. “Do you want to watch TV?”
“Have you seen Animal Kingdom?”
“What’s that? A show about nature?”
“No.” Harris chuckled. “It’s about a teenager who goes to live with his grandmother and finds out that she and his uncles are a family of criminals. It’s really good. I’m only a few episodes in, so I wouldn’t mind starting from the beginning if you want to see it.”
“Put it on.” They moved to the living room couch, and Wolf handed Harris the remote.
Wolf was riveted from the first episode. They were three episodes in, and he and Harris barely said one word to each other. The biggest surprise was that the uncles, who he expected to be older mobster types, were young hot surfers and one of them was gay.
“Now you see why I wanted to watch this over from the beginning,” Harris said, breaking the silence.
“Because the uncles are fucking hot.”
“That too.” Harris hit pause. “Got any snacks? Or are you getting tired and want me to leave?”
“I don’t want you to leave. I’ll get the snacks.” There was plenty of junk food on hand, so Wolf grabbed a few bags of chips and made a bag of microwave popcorn while Harris grabbed a couple of bottles of water.
They sat on the couch, sharing the family-size bags of chips and split the popcorn between two bowls, and continued to watch the series. Light filtered into the house and brightened the room, and that’s when Wolf realized the sun was coming up. “Shit. What time is it?”
“Almost six,” Harris replied. “I better go.”
“Or . . . you could stay here. I got plenty of room.”
Harris opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, then his lips formed a smile. “I better go,” he repeated.
“OK.” Wolf wished his friend would stay, not only because he was anxious about what would happen if he went back to sleep,but because he enjoyed Harris’ company. He walked Harris to the door, they shared a hug, and the guy left.
The house was immediately empty and quiet. And lonely. Wolf picked up the mess from the living room, throwing empty bags of potato chips in the trash and water bottles in the recycling bin. Something on the refrigerator caught his eye, and he turned back around. On the magnetic note pad stuck to the front of the fridge, Harris had written, “Sweet Dreams.”
A tiny smile upturned the corners of Wolf’s lips as he stared at it. He ripped the note off, folded it and put it in his pocket, and went back to his bedroom. Lying in bed, propped up on several pillows, he pulled the note from his pocket and read it again. The night started to catch up to him, and his eyelids felt heavy. The words on the note started to blur, and he fell asleep without dreaming.
***
