Page 82 of The One

He snorted. Dean did used to bust his ass about the candy stash he had to keep him going among other things. “I’m not sure what was worse. What I did to stay awake or what you did. Gallons of coffee isn’t much better.”

“Nope,” Dean said. “Put a nice big hole in my gut that is finally all healed up. Took some time. We’ve had a rough few years.”

“We did,” he said. “This is the only room with a bed in it so it’s yours. Bathroom right next door. Get comfortable and come down. We can have a beer and Gillian will be here soon. Then we’ll order some dinner and hang out like old times minus the work.”

“Nothing I’d like better,” Dean said. “Then I can tell you about the interview I was on earlier.”

He went downstairs and shut off his computer for the night, grabbed two beers and some pretzels to snack on and was sitting in the family room when Dean returned. “First I have to know, are you looking to relocate to New York?”

“No,” Dean said. “I don’t think I’ll stay in California but not sure where I’ll go. Not here. No way I could deal with this weather. California is my home, but it’s just too expensive. If I get this job I can work anywhere. I’ll figure it out though.”

“Same here,” Rick said. “I could live anywhere. Nick, my boss, has offices in multiple locations, but it worked out to come back to be by family. I’m not complaining too much. Just about the weather.”

“It does suck, but you grew up with this,” Dean said.

“I did. And not having to be outside much for it helps.”

The two of them were chatting about Dean’s job interview when the front door opened and Gillian came walking into the back where they sat. George went nuts like he always did when he saw her.

Rick got up and kissed her. “Gillian, this is Dean. My old colleague at Google and then guess you could call business partner.”

Dean stood up and moved over to shake Gillian’s hand. “Probably a few more things added to the list of what we were,” Dean said. “Friend will do for now. At least I hope he and I can get back to the way things were. And Rick always did get all the good-looking ones. Nice to meet you.”

Gillian smiled. “Nice to meet you too. I’ve heard a lot about the time you two spent together.”

“Really?” Dean said, grinning. “Did he tell you it wasn’t all fun and games though?”

Rick sighed and hoped this didn’t turn into a bitch session and prayed he could deflect some things if it did. Not much he could do about it and Gillian would be a good sport, he was sure.

30

Good Spot Now

Gillian was grinning when Dean said those words. “I’m not sure he ever said it was much fun and games,” she said. “I know he worked a lot and burned out but was happy in the end.”

“Everyone felt that,” Dean said. “Burned out and happy in the end. Though it seems to me Rick got the better happy ending than I did.”

“Oh,” she said.

“Why don’t we order some dinner first,” Rick said. “Then Dean can tell his side of it and remember that we are all in a good spot now.”

Gillian wasn’t so sure she liked the sound of that, but maybe she’d find out more about what she suspected Rick wasn’t saying at times. That there was more to why he came home than just being burned out.

Once dinner was ordered, they were sitting in the family room, George lying down in front of the fireplace that was running.

“Now that we are seated, I want to start,” Dean said. “I want to apologize to you, Rick. I wasn’t always fair and it was wrong of me. I put too much on you when you were working another job. I could leave Google to focus on this and you didn’t.”

“I get it,” Rick said. “I said I’d help you out, but it turned into more. I wouldn’t have left you hanging.”

“Which I appreciated,” Dean said. He turned to Gillian. “This was my vision. The problem is, I wasn’t sure what my vision really was. That is Rick’s strong suit. He kept me on track. Colleen, my ex-wife, she was giving me a chance and I took advantage of it.”

This was the first she was hearing that Dean wasn’t married now. Not that Rick and she talked all that much about his friend, now that she thought of it. He barely brought his name up for a person it seemed he’d spent so much time with.

“It’s easy to get so involved with it,” Rick said. “I’m to blame for that too. I wanted it to succeed as much as you.”

“When Colleen told me one year and I pushed for two, I should have realized things were falling apart. But how could I have known she’d do what she did?” Dean said.

“I shouldn’t have agreed with her,” Rick said. “I’ve felt guilty about that for a long time. Did I cause this mess? Should I have supported you and not her?”

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