Page 60 of Boss Level

We took a seat at a table in the back, that gave us the best view of the entire joint. Our food was dropped at our table, and the kid left.

“So, what’s with the long-distance meeting spot?” I asked as I grabbed a couple of fries.

He squirted generous amounts of ketchup across both his burger and fries. “I hoped the setting would make you nostalgic.”

“When has that ever happened?” Nostalgia made people do stupid things while they chased a high from a life they’d never live again.

Maddox raised an eyebrow. “More often than you let yourself admit.”

I was in a contemplative mood, but not enough of one to add another thread of overthinking to the tangle. “Uh-huh.”

“Rosie called me.”

“Ah.” That was the best response I could offer. Aunt Rosie was Mom’s sister. When we were growing up, she was the coolest aunt ever. Openly gay, lived inthe big city, and she took Judith in when things fell apart here.

And the day Judith married Cole, Rosie pulled me aside and gave me some drunken-aunt advice. She told me their wedding was the best thing that could’ve happened to Judith and me. That Rosie saw our potential and loved us both dearly and we were holding each other back.

I didn’t disagree with her, but back then I hadn’t cared for hearing the truth spoken out loud. And over the last few decades Rosie and I drifted apart. It was possible I’d ignored all of her messages this year about my and Dominic’s plans for Christmas dinner, telling myself I was too busy to think about it.

“What did she want?” I kept my tone cool.

Maddox took a huge bit of burger, after I asked, and stared back at me while he chewed.

Asshole. “You brought me out here for this. I can wait.”

“I’m not supposed to tell you,” Maddox mumbled through a half-full mouth before taking another bite.

There were days when I swore he was three-something and not thirty-something. “You could’ve not told me as easily in Salt Lake.” And I was as capable of playing this as him, but I liked winning more than Maddox did.

Besides, I was hungry. So I dug into my burger. I took my time with the intention of letting Maddox finish first.

And when he did, a short while later, that meant I won.

Maddox tried to take his time, sipping soda, using a dozen napkins to wipe away grease and ketchup, and fiddling.

I chewed more slowly.

He finally sighed. “She wants to meet us at the orchard house. At noon. Today. She’ll tell you herself.”

“Wow.” I tried to mask my genuine shock with sarcasm. “Entrapment much?”

“She says she wouldn’t have done things this way if you’d taken her calls.”

I didn’t care about seeing the old house again—it had been vacant for ages, because Mom and Rosie could never agree on what to do with it—but I’d already spent too much time in the past over the last week or so, and seeing Rosie again would remind me of—

Nothing. Remind me of the same things I was already thinking about. Nothing new. Nothing that changed anything. “Fine. Let’s go see the orchard house.”

We were early, and we spent the next forty-five minutes parked in front of the dilapidated old farmhouse. Even if the weather were warmer, I wasn’t sure sitting on the porch and waiting was a good idea. We stayed in my car, Maddox refusing to say anything, for fear he’d say the wrong thing.

Rosie finally pulled up in her purple, 1982, Chevy S10.

We all climbed out to meet each other. She was built a lot like me, tall, muscular, and confident. Her hair went silver decades ago, and it was cut short. Honestly, she looked a bit like a well-built Billy Idol.

She wrapped me in a tentative hug. “It’s been too long.”

“Yeah. You know how it goes.” The past was screaming in the back of my mind, hammering at the door I’d locked it behind. It needed to stay there.

“I do.” Her smile was tight and didn’t reach her eyes. “How are Dominic and Judith?”

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