“Deb’s making lasagna. Wanted to know if you’d come over later.”
“Lasagna, huh? I dunno. Sounds suspiciously like a pity invitation to me.”
“Come on, you’ve gotta eat. Besides, she’s got a friend she’s been wanting you to meet?—”
“And there it is.” I tsked. “Never thought you’d set me up, man. That’s cold.”
“What’s cold is your bed. I’m just tryin’ to help out my friend here.”
“I don’t need any help.”
“If I have to watch you wait at Joe’s one more time for that guy to walk in?—”
“I don’t wait,” I said, rolling my eyes and pulling a thick stack of envelopes out of the mailbox. Okay, scratch that. Maybe I hadn’t checked it all week. “Tell you what, call the guys up and we’ll do Bar on Broad one night this week.”
“Yeah? I’m down for that. Oh, and I meant to ask you…”
Whatever he’d started to say went in one ear and out the other when I looked up and saw Reid walking the lake path and coming up my street. He had evidently already seen me, because there was a smile on his face as he waved in my direction.
“Ollie?” Mike said. “Did you hear what I said?”
Mail in hand, I waved at Reid to come over, and as he crossed the street, I said, “Uh, Mike, I’ll call you back.”
“Wait, are you coming tonight?”
“Later,” I said, and hit the end call button as Reid stepped up onto the curb. Without a hat on, I could see that his normally thick, dark hair was starting to grow back. “Hey. You found me.”
“I was in the neighborhood and all,” he joked. “Just getting some fresh air.”
“Oh yeah?” I raised an eyebrow. Dressed in dark jeans that sat a little loose on his hips and a collared shirt and light jacket, Reid didn’t look like someone going out for a walk. But with the way his nose and cheeks were tinged pink from the cold, it looked like he’d been outside for a while.
“Yeah.” His eyes dropped to my clothes. “Did you just wake up?”
I looked down at the faded blue t-shirt and sweatpants I’d fallen asleep in when I got home late last night. I probably looked like a rumpled mess, and there was no telling what my hair was up to. Running my free hand over the slept-in strands, I said, “Busted.”
“Late night, huh? Work or pleasure?”
“Pretty sure you know the answer to that,” I said.
“I thought maybe you’d taken up my suggestion of bowling.”
“Wouldn’t think of going without you.” The words came out without any forethought, but once they were out there, it didn’t seem like such a crazy idea.
“That would be cool. I mean, as long as you don’t think I’m some kind of charity case.”
He said it like a joke, but there seemed to be truth behind the lighthearted tone. The thought was laughable to me, and I realized then that maybe he was as lonely as I was, for different reasons. “Not at all. We should do it.”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely.”
Reid’s relieved expression turned apprehensive. “Look, I’m sorry if this is weird, it’s just…everyone feels like a stranger right now. And I know you said we don’t really know each other, but…” He bit down on his lip. “You’re the only person who feels familiar to me.”
It was ridiculous how much my heart thrilled at his words, even as my head tried to remind me that I was dealing with someone with a traumatic brain injury who’d had his whole world turned upside down.Not exactly the time to be swooning, Ollie.
Reid pulled his jacket tighter, and it was then that I realized how damn cold it was, and like an asshole, I’d left him outside to freeze. Not to mention I was still in a thin t-shirt.
Remembering my manners, I inclined my head toward the house. “Do you, uh, want to come in?”