“Old club contacts.”
“DMV.”
“Everything.”
Aaron’s face changed.
“You looked?”
“Yes.”
“Why’d you stop?”
Cole answered honestly.
“Because every time someone found a possible address, I convinced myself you’d moved because you didn’t want me finding you.”
“I told myself respecting that was love.”
Aaron looked away.
“We’re idiots.”
Cole laughed.
“Apparently hereditary.”
Aaron looked toward Maya.
“She’s smarter.”
“Definitely.”
The child slept through the insult.
At eight in the morning, Ellis arrived carrying coffee and breakfast.
He stopped outside Aaron’s room.
Cole went into the hall.
“How is he?”
“Hurts.”
“Alive.”
“Good.”
Ellis held up a paper bag.
“Food.”
Cole took it.
Then Ellis hesitated.
“People know.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Cole’s face hardened.
“I told everyone no parade.”
“There’s no parade.”
“Yet.”
Ellis looked toward the room.
“Some of the old guys are outside.”
Cole closed his eyes.
“How many?”
“Seven.”
“Damn it.”
“They won’t come up.”
“Why are they here?”
“To apologize.”
Cole looked through the doorway at Aaron.
“No.”
Ellis nodded.
“I told them.”
“Good.”
Aaron’s voice came from the bed.
“You two whisper like children.”
Cole turned.
Aaron had been reading their lips through the glass.
Cole entered.
“The club heard.”
Aaron’s expression hardened immediately.
“They’re downstairs.”
“No.”
“I know.”
“They’re not coming up.”
Aaron relaxed slightly.
Then:
“Who?”
Cole named them.
Some Aaron remembered.
One made his face change.
“Samuel?”
Cole nodded.
“He’s seventy-two.”
“Still rides?”
“Against medical advice.”
Aaron almost smiled.
Then looked away.
Cole said:
“You decide.”
Aaron stared at the ceiling for a long time.
“Not today.”
“Okay.”
No pressure.
Cole stepped into the hall and told them.
Nobody argued.
Samuel asked only one question.
“Does he know I’m sorry?”
Cole said:
“I think he knows everybody’s sorry.”
Samuel nodded.
“That’s not what I asked.”
Cole looked at him.
Then went back inside.
“Aaron.”