Infrequent Friend
Vaughn was a master of the grill. So he promised. “Top of the line.” He smoothed a hand along the chrome lid of the largest outdoor grill I’d ever seen, fondling it like it was Mollie’s naked body. “I think I’m smitten.”
“It’s cold out here,” Layla complained, pulling her scarf closer around her neck. “Why the hell are we all out here like it’s July or something?”
“My new grill…” Vaughn answered, frowning when Layla shook her head.
“There’s no explaining it to her,” Donovan said, squeezing his wife’s knee before he glanced at her. “It’s a guy thing.”
“Well it’s stupid…”
“Here,” I told her, passing over the large mug Mollie had given me five minutes earlier. “There’s bourbon in it.” Layla took the steaming mug of spiked tea without question.
Vaughn, though, went on ogling his new toy, only taking his gaze from the pit when Mollie came out onto the patio with a platter of raw steaks. “I think you love that thing more than me.” She nudged her boyfriend, leaning toward him so he couldn’t help but catch a whiff of her perfume. The move pulled his attention away from the inanimate chrome glory and toward something with deeper curves and a heartbeat for only a blink. She stuffed the platter in his hand when he continued fiddling with the grill.
“What? Never, baby,” Vaughn promised her, passing over the platter to Donovan when the blonde man looked over the Marine’s shoulder to examine the flame. “Sun, moon, light of my life,” he tried, laughing as he grabbed Mollie around the middle as she tried extracting herself out of his touch. “Nothing before you.” He managed to catch her, securing a long, slow kiss over her mouth, seeming not to care that we watched them.
“Likely story…” but whatever else Mollie would say, Vaughn silenced her, pulling her closer as I tried to pretend, right along with our friends that they weren’t nearing naked time business right out there on their back patio. “Um, excuse us a minute,” Mollie tossed at us as she led Vaughn into the house.
“No, it’s fine,” Donovan called, laughing at our disappearing friends. “I’ll make sure yours is extra crispy.” He moved to the side when Layla approached, letting her lay each steak on the grill as he seemed to wait for Vaughn’s objection. It never came.
“Give it up, sweetie,” Layla told her husband. “They’ll be a while. We may as well get these going.”
“It’s good he’s distracting her,” I said, watching Layla as she lowered the temperature. “How is she really?”
She jerked her gaze toward me and shrugged before she took the grill fork from her husband. “Some days are good. Others, not so much.” Layla smiled at me and the gesture lit up her face. “She’s better now that you guys are here. We’ve all missed this. We’ve missed you both.”
“So have I,” I told her, closing my eyes when the wind picked up, circling fallen leaves around the pavers under our feet.
The clip of wind in the air and the small spattering of cool breezes were the only thing dampening anyone’s mood at the moment. Cavanagh in the fall was a sight to behold. The trees were all gold and orange and the heavy fog around the mountain tops seemed somehow thicker, richer. Around the town square, close to Vaughn and Mollie’s new bungalow, wreaths of the same gold and oranges decorated every available surface and each storefront had prepared for Thanksgiving by stocking their windows with fall-inspired displays and mountains of pumpkins and tiny gourds.
The grass might have taken on a dull color, but the house, something our friends had only bought a few weeks before, was outfitted with fresh mums and newly purchased, comfortable patio furniture. Sayo and I sat closest to the fire pit in the center of the patio, across from where Quinn and Declan stood, leaning against a column that held up the back awning. The two brothers looked to be deep in conversation and I glanced at Sayo, nodding at them when Quinn frowned and Declan seemed, at least, to listen, though he didn’t take his gaze off his phone as he answered his brother.
“He wants to invest in a security business,” Sayo explained, leaning back against the thick cushions behind her. “This guy he met at Vaughn and Mollie’s gym is a software engineer and he’s got some good ideas. Quinn told me he wanted Declan to look over the business proposal since his degree is in computer science.” She took a sip from her mug, still watching. “Think he’ll do it?”
“I don’t know,” I said, honestly. “Declan’s busy. Even here.” I waved around the yard, meaning Cavanagh. “He hasn’t kept off that damn phone since we’ve been back.”
“I noticed,” Donovan said, lowering his voice. “I asked him to help me check out some recruits out in Cameron, but he put me off.” He frowned, running his fingers through his hair. “Me? And I’m his best damn friend.”
“Oh, honey, don’t get offended,” I told him, taking my mug back from Layla when she walked away from the grill and stood next to Donovan at my side. “He’s so slammed and…”
“You know, Autumn, you’ve said that a lot over the past couple years,” Sayo started, looking into the surface of her mug, “but he’s not making any efforts at all.” She leaned forward and I watched Declan, nodding a few times, barely glancing at his brother when Quinn spoke. Sayo leaned close and I could smell the faint hint of bourbon from her breath. “You’re doing all the work and you shouldn’t have to.”
“He’s just busy…”
“He’s just not here,” Donovan added, stepping back when Vaughn and Mollie returned outside. “And that’s not like him.”
I watched my husband for a few minutes. Quinn was cool, seemingly unaffected, but as he went on speaking and Declan didn’t respond, I wondered if he actually heard anything his brother said. After a few minutes, Quinn pushed off from the column, nostrils flaring as he walked away from Declan, looking irritated. I counted the minutes as they went by. Three. Five. Eight and still he didn’t notice the silence around him. To my right, Sayo and Quinn spoke, whispering before she took him inside. Vaughn and Mollie stood speaking to Layla and Donovan, and I got the impression that the two men were close. They laughed about things that were clearly inside jokes, things that Mollie and Layla knew well. Donovan slapped Vaughn on the shoulder, when the steaks were cooked and again I looked at my husband, surprised that he still hadn’t noticed that Quinn had left him. Head shaking, I followed our friends inside wondering how long it would take him to notice that he was alone.