Alan and Diego stepped up to the counter at the Corner Hitch. Alan asked Jake, “Is he here?”

“You mean Ross?” Jake nodded his head yes.

Alan gazed into the dim light of the rest of the bar and spotted Ross sitting alone at a small round table. He pointed and whispered to Diego, “There he is.”

Jake said, “Remember that time I traded you a round of drinks in exchange for you working to cheer him up?”

“Yeah, I remember that.”

“This time it’s twice as bad. He’s an extremely sad puppy. I don’t think I’ve seen him like that since he moved to town. It’s good that you brought Diego. It’s going to take at least two of you to make any progress.”

Alan turned to Diego. “Are you up to the challenge? He works for you.”

Diego said, “I tried to help Rhea today, and we couldn’t raise a smile, but now we’re here as friends, and we’ve got a secret weapon at home. You can only do so much at the office. I still think Rhea should have let me order a Mexican feast for lunch.”

Alan asked, “How many beers has he gone through?”

“Just one so far.”

Alan and Diego gathered their drinks and bought a second bottle of beer for Ross. As they approached the round table, Diego grabbed a third chair while Alan snagged the second chair at the table. He asked, “Can we join you? It doesn’t look like you’re busy.”

Ross looked up and sighed heavily. “Go ahead. I guess it will be good to have some company. I wasn’t getting anything done at home, so I thought a change of scenery might help. You can only watch sad episodes of sitcoms so many times.”

Alan asked, “Do you go looking for them?”

“I’ve got some of them stored on my computer cataloged by mood.” Ross looked up to see the confusion on Alan’s face. “Yeah, I know I do some weird things. That’s what happens when you have too much time on your own.”

Diego scooted up to the table. “So nothing has changed?”

Ross shook his head. “After I talked to Brody, I got a text message. I told Brody to relay the message that I cared, and Puck sent back, ‘Thank you.’”

Alan asked, “Did you call him?”

“No.”

Diego asked, “Why not?”

“I figured that if he wanted to talk to me, he would give me a call. He’s the one that broke up with me not the other way around. After everything that’s happened, it was next to impossible even to consider trying to type the numbers into the phone. I had to stop myself from deleting him as a contact.”

Alan said, “Maybe you need to give it all some time. I doubt that Puck will find anybody else. He needs to take care of his little girl, and he needs to deal with the in-laws.”

Ross said, “I left. It was pretty dramatic. I can’t imagine how the pieces come back together. It’s a lot like when I ran out of Middleton and left Andrew in the lurch. I feel lousy about all of it. I’d avoid me if I could.”

Diego snickered.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was trying to imagine that. I was trying to see you crawling out of your skin so that you didn’t have to see yourself. It’s absurd, but sometimes absurd is funny. That’s the right English word for it, isn’t it?”

Alan nodded. “That’s a good word. I think absurd is a perfect word for it.”

“You know what I mean. I’m a lousy boyfriend. He did break up with me, but I didn’t have to walk out like I did. I could have stuck around and told him that I was willing to wait. Instead, I walked out the door and walked out of his life.”

Alan pointed at the beer. He said, “Well, we’re not solving the world’s problems by sitting around here at the Corner Hitch. Why don’t you suck down the rest of that beer, and then I want you to stop by our place before you go home.”

“Your place?” asked Ross.

Diego said, “We’ve got something to share with you. It might even make you feel a little better.”

Ross looked from one to the other. He was confused about what they might have in mind, but he was tired of sitting alone in the bar. He finished his beer and stood up and headed for the door.

Alan hung slightly behind Ross and Diego. When the door closed behind the first two, Jake asked “Success?”

Alan laughed and said, “I wouldn’t call it that yet, but I would call it progress.”

Jake said, “Best wishes, my friend. Stop in again if I can help. I hate seeing any of my regular customers upset.”

Ross parked his car along the street in front of Alan and Diego’s house. Ross imagined Auntie Erin living in the house. He remembered her talking about having extensive flower gardens. Alan and Diego kept the landscaping tidy, but it was nothing opulent. Ross climbed the steps up the small slope from the street and headed for the kitchen door.

Alan held the door open. He said, “Come on inside. Maybe it’s a little more comfortable here than sitting out in public in the bar.”

“I’m not sure it matters.”

Diego said,”The secret weapon is on his way.”

Ross heard the telltale jingle of tags on Boomer’s collar. He squatted down to greet the basset hound. Boomer effusively greeted Ross with his tongue. He pushed his front paws up onto Ross’s knees so that his tongue could reach Ross’s cheek. The force nearly pushed both of them into a heap on the floor.

In response, Ross sighed and reached out to rub Boomer between the ears. He said, “I’m glad you seem a whole lot happier than I am. I’ll do my best to try to smile.”

Alan reached out to put an arm around Diego’s waist and buried his face in Diego’s shoulder.

Ross looked up at Alan and Diego. “Can I take Boomer for a walk? I know it’s dark out, but the exercise might be good for both of us.”

Diego shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I’m sure we can figure out something to do while you’re gone.”

Ross laughed. “I’m sure you can.” He grabbed the leash from its hook by the kitchen door. Boomer paced back and forth eager to go for a walk. “You know what this is, don’t you, Boomer? Maybe we’ll see some cats or raccoons out there in the dark.”

Alan said, “Hold on tight. He can run faster than you think when he’s motivated.”

The neighborhood was quiet. Ross turned north along the crest of the river bluff. He said, “Dogs have such an easy life. You either love a person, or you don’t. It’s as simple as that.”

Boomer bolted to the edge of the sidewalk to sniff at an unknown target in the dim light. Ross asked, “What would do in my situation?”

Boomer gave up on the target of his sniffing and took approximately ten steps straight ahead. Then he bolted to the opposite side of the sidewalk. “You don’t have an answer for me, Boomer?”

Boomer began his prancing walk straight ahead again. At the next sniff stop, Ross squatted down until he was nearly as close to the ground as the dog.

Boomer turned back gently panting and approached with his long tongue hanging out of his mouth. Ross asked, “Will it all have a happy ending?”

Boomer bounded with his front feet onto Ross’s knees again. He gave Ross a big, wet, sloppy kiss. Finally, Ross smiled, and said, “I’ll take that to be a big fat yes.”