“Man, it’s really been a long time, hasn’t it?” he finally said. “Seems like only yesterday I hip-tossed you straight to your back in the field house.”

“That happened only once, dick,” I said laughing. “And only because I was staring at Kristin Palmer’s ass as she was doing lunges across the weight room wearing white spandex,” I went on, which was true. Jeff was the quarterback of the football team, and as a junior I had just finished second in the state in wrestling. There were no off-season workouts for wrestlers and I often lifted with the football players to keep up my strength. Jeff and I were horsing around one day when the girls’ track team was lifting, and when I was distracted, he had stepped into me, rotated his hips, and threw me straight to the hard, black mats of the weight room floor. Everybody had heard it and looked our way. I caught shit for it for months after.

“Excuses, excuses,” Jeff said. “I still got to say I hip-tossed the state runner-up.”

I chuckled. “True, but you have to admit, Kristin Palmer had a nice ass. Almost worth being hip-tossed for.”

Jeff nodded. “Her ass was incredible.”

We incurred a moment of silence, then I asked, “You make it back much?”

“To Spencer?”

“Yeah.”

“Usually twice a year, sometimes three. I’m actually flying back for Thanksgiving in two weeks. Do you?”

“Not once since graduating. The bus here took me through Ohio, though. It was the first time I’d even been in the state since.”

“You’re kidding me?”

“Nope.”

He crinkled his brows in thought and nodded. “Yeah, I think I always expected you to do that.”

A heavy silence passed. We walked a full block before I asked, “You ever see Jason anymore?”

“Jason Daniels?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s been a long time. I lost track of most everyone when I left for college. Hard to keep in touch with people when in California, and then I moved here right after I graduated. I think the last time I saw him was Christmas break my sophomore year. I can’t remember what he was doing in regard to work, but I think he’s still around.”

“Yeah,” I said, not at all surprised he was still there, in or around our small hometown and, like most of the others, probably hunting, attending Sunday Mass, and voting Republican, three practices that never suited me very well. He was my best friend growing up and I lived with him and his family my last two years there.