“Let’s just say I messed up pretty badly, and when it came right down to it, I preferred falling apart overseas. I wasn’t in good shape and I don’t remember much of what happened. After knocking on your door, I apparently came up here and packed, hailed a cab, and went to O’Hare. I got on the first flight to Paris. The plane was descending into New York before I was fully aware of what in the hell I had done. And by then I was almost a thousand miles from home.”
“So you were in Paris this whole time?”
“I was there most of the time, putting old ghosts to bed, or something like that. Then I visited my wife’s family in Germany, went to Italy for a few days, and spent the last week in Spain.”
“Wow, I couldn’t imagine. Had to be amazing.”
“I assure you, kiddo, the trip wasn’t all fun and pleasure; it was something I should have done years ago. Hell, you can only run from things for so long before they catch back up to you. And now I’m here, where the consequences of my actions sit waiting. And what will I do? I’ll face them, and try to learn from my mistakes, because what else can I do? Even at my age. But enough of that, how are things with you?”
“Just dandy,” I said. “The book has been universally rejected, I’m still jobless, and my relationship is on its last leg. So, let’s just say it’s good to see you.”
“Damn, kiddo. You can’t be left alone, can you?”
I nodded. “Something like that.”
“We’re a hell of a pair, me and you. Really, you hanging in there?”
“I’m hanging in there. Have you talked to Linda?”
“Nah, that ship has sailed, I’m afraid.”
“Shit, Gene. I’m really sorry.”
“Such is life, kiddo. We live and we learn, or we try to anyway.”
I sat for a minute while he sorted through six weeks’ worth of mail.
“So things are okay?” I asked.
“Things are okay.”
I watched him, the top of his bowed head as he went about creating a pile of the important mail while the rest went into the trash. He looked very different with a beard, but he was the same old Gene—a fierce clarion who had a knack for spouting truth in ways both succinct and unexpected.
I bent over and wrapped my arms around him. I gave him a firm squeeze and he lifted his arm and patted me on the back.
“It’s damn good to have you back,” I said.
“Yeah,” he replied.