“I suppose the upside of too much paperwork is that you’re busy.”

“True.” Evan gave Holden a light-up pen to play with. Like everything else he came into contact with, the pen went right into the baby’s mouth.

“Is that clean?” Owen asked.

“It’s not filthy.”

“Don’t tell Laura I let him play with it.”

“I won’t if you won’t.”

“Deal.”

“What brings you out this morning?”

“I heard you’re planning to come to Virginia.”

“What about it?”

“I wish you wouldn’t. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment or the gesture.”

“It’s not a gesture, O. If I were looking to make a gesture, I could pat you on the back and tell you I’m pulling for you and your mom as I send you on your way.”

“I know you mean well and that you care, but there’s really no need for you to leave your work and your home and Grace. I’ll have lots of people with me—”

“So it shouldn’t be that big of a deal to have one more.”

“Evan, please… You don’t understand.”

“Then make me.”

“It’s embarrassing that the people I care about are going to hear the dirty details of how I grew up. I’d rather you didn’t know.”

“I already know. You’ve told me.” He handed a ball of rubber bands to Holden when he’d tired of the pen.

“You don’t know the half of it, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“What would you do if I was about to go through something like this?”

“Luckily, that’s a rhetorical question because you’ll never have to go through something like this.”

“Humor me. Put the shoe on the other foot. I have to go through something awful and difficult and embarrassing and terribly upsetting. Where would you be if that was happening to me?”

Because Owen couldn’t argue with Evan’s point, he didn’t try. He wished everyone would try to understand that he wanted to spare them. Laura’s words from the night before were a reminder that he didn’t have to protect those he loved, but that was a hard habit to break.

“You’d be there for me, O. Don’t ask me to do less for you than what you’d do for me. You asked me to stand up for you at your wedding, and that’s such an honor, you know?”

“Who else would I ask?” Owen said with a small smile.

“You and me—we’re not just about the good times and the music. At least I didn’t think we were.”

“We’re not. You’ve been my best friend for as long as I can remember.”