“Okay, bye,” Sadie said. Then, at the door, she turned and said, “We should grab coffee some time.”

For one horrifying moment, Truman thought she was speaking to him. But then Ash, to whom she was, of course, speaking, made a noncommittal sure mm-hmm sound, and the bells tinkled Sadie’s departure. Air suddenly filled the room again.

“She’s…” Truman didn’t finish the sentence and didn’t need to.

“Yeah. We were in the same year at school. She asked me to the homecoming dance,” Ash said.

Truman snorted, trying to imagine earthy, calm Ash with Sadie. “And how did that go?”

Ash looked confused for a moment. “It didn’t. I’m gay.”

Truman was fairly certain that if a picture had been snapped of him at that exact moment, his mouth would have made a perfect O of surprise.

“Sadie tried to play it off as a joke, like Oh, yeah, I meant as friends, obviously! Except we weren’t friends. I think she wanted me to be her gay best friend or something.”

“Gross.”

“And she hated when Greta and I became real friends.”

“So I guess you won’t be grabbing that coffee anytime soon?”

“As the kids say, el oh el,” Ash said with totally flat affect.

“Yeah, she clearly hated me for facilitating Greta’s departure.”

“I’m sure.” Ash smiled and went back to flipping through Truman’s bullet journal.

“I am too,” Truman blurted out.

“Are too what?” Ash murmured absently.

“Gay?”

Truman hadn’t meant it to come out as a question.

Ash looked up from the notebook, eyes mesmeric. “I know,” he said softly.

Truman tried to think of some joke to break the tension, but he couldn’t come up with anything that didn’t sound like a bad stereotype.

“Greta told me about why you wanted to get out of New Orleans. I hope you don’t mind. She didn’t know we’d ever meet.”

“Oh. No, it’s fine.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“Seriously, I don’t care. Not like I’m in the closet.”

“I meant about your boyfriend. What was his name? It was something really douchey.”

Truman snorted. “Guy.”

“Guy, right. Anyway, it really sucks that he did that to you. And to his partner.”

“Yeah.”

“Can I ask you something?” Ash said after an awkward pause.

Truman nodded.

“Do you wish you’d never been with him? Do you wish you’d made a different choice from the beginning?”

Truman considered the good times they’d had together. The things he’d learned from conversations with Guy. The places they’d been. There had been beautiful, fascinating, joyful moments.