Page 49 of It Destroys Me

“Do I need a reason?”

“You and Astrid were just here a couple days ago. Figured you’d be sick of me by now. Unless you’re here for my wife’s cooking?” He grabbed a cigar and lit up. “She made pot roast and rice pudding. That shit was good.”

“Do you ever think about anything else?”

“Besides food?” he asked. “Other than my wife’s tidbits and my children, no, not really.” He puffed on the cigar and leaned his head back as he enjoyed the smoke in his mouth. He held it there a long time before he let it out as a slow puff. “God, I miss these.”

“I don’t think I could give them up for anything.”

“When you have something to live for, you can.” He straightened his head again and let the cigar rest between his fingertips. “I heard Astrid told you she loves you.”

I wanted to sigh in annoyance, but I kept a straight face. “And where did you hear that?”

“Girls talk, man.”

“Are you a girl?”

“Asshole, why am I hearing about this from my wife instead of you?”

I grabbed my own cigar and lit up just to drain the clock. To find something to end this ridiculous conversation. “I’m not doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“This,” I grumbled. “I feel like two girls at brunch.”

“Damn, I love brunch. You can have a burger and pancakes. It’s genius.”

I didn’t say a word, but my eyes did all the talking.

“Come on, Theo. You need to loosen up, man. I talked to you about Scarlett.”

“But not because I pulled it out of you.”

“Well, I think you need me to pull it out of you,” he snapped. “It’s not good to keep everything bottled up inside. You know what happens when you do? The cap pops off, and shit gets all over the walls.”

I let the cigar sit for a while, the smoke slowly drifting into my mouth.

“If you aren’t here to talk about that, then what are you here to talk about?”

“A favor.”

“You need a favor from me?” he asked. “Come on, man. You don’t even need to ask. What is it?”

“Well, I do need to ask…because it’s quite the favor.”

“There’s no favor too big, Theo.”

“You’re really digging yourself a hole here, Axel.”

“Shut up and tell me.”

I pulled the smoke into my mouth, let it swirl for a while, and then blew it out again. “I’m leaving tomorrow for Rome.”

He gave a slight nod in understanding. “You want me to come with you.”

“No.”

His eyes narrowed in surprise.