Page 138 of Only After We Met

So I’m calling it Moon Books.

Because if you think about it, Rhys, reading a book is almost like being on the moon. As you engross yourself in its pages, your feet leave the ground, and you travel, to other places, other worlds, other lives…

Plus, it reminded me of you. Of us.

From: Rhys Baker

To: Ginger Davies

Subject: RE: Surprise!

I don’t know what to say… It’s perfect.

And thanks for saying it reminds you of me.

81

Rhys

Logan’s plane landed in the afternoon, just as it was starting to get dark. I could hardly recognize him after a year and a half. I hadn’t seen him since I was in LA with Alexa to launch the track we made together. Now, Logan was getting gray hairs, and his clothing was more…formal, elegant. He looked like a real-life lawyer, not the laid-back guy I used to know.

We gave each other each a hug.

“Sunny out here, huh?” he said, smiling.

“Not as much in wintertime as you’d think. Let’s go.”

He dropped his suitcase at the apartment, and we went out to have a drink and catch up. He was only supposed to stay for three days, enough for just a bit of R and R. All that work was getting to him. He’d gone from a tiny office in LA to a big firm in New York, and now he was a partner at another one. He looked tired, a little scattered, but still…there was something different in his eyes, something I didn’t recognize from before. A glimmer.

“What about you? You haven’t changed a bit.”

I didn’t like that. What did it mean? That I was stagnant,comfortable, stuck in a routine? I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable, and took a sip of my second beer. Logan glanced at his phone before putting it back into the pocket of his khakis. He was wearing a designer belt. I’d never known him to be into things like that.

“There are some changes. I’m about to record an album. I think I told you that over the phone. I’ve got a gig set up for next summer. So everything’s moving along.”

“No more life on the road then?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know. You always used to be going from one place to the next. But it wears a person out. I don’t know how you kept it up. Anyway, this place is great. It’s not even spring yet, and the temperature’s amazing.”

I tore the label off my beer. “I’ve just let life guide me. I’d have been perfectly happy to go if they’d offered me a job somewhere else.”

“It’s cool, Rhys. I get it.”

“Get what?” I asked.

“You’re not a spring chicken, bud.” He laughed, drank, and sighed. “Twenty’s not the same as thirty, you know? Things inevitably change with time.”

I shrugged and looked at him. “Why’d you change?”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about…” Logan rested his arms on the table.

“What’s up? Something wrong?”

“Nah. The opposite. I’m getting married, Rhys.”

I stared at him, pensive. “Wow. Congrats. Good job.”