"Rough night?" Eddie asks.
"Yeah, you could say that."
"I know what you mean pal."
"You know what we need Eddie?"
"Coffee?"
"No, but I made a pot."
He watches Eddie as he gets up and pours the steaming black liquid into a mug. "Want some?" Eddie holds the mug towards Nick, but he shakes his head.
"We need to get out of town Eddie."
"We can't just leave." Eddie stirs some sugar into his coffee.
"Why not? The Commander is doing better, we don't have a new job starting for two weeks, our last job will be in the can once we finish all this damn paperwork and Sneaky Pete is dead."
"Dude? Sneaky Pete died?"
"Yeah like two months ago."
"Really? How did I not know that?"
"Life Eddie...it gets in the way."
"Apparantly it didn't get in Sneaky Pete's way."
Nick shoots a look towards his friend. "Too soon?" Eddie asks, sheepishly.
Nick nods.
"Ok, I don't get it Nicky." Eddie sits on the corner of his desk, blowing on his coffee. "What does Sneaky Pete dying have to do with us?
"Sneaky Pete left something behind, something big. I guess there's been a vacation home that's been in his family for years down in Cradle Bay."
"Ok."
"He left it to The Commander and his friends to share."
"Really? That huge house right on the water?
"Yup."
Every summer the Garrett's packed up their car and headed to Cradle Bay for two weeks. Eddie, Owen, Phil and Ikey were always invited.
"We had some times there remember?"
"Yeah, I think we should go down there for a week, bring everyone with us and get out of the Ridge."
Eddie sits at his desk, turning on his computer. "You know Nicky, that might just be a good idea. Janet's kind of a mess right now."
Eddie's not proud he left Janet the way he did. She looked sad when he kissed her on her forehead. He wanted to stretch out on the bed, gather her in his arms and hold her. But he knew she wouldn't talk to him. Afraid she would seize another opportunity to try and have sex with him, he walked away.
"A mess? Because of her grandparents?"
"I guess. She won't talk to me. I tried to ask her about it last night, but she avoided my questions."
"She wouldn't talk at all?"
"Not about that. She just kept distracting me."
"Distracting? How?"
Eddie looks at Nick. "I can't say."
"Eddie, you can tell me anything. I'm your best friend."
Eddie takes a deep breath, then continues. "Sex, Nicky. Lots of sex."
Nick laughs. "And that's a bad thing?"
Eddie can see Janet perfectly balanced on his cock, fucking him, her breasts bouncing, nipples between his pinching fingers, as she smiles and moans. His crotch twitches, and he's glad he's sitting behind his desk.
"Well, normally no, but under the circumstances?"
"Maybe it made her feel better?" Nick guesses.
"Dude, we set a serious record last night. I have never, and I mean never, had that much sex within a twelve hour period."
"How much are we talking?"
Eddie shakes his head. "Nick...I'm not telling you that."
"Three?"
Eddie smiles as he shakes his head again and holds up five fingers.
"Whoa. I don't think I ever...well, once."
"Hannah?"
"No, I was seeing this older chick in New York for awhile, a photographer. Blonde, tall, long legs."
"Nice, what happened there?"
"She broke it off, said she liked me too much to trap me into something serious. Said I wasn't ready, I was too young."
"Did you want to be trapped?"
"I thought I did, but it just made me think about Hannah and the Ridge, as fucked up as that sounds. That's when I started writing my book."
"Remind me to thank her if I ever meet her." Eddie says, bitterly.
"Hey, I thought we were past all that?"
"We are. I just reserve the right to get a little creased about it once in awhile." He looks at Nick.
"Fair enough. So you think a week in Cradle Bay is a good idea?"
"Yeah, but we got some major convincing to do."
"I know. Big O will be down to go, what about Ikey?"
"I don't know if that's gonna fly chief. O comes with Allison and the kids...I don't know if they will be comfortable. I know O and Ikey are better, but..."
"True, Ikey is all wrapped up in Emily though, she's been out with him every night this week. Maybe it would be a non-issue?"
"What the Hell does she see in Ikey?"
"Exactly what we do. David Eichorn, makes bad decisions all the time, but is still a good guy."
"Yeah. Well, maybe we leave Ikey here to run the shop?"
"Yeah, and let Ronnie help."
"Baby bro still seeing Aubrey?"
"Yeah, it's weird, you know, but I'm sort of glad. We would have split over all this Hannah and Sam stuff anyhow. Maybe Ronnie and Ikey can come for just the weekend, and if it gets wierd, we kick them out."
Nick, what the fuck am I going to do about Janet?"
"Well for starters, keep your clothes on next time you are around her."
"Nick..."
"Did you turn her down at any time last night?"
"No...I tried, but...how am I the bad guy here?"
"Sorry, look Eddie, obviously she's grieving. People cope in different ways. Look at me, I ran as far away as I could. I didn't want to be in this town, it reminded me so much of my mother."
"But she's not running Nicky, she's not crying, not smashing anything..."
"Avoidiance."
"What do you mean?"
"Sex? Five times in one night?"
"I would like to think that she wanted to fuck me Nick. I didn't force it. Hell, I didn't even start most of it."
"She probably did, that didn't come out how I meant. She's doing that, fucking you, instead of facing reality, instead of talking about how the loss is affecting her."
"How do you figure?"
"It's typical avoidance behavior, coping mechanisms. At least that's what I learned when I took a bunch of psychology courses."
"Classes? When?"
"Eddie, I was gone for ten years. What do you think I was doing in New York that whole time?"
"Boning hot older chicks."
"No, that was you."
"They weren't all older." Eddie smiles.
"I didn't write my book right away. I went to NYU, got my degree before I did all that."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"You think you know a guy..."
"Here's what I'm going to tell you Eddie. There's probably a lot going on with Janet right now, way more than her grandparents deaths. Didn't you say her parents are gone too?"
"Yeah, they died a long time ago, in a car accident, which is why she lived with her grandparents."
"So she's lost the four of the most important people in her life, way before she should have. She had to deal with losing both of her parents at the same time, and then her grandparents in a sort of unusual way."
"But why won't she talk to me. I love her, she knows that."
"She does, but sometimes that's not enough. When someone dies, you lose a little bit of yourself, part of you gets buried with them. She might be thinking that her shit, the stuff she is dealing with is too much for you, for Hannah, for anyone to understand."
"But it's not."
"No, but she doesn't know that. I didn't."
"Is that why you left?"
"No, I left to go to Europe. I was supposed to go with Hannah Jane remember? I fully intended to come back after six weeks. ButI kept thinking about what my mom said to me before she died. She made me promise to never settle for anything less..."
"Than the unexpected adventure." Eddie interrupts.
"You were listening that night..."
"Yeah. I was still pissed as Hell at you, but I was glad you came back. I missed you. And I mean that in a totally non-gay way."
"I missed you every single day Eddie. And I mean that in a totally non-gay way." He grins.
"So, how exactly do I get Janet to talk to me?"
"You don't. You wait, you let her come to you, and then you listen. Listen to everything she tells you. It might be hard, it will be hard. She might be angry, blame others, be depressed, be sad. You are going to want to jump in, hold her and try and make it better-and you might, but you cannot get mad at her if you can't. Janet has to grieve in her own way. "
"So she's going to push me away?"
"She might. But don't go anywhere Eddie. Assuming you want to help her through this?"
"Huh?"
"Can you be that guy? The one that grabs her when she falls?"
"I can."
"Good. Hey Eddie, mind if I skip out for a bit? I got to get some prescriptions filled for the Commander."
"Sure."
Eddie watches as Nick slips his wallet and cell phone in his pockets.
"Hey Nicky? Thank you."
"For what?"
"Coming home."