“Thank god,” Luna said.
Casey placed the tray on top of a table. She glanced over at the man Luna had been talking to. “Griff!”
“Casey, wow. Hi.”
“Shit. I haven’t seen you since…I don’t know,” Casey said.
“It’s been a while,” Griff said, not wanting to summon the memory of his father’s funeral.
Griff and Casey hugged. As Luna guzzled a glass of water, Griff saw the woman as she was fifteen years ago, chugging beer the exact same way.
Casey leaned over and whispered in Luna’s ear, “Owen needs to talk to you.”
“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere,” Luna said, mostly to Griff.
Luna spotted Owen near the front door. He beckoned Luna toward the garage. The two had a cramped meeting between two parked cars and a wall of dusty boxes.
“Listen,” Owen said. “Amy, my Amy, drove Leo to my house—I just saw him get out of her car. What is he doing?”
“I don’t know,” Luna said.
“Does he know her?” Owen said. “Or is he fucking with me?”
“Owen, relax. I’ll deal with him,” Luna said.
Luna found Leo at the bar, fixing a drink.
“Luna, my dear, what are you drinking?” Leo said.
“Nothing at the moment,” Luna said. “How’d you get here?”
“The bar? I took a long stroll from the couch.”
“No,” Luna said. “How’d you get to this house?”
“By car. How else?” Leo said.
“Did someone drive you?”
“Oh yes. I finally hired an assistant. Since I knew I’d be drinking, I thought I’d avail myself of her services.”
“What’s her name?”
“Amy Johnson,” Leo said. “You reviewed her application. Don’t you remember?”
Now that he mentioned it, she did. Luna hadn’t, however, considered the possibility that the two Amys were one and the same.
“You wouldn’t even interview her last week. What changed?”
“I reconsidered,” Leo said.
Luna wasn’t buying it. She knew Leo hired Amy because of her connection to Owen. Luna would have asked Leo how he found out, if they weren’t at a wake. Luna roamed the house, searching for Owen. She passed by Maya, who was refreshing the ice bucket.
“Owen’s upstairs,” Maya said. “You were looking for him, right?”
“Yes, thank you,” Luna said.
Luna found Owen lying on top of his bed, resting his eyes and hiding out.
“I talked to Leo,” Luna said.
“What did he say?”
“He hired her as his assistant. She was one of the applicants I pulled for him to interview a few weeks ago. I’m sorry.”
“And it’s just a coincidence that he hired her?”
“I’m too drunk to think about it. Come back down and talk to your guests. It’s weird if you don’t. We can discuss the Leo problem tomorrow.”
Luna left Owen alone to regroup. She descended the stairs and wended her way through the balmy living room, returning to the brisk air outside. The golden retriever jumped up on Luna as she closed the sliding door behind her. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone was that happy to see her.
“Down, Sam,” Griff said.
Casey smirked and repeated the name. “Sam? Your dog’s name is Sam?” Casey made eye contact with Luna.
“Yeah, why?” said Griff.
“That’s Luna’s husband’s name,” Casey said.
Luna was petting the energetic retriever. She thought about Wally, a mutt she had as a child. Wally always seemed to feel exactly what she felt. Griff’s dog was wonderfully oblivious.
“That was his name when I got him,” Griff said. “I swear.”
“I believe you,” Luna said. “Did you even know I was married?”
“Yes. Congratulations, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Luna said.
“Is he here? I’d like to meet him.”
“He’s not here. Had to visit his mother—”
“Speaking of mothers, how’s yours?” Griff asked.
“The same,” Luna said.
Griff started to laugh. “Still remains the single weirdest day of my life.”
Griff was recalling a day nearly fifteen years earlier. It was the kind of memory that you couldn’t shake, but, like any memory, you couldn’t trust it either. It was so vivid and insane. Luna, present at the same moment in time, would see it from an entirely different vantage point. Still, insane was a fair descriptor.
“I’m sorry. Again,” Luna said.
“Come on, don’t apologize. One of the best days too. Well, the next day,” Griff said.
Back in the house, the guests were slowly dispersing. Owen spotted Leo fading out on the couch. He wanted him gone. He stepped outside to track down Luna. She and his brother were doubled over laughing like no time had passed. How could it be that easy? he wondered. How could Luna look so damn happy at Irene’s wake? Owen walked over to them. The smiles and laughter immediately ceased.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Owen said. “What should I do about Leo? I don’t want him sleeping here.”
“Where’s he’s staying?” Griff asked. “I can give him a ride.”
“No,” Luna said quickly, aggressively. “We wouldn’t do that to you. We’ll call him a cab.”
Griff noted Luna’s use of first-person plural. They were still we. He marveled at the indestructibility of their bond.
“We should probably be going,” Griff said. His we included a dog.
“No. You’re staying. He’s staying, right?” Luna said.
Owen forced a smile. “Yeah, dude, you should stay.”
By midnight there were only five people left. Casey and Mason stayed because they missed their friends and the inebriated nights of their youth. Luna stayed because Griff was there and she wanted just ten minutes alone with him. Griff wanted the same thing. And Owen forced himself to stay awake to make sure they didn’t take another moment to revisit the past.
March 2004