Out On a Limb(53)

“Yeah, maybe.” I smile up at him. “Did, uh, did you need something?”

“Oh, right.” He laughs just once, rubbing his forehead, his other hand propped on his hip. “Yeah, actually. The guys are all here, and we haven’t started yet, but I thought maybe… Maybe I could introduce you? It’s okay if you’re not up for it. I just know they’d all love to put a face to the name.”

He talks about you! Of course he does—you’re having his baby and living in his house.

“Sure, yeah,” I say, standing.

Bo leads us out into the hall. We’re halfway through the kitchen when he turns around, bends down, and whispers, “And… try to go easy on him.”

“Easy on—” I stop, looking at the makeshift table set up in the dining room, the men around it I’ve yet to meet, and, most shockingly, one familiar face. “Caleb?”

Caleb, looking guilty as all hell and shrunken down to about two feet tall, has the nerve to wave at me. “Hey, Win,” he says, his voice dejected.

“Uh, hey? What… what are you doing here?”

Caleb looks around the table, to Bo, then back to me before jumping out of his seat. “Excuse us, gentlemen.” He charges toward me, grabbing hold of my elbow and using it to pull me back down the hall.

“Listen, Win, I—”

“Caleb.” I choke out his name through a budding laugh. “What are—”

“I will tell you everything, but you need to promise me first that you will not tell my wife.”

I cross my fingers behind my back and nod twice. Puh-lease, as if I’d ever promise such a thing.

“I’m so serious right now. We have been friends for fifteen years, Winnifred McNulty. I have never asked you for anything, but I am now. Please, god, please, do not tell my wife I play Dungeons and Dragons. She will never drop it. I will be ridiculed until my dying day.”

“Caleb!” I shove his shoulder with my small hand. “Where does Sarah think you are right now?”

“The gym.”

“Oh my god! The lying! The deceit!” I gasp. “Did you pretend you’d never been to Bo’s house before when I moved in?” I ask in a breathy whisper-yell. “What else have you lied about?”

“I technically didn’t say I hadn’t been here before. This is the only lie, I swear. I just want this one thing. Let me have peace, Win.”

“Caleb,” I scoff. “Do you seriously expect me to lie to my best friend about her husband’s whereabouts?”

“Not lie. Just… omit the truth.”

“Caleb!”

“Look, I know, okay? I don’t want to lie to her either, but…” Caleb wipes a hand across his brow, then places it on his hip. “Remember when I brought home that Star Wars Lego set last summer? The Death Star one? Which is for adults, by the way…” He sighs, his head hanging between us. “Sarah only referred to me as Darth Loser for a month. A month.”

I snicker. “Okay, but I do think she meant that affectionately. Plus—”

“Or when I suggested we all go to the renaissance fair when we were, what… eighteen? She still sends me advertisements for those with laughing emojis. She’s subscribed me to several newsletters. It’s been ten years.”

Okay, one of those newsletter subscriptions was definitely me, but…

“Or the time—”

“Yes, yes, I get it. I see your point.”

“I love my wife more than anyone. You know that. I also know that mocking is her way of showing love. It’s one of my favourite things about her when I’m not on the receiving end of it. But I’d like to avoid it if I can. I’d like to maintain some level of cool.”

I nod, my lips quivering as I resist a laugh. This is just too much.

“Win.” Caleb says my name like a plea.

A small laugh breaks through.

“Win!”

“Okay, I’m sorry! I just, I don’t think she’d be mean about this. When you put on the knight’s armour in Bo’s closet, she seemed kind of into it, actually.”

Caleb mutters something under his breath.

“Come again?”

He repeats himself, still not enunciating clearly.

I roll my eyes. “Dude, what?”

“I’m not a knight, okay? I’m the… I’m the bard.”

“Bard? Like a poet-musician guy?”

Caleb blinks, his eyebrows crawling up his forehead. “Yes, actually. I’m surprised you know that.”

“So what? You—you sing? What is this game?”

“Sort of. I have magical powers that I harness with… song.”

I cover my mouth, but not in time.

“Win!”

“I’m sorry! It’s funny! You have to hear how fucking funny that sounds.”

“See? This is why—”

“Yeah, okay! I understand. I won’t make fun of you. But I do have to go meet the other guys now, okay? It’s bad enough that you’re keeping them waiting. They—they,” my laughter interrupts me, “they might need your magical singing powers.”

Caleb, resigned and exhausted, throws his arms up in the air and stomps down the hall. I follow shortly behind, already pulling out my phone to text Sarah.