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“It’s from my recovery,” he promised. “Ismoked a lot of weed on top of all those painkillers. Whichprobably wasn’t a smart idea. Don’t follow my bad example.”
While he rolled, I wandered the room andinspected things. There was a collection of movies on tape. Ipulled one out. “This is VHS, right?”
He didn’t look up. “Yes.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in personbefore,” I said, giving the cartridge a little shake.
He sighed deeply.
“I’m making you feel old again, aren’t I?” Iput the tape back.
“Time makes me feel old. You point out theexistence of time.” He glanced up and gave me a little smile. “Idon’t even have a VHS player in here. These are for nostalgia.”
Near a set of French doors stood a longsideboard with an impressive collection of fully assembled Legosets. “You were clearly a very popular teen.”
“Hey!” he said defensively, coming to standbeside me. “Don’t disparage my teen hobby. Do you know how far youhave to drive to get to a fucking mall out here?”
“You would have hung out at the mall?”
The look on his face told me I was makinghim aware of his mortality again.
He turned his attention to the Lego. “Firstof all, these sets were amazing. This was before the scourge of thelicensed property.I’ve got the Royal Knight’s Castle, TheBlack Knight’s Castle, the King’s Mountain Fortress… These arecollectors’ items.”
I had to turn away to hide my laughter.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing.” I turned back and looped my armsaround his neck. “I can’t figure out why I find you socharming.”
“Well, you are related to your brother. Nerdgenes are strong. Isn’t your dad into model trains?” he asked.
I opened my mouth to protest, but he wasright. “Yeah. Now that you mention it, he did have this huge modeltrain set before I was born. He had to take it all apart when…”
When I was born. I didn’t want to dwell onthat.
“We can’t smoke that in here, right?” Ichanged the subject before Matt could call me out on my trailingoff.
“No, my mom would kill me.” It was such acute statement coming from a grown man. He nodded toward the doors.“We can smoke on the balcony, though.
“A balcony,” I said, as we stepped out ontoit. “Must have been pretty convenient for sneaking out.”
“Sneaking out to where?” He dropped into oneof the padded wicker patio chairs and pulled a lighter from hispocket.
“Good point.” I rested my arms on the roughstone balustrade. “Is this place made of granite?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed around the joint heldbetween his lips.
“So, we’re getting a low dose of radiationthe entire time we’re here?” I turned and leaned against therailing.
He frowned. “Granite is radioactive?”
“Yeah, it can be. It releases radon, which—”I stopped myself. He’d said his dad had died of cancer. I wouldkeep my knowledge to myself. I waved my hand. “There are those nerdgenes.”
“They’ll get worse through exposure to me.”He patted his thigh. “Come here.”
I sat on his knee and let him bring the litjoint to my mouth for a puff. He was right; I did need something tounwind my nerves. I looked out at the view, a terraced lawn withpaths and fountains straight out of Pemberley.
“My sister and I used to Rollerblade onthose paths,” he said, gesturing to two wide, white-paved avenuesflanking a rectangular pond. “I could get so much air off thosestairs.”