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Trey leaves early to go change because he needs to meet his sister and mother for their weekly brunch. Usually Bobby would leave with him, at least that’s what Liz tells me.

But now it feels like Bobby and Trey need space from each other.

Bobby looks like he hasn’t slept a wink. I make some jokes about how the bed in the guest room sucks, but we all know it’s the fact that Bobby’s world is falling apart rather than the quality of the guest-room mattress that has him looking like death warmed over.

I ask Liz if she wants me to leave, to give her and Bobby some space. She grips me with so much desperation that I realize she seems to need me almost as much as Bobby needs her.

So I stay.

There is pacing and phone calls and yelling, and Liz crying and Bobby knocking over some books and magazines from the nightstand.

By lunchtime, I’m exhausted, Liz is exhausted, and Bobby’s exhausted.

Bobby doesn’t have a job anymore.

At least Mickey volunteers to collect Bobby’s things and drive them over.

Bobby looks absolutely crushed.

Where the hell is Trey? Why isn’t he here?

Since it’s Sunday, I recommend we all go bowling. Or to shoot some pool.

Bobby perks up because he apparently kills at both. Liz beams at me with gratitude.

“Thank you for being here today,” Liz whispers as we leave the bowling alley. Even despondent, Bobby easily crushed us. “It means the world.”

We’ve spent the whole day together and I find myself not wanting to go home after dinner. But I have to, because tomorrow is a workday and I have to get ready, and so does she.

“Is he gonna be okay?” I ask about Bobby, who’s gotten sullen again.

“I think so,” she says. “Mickey will drive his stuff over tomorrow night. It’ll be okay.”

“When can I see you again?” I ask. “Other than at work.”

“Whenever you want,” she says. “But Bobby needs me now.”

I stroke her hair and kiss her softly before I leave. “I understand. And I’m happy to hang out with both you and your brother.”

****

“What the hell is going on with you? Why did you disappear?” I ask Trey on Monday at work.

Trey motions me into his office.

“Did you just dump Bobby, now that he’s finally out?” I continue. We both sit in the armchairs in his office. Trey’s office is very nice looking. Way nicer than mine.

He sighs. “Look, I know where he is right now,” he says. “It’s something he has to do on his own, and I’m not sure I should be there with him.”

“Are you serious? Why? He’s been hanging out with you every weekend for months.”

“Look, he’s out now. That’s a big deal. He needs to figure out what that means for him. I’ve been through that, and I know what I want. I ... I don’t want to be an obstacle on someone’s journey.”

“I don’t understand you,” I say. “I really don’t.”

“That’s okay,” Trey says. “You don’t have to. And Bobby will thank me, too. Eventually.”

“I don’t know, Trey,” I shrug. “I don’t think everyone wants to play the field. Some people just want to find someone to settle with. I’m pretty sure Bobby’s like that.”