Page 102 of A Real Good Lie

Callahan picked the crust off his now half-eaten bread. “I don’t know what to do if I’m not being Callahan McMillian.”

“Just be a better version of him then.”

Callahan leveled a sharp look across the table.

“I’m serious.” Sebastian gestured with his drink, the thin black straw stuck between his first two fingers to make room for his mouth. “You’re good at marketing. You have the best education money could buy; you have every possible resource at your disposal. Startyour ownmarketing firm.”

“I have one, remember? That’s the problem.”

“You’re not listening. You have yourfather’scompany. Start your own.”

Callahan settled back in his chair, folding his hands together over the top of his lap. Sebastian was probably a little drunk, but he wasn’t entirely off base. Maybe Callahan didn’t need to start his entire life over. He could start from somewhere in the middle.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe,” Sebastian mocked. “Stop waiting for people to make decisions for you, Callahan.”

Sebastian snapped his mouth closed, like there was something else he’d meant to say but didn’t.

Callahan arched a brow. “You all right over there?”

“Stop waiting,” Sebastian mumbled.

“That’s what you said.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened and he stared off at a point in the middle of the street that held nothing of real interest to Callahan, but Sebastian saw something there that sent a flurry of emotions across his face.

“Are you all right?” Callahan asked again.

Sebastian blinked quickly and shook his head, smiling and reaching up to slide his sunglasses off the top of his head to obscure his eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positively,” Sebastian said, pouring a generous swallow of his drink into his mouth. “What are you wearing on Friday?”

“What?”

“To Jace’s show.”

“I…I haven’t even thought about it.” Callahan was still confused from whatever had happened in Sebastian’s brain a moment prior, but it was clear Sebastian had no plan to let Callahan in on it yet.

“What is Jace wearing?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

“This show could be a big deal for him,” Sebastian said.

“It’s just a small local thing.”

“You never know what sort of people show up to those kinds of events, Callahan.” Sebastian tilted his head to the side. “You, of all people, should know how important first impressions are.”

“What did you do?”

Sebastian shrugged.

“Sebastian,” he warned.

“Maybe you and Jace can go shopping before Friday,” Sebastian said. “Buy something nice. Maybe color coordinated.”