Page 38 of DOG Part 2

“That’s not you, and you know it. You’re a free spirit, Banner, just like the rest of us here. There’s nothing that can change that.”

“Maybe I should have tried harder,” he murmured, his eyes drooping.

“Or maybe Kim needs to have a little respect. Isn’t she in college now?”

“Yeah.”

“And whose money got her there?”

“Well, mine. I’m her pops.”

“There you go.” Setting my unfinished drink on the coffee table, I stood up, not ready to see Banner punish himself for what happened to Lisa. “You should sleep here tonight. You can have my room.”

He looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. “The one where you were just screwing those two broads?”

“Good point. How about the couch? I’ll get you some blankets. Come on.”

In his close to drunken state, I hooked a hand under his arm, helping him up and over to the far wall.

“You’re a good president, Kane,” he said, collapsing onto the cushions. “And a damn good man, too.”

“Thanks. So how many drinks did you have while you were waiting for me?”

“Five or six. Maybe seven.”

I laughed. “Good to know, in case you don’t wake up in the morning.”

He mumbled something incoherent and dropped his head onto a pillow.

“What was that?”

He lifted his face slightly to get the words out. “If I had done things the way Lisa wanted them I wouldn’t be here today,” he slurred. He was clearly not himself. “Now we can’t even go to her funeral without someone trying to shoot us or lock us up.”

There wasn’t anything to say to that. It had to be the liquor and grief talking.

“You wait here. I’ll be right back with some blankets.”

“Kane,” he called out as I unlocked the office door.

“Yes?”

“Do everything you can.”

I nodded, even though his eyes were already closed. “I will.”