Page 28 of Out on a Limb

“Don’t worry, Hobie. You’ll put it back together again. I have complete faith in you!” Doug captured his son in a tickle fest. Hobie screamed with laughter. “Okay, why don’t you get in the car?”

“Hobie!” Walker yelled while trying to sound pleasant. He couldn’t hide the edge in his voice. He knelt down and held his arms open. “Why don’t you give me a hug and kiss goodbye first.”

“Right,” Doug said. “Go on, Hobie.”

Hobie did as directed, but it wasn’t with the same amount of enthusiasm that he had for his other, bitchy father.

“And say good night to Cameron,” Walker instructed.

“Good night, Cameron.” Hobie was halfway out the door already. Cameron waved back.

“I’ll meet you in the car, Hobie!” Doug said, before turning back to the adults. “Walker, try to be a little bit more careful when you’re cleaning. You know how much care and effort he puts into building his Lego structures.”

Walker nodded like a scolded child, which infuriated Cameron. He was probably one of those parents who expected the world to bow down to the demands of his son. Now he knew where Hobie learnedinvasion of privacyfrom.

“So Cameron, what do you do?”

“I’m in college. And I work at Starbucks part-time.”

Doug raised an eyebrow at Walker. Walker looked down at the carpet. Like father, like son.

“Oh, what’s your major?” Doug stifled a laugh. “It’s been a long time since I asked anyone that question.”

“It sure looks like it’s been a long time,” Cameron shot back with a passive-aggressive laugh of his own. Doug narrowed his eyes at him.

“Well, have a good night.” Doug shut the door hard.

CHAPTER ten

Walker

Walker was engaged in a fierce battle with his mouth. He had already yawned three times in the past ten minutes, and he would. Not. Do. It. Again. He pressed his lips together like an airlock seal.

He and Cameron waited on line outside Cherry Stem, while a bouncer stood guard at the door. The sweeping wind sent shivers through Walker’s too-thin jacket. He forgot how cold it could get at night, especially this late. Behind them, a guy wore a tank top and short shorts and didn’t have a goosebump on his skin.

Across the street, a billboard advertising Dollop, the new cupcakery in town, shined atop an apartment building. Dollop’s owner, a woman perky enough to try her hand at the cupcake game, smiled from high above. She didn’t have a Mona Lisa smile, more like Mona Lisa axe murderer. It was transfixing, to say the least.

“How are you holding up?” Cameron asked him. He wore a pair of those earmuffs that go behind your head and didn’t mess up his mussed hair.

“I’m great.” Walker gulped back a yawn.

“Here. Have the rest of my coffee.”

“I’m fiiiiiiinnnnnnnne.” Escaped yawn.Damn.“I’m fine.”

Cameron smiled at him and leaned against a poster advertising ’90s night. “It’s not even that late. It’s only 9:30.”

“What time do you usually go to bed?”

“Two or so,” Cameron said with a nonchalant shrug, as if he thought that was actually normal. The admission made Walker groggy. “I’m a night owl. And you are most obviously a morning person.”

“I don’t really have a choice.” Walker poked his head above the crowd. They still weren’t moving. He knew they were only outside to make the club seem crowded and thus cooler. He hated that they were playing this game, but Cameron’s bouncy energy was cute, and a little infectious.

“What are you going to do when you get a job in Hollywood? Once you’re working forty hours a week and have kids, you’ll see. You’ll come to the other side.”

“Screenwriters don’t work nine-to-five, only when inspiration strikes. And I’ll pass on the kids. I don’t have the right birthing hips.”

“Even when I was in school, I couldn’t sleep in. I was just…up. It drove Doug crazy.”