Page 16 of Pure Silence

Holy shit.

It was the young man.

He was wearing the trench coat Goldie had given him yesterday as well as his backpack. His headphones were slung around his neck, and he was holding a to-go tray with coffee. In his other hand was Goldie’s wallet.

Goldie immediately opened the door, smiling brightly. “Hey!”

The young man’s smile was shy, but he waved with the hand holding the wallet.

“Come on in.” Goldie ushered the young man inside. “Wow, I really never thought I was gonna see you again. You brought my wallet back. Oh, well, I guess that’s how you found me, huh? My license? And coffee!” The tray had four cups. “That’s a lot of coffee.”

The young man didn’t say anything, but he was still smiling. He didn’t seem to notice the wild collection of memorabilia around him as his only focus was on Goldie. He grinned and handed him the wallet.

Goldie saw there was a slip of white paper sticking out, and he opened his wallet to see what it was.

It was a receipt from a local coffee shop, and there was a note on the back written in curly cursive handwriting.

“Dear Mr. Nash, I borrowed money to buy you coffee. I didn’t know what kind you would like. Hi. My name is Day,” Goldie murmured as he read it.

Ah, so that was why there was so much coffee.

The young man politely set the tray down on Goldie’s coffee table and then took a step back. He clasped his hands together, looking around with wide eyes as he finally seemed to notice the big collection of wrestling merch. He tiptoed toward the shelf, clearly entranced by the various items.

“Well, hi, it’s nice to meet you, Day,” Goldie said. “You can call me Goldie. Most of my friends do.” He looked over the tray of coffee. The cups weren’t clear, so he wasn’t sure what he was picking when he grabbed one, but coffee was coffee, and it smelled awesome. “Thank you so much for bringing my wallet back. And the coffee.”

Day glanced back at Goldie, and he tugged on the collar of the trench coat.

“Well, you’re welcome for the coat. Hope it’s keeping you warm enough out there, huh?” Goldie took a slow sip of coffee, and he sat down on the couch with a grunt. The coffee was a bit sweet, maybe vanilla or something, but he kept drinking it.

Day nodded, and he smiled again. He pointed at the posters and then at Goldie with a quirked brow.

“Yup, that’s me.” Goldie’s smile dipped. “I used to be a professional wrestler. You ever watch wrestling?”

Day shook his head.

“Ah.”

Well, that definitely eliminated Day being a starry-eyed fan, so then why was he so captivated by Goldie yesterday? What was that all about?

Maybe it was Goldie’s ruggedly handsome good looks.

Ha.

“You can have some of this coffee if you’d like,” Goldie offered. “I’m not gonna drink it all.”

Day smiled and shook his head again.

Goldie watched Day for a few moments, amused by his curious exploration of the memorabilia.

Day seemed particularly impressed with the championship belt once he got the dirty laundry out of the way so he could see it properly. He stood the toppled action figures along the shelf after carefully inspecting each one as if they were made of glass. He was smiling like it was Christmas or something, and Goldie was struck by the weird thought that Day hadn’t seen a lot of toys.

Goldie could have easily made a crack about how he had more exciting stuff in the bedroom, but that didn’t feel right.

There was something about Day that seemed… special.

Innocent, maybe? Perhaps even a touch naive?

After all, what kinda guy came looking for a stranger and let himself be invited into the stranger’s house?