Page 74 of Think Twice

They said their goodbyes. Myron hung up the phone and sat back and wondered what the hell was bothering him about that call.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Two hours later, Myron and Jeremy sat in a visiting room waiting for Greg.

Myron said, “Can I ask you something else?”

“I’ll skip the old ‘you just did’ joke,” Jeremy said.

“Thank God.” Then: “Did you know Greg was alive?”

“Not at first,” Jeremy said. “He told me later.”

“When? How?”

“He visited me. When I was stationed at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.”

“And, what, he just showed up?”

Jeremy nodded. “He had Grace call first.”

“You knew about Grace?”

“I didn’t before that call.”

“So you saw him in Kuwait?”

“Yes.”

“Why did he do it?”

“Fake his death?”

“Yeah,” Myron said. “For starters.”

“I think it was a combination of things.”

“Like?”

“Like how he needed to escape the world.”

Myron frowned. “Didn’t running away do that already?”

“That’s what I thought. But he didn’t tell me about the murder in Vegas. That probably pushed him too.”

Myron was about to ask a follow-up when the door opened. Greg entered. Myron expected him to be cuffed, but he wasn’t. He wore a beige prisoner jumpsuit. Jeremy leapt from his chair and shouted, “Dad!” Myron tried not to let that sound pierce his chest. The two men embraced hard. Myron could see Greg’s face over Jeremy’s shoulder as he held tight. His eyes were squeezed shut. Jeremy clung to Greg as Greg gently assured him that everything was going to be okay. Myron wondered whether he had ever felt like such an awkward intruder in his life. He concluded that the answer was no.

Still holding one another, the two men—father and son, Myron thought, let’s be honest about it—found their seats. Both had tears in their eyes. Myron just waited. He didn’t want to be the first to speak. When they got a little more settled, Greg broke the silence.

Glaring at Myron, Greg said, “You’re only here because Jeremy asked me to see you.”

“Hey, don’t do me any favors.” Myron started to rise. “I can go right now.”

“Guys,” Jeremy said.

Greg continued to glare at Myron. “Did you set me up?”

“Are you serious?”