Chapter 35

Rob stared out the sliding glass door to the balcony as he chewed on his orange. He knew he needed to have a conversation with Jack, but he wasn’t looking forward to it.

Aaron put down his tablet and cleared his throat. “Look. I’ve seen him like this before. More times than I can count. He’ll be fine. Just leave him alone. Or if you have to talk to him, distract him with something else.”

Rob thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No.”

Aaron raised one eyebrow in question. “You can’t do anything to fix it.”

“I know I can’t,” Rob said. “But I can’t wait it out,either. If that’s how you two work things out, that’s cool. But I’m not you.”

Aaron stared at him for a long time. Rob began to worry that he’d been offended, but eventually Aaron’s face relaxed.

“You’re damn right you’re not me,” he said with a smile.

Rob grinned, and pushed his napkin full of orange slices towards Aaron. He got up and headed out to the balcony.