Chapter 17: Lay with Me Awhile
“Nice place here,” Grant says, taking a finger of whiskey down the back of his throat, and pouring himself a second one.
The two men sit opposite each other on Toby’s sofa. Both have their shoes off, strewn over the floor, and both have reddish cheeks from the whiskey. They’ve consumed three shots in the last twenty minutes while discussing Toby’s Bear Blog, Blue Danning, and Grant’s obsession with self-help books, selfies, and pandas.
Grant looks around the living room area and says, “This is intimate without too many knickknacks. You like owls, don’t you?”
Toby nods. “I’ve collected a few throughout the years. Only my favorites, though.”
“There’s gotta be twenty or more in here, watching me.”
There are twenty-two owls in all, Toby knows. Snowy. Short-
