“I almost blew it,” Jace told Marianne when they met for lunch at a local diner later that same morning as his talk with Charlie.
“With who? Or—” she chuckled, “—should that be whom?”
Jace shook his head. “Either/or. And to answer the question, with Charlie, although…”
“Yeah, leave me hanging. Spill all. Now.”
“Okay, first things first. I had supper with Ricky last night.”
“You are so shitting me!”
“Nope.” He went on to tell her about it, ending as he had when he told Charlie, by saying, “I almost feel sorry for the guy.”
“That presumes he was telling you the truth.”
“I’m pretty sure he was. Even the part where he said he’d keep what I told him about me to himself.”
“Jace,” she said quietly, “does it really matter these days?”
“Yeah, to me it does.”
“Because of Charlie.”
He nod
