Hortencia and most of the staff hadn’t said much about my ex-roommate since the day Lud had shown up in his Canali suit. My lack of responses and closed-off expression had probably said it all.
Thus, when he turned up on a Sunday morning at the beginning of October, a month after I’d moved, I didn’t know what to expect. For all his talk of friendship, he hadn’t once knocked on my door, nor had I glimpsed him around the complex.
He looked good, though, better than he had even in the past, all cleaned up. The smile on his face seemed to come from within, and I hadn’t realized until now how much pain his old smiles had hidden.
I was in the middle of cooking breakfast for a customer when I noticed him. Naturally, Hortencia had to let the world know Lud was here to see me. “Deke, you have a
