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was that Brendan hadn’t arrived. He phoned Brendan’s cell—no answer. Well, Brendan did forget to charge it at times. Other times he was biking and ignored his cell.
    Maybe he’d gotten stuck at work? On a rare occasion, Ian asked Brendan to work through lunch and would bring lunch into the office. Brendan never refused Ian, partly because Brendan was the kindest person in the world, and partly because of his feelings for Ian.
    After his tense confrontation in the café, Ian was the absolute last person Cole wanted to call.
    It was out of character for Brendan not to come home, not when he’d made Cole a promise. Brendan was the type of friend to always keep his word. And he always came home for lunch unless he was working. Either way, he’d at least call Cole and explain. An uneasy feeling surged through him. It might be stupid, but he really wanted to know where Brendan was.
    Reluctantly Cole phoned Ian’s office looking for Brendan, but it went to voice mail. So maybe Brendan was on his way home and was simply late? Yeah, that was it. He left a quick message and hung up.
    Cole decided he was being stupid for no reason and should drop it, so he went ahead and made lunch alone. His stomach growled right on cue. He drank some orange juice from the carton since Brendan wasn’t there to scold him, and then set out to create a giant turkey-and-cheese sandwich. He took out the newspaper and did a crossword puzzle.
    Cole was munching on the sandwich—mustard and mayo combining for just the right taste—and trying to find a nine-letter word for gloomy, when the phone rang. It was Ian.
    “Where’s Brendan?” he asked.
    He didn’t even greet Cole, which would normally have angered him, except there was urgency to Ian’s voice. It was past one thirty now.
    “I don’t know. That’s why I called you earlier. I figured you kept him at work or took him out.”
    “I didn’t. He left at the usual time. Maybe his bike got a flat?” Ian said.
    “Yeah, maybe.”
    Cole shifted uneasily, putting his food down. “Should we go and look for him?”
    “Yes, I’ll get in my car and search the block,” Ian said. “But meet me in front of the office.”
    As they hung up, Cole could picture Ian striding to his car. He was the type to stride everywhere, no patience to stroll or walk.
    Cole left a voice mail for his housemates. Marc, busy trimming trees, didn’t answer his phone. Neither did River, who was equally busy fixing cars over at Firestone. Tomas was probably at the beach, since he loved to lie out in the sun on his afternoons off work. He’d been a lifeguard for a brief time, before deciding to try to become a nurse, and was comfortable on the surf and sand. Cole left all three of them messages.
    “Something might have happened to Brendan,” he said.
    He knew they would drop everything and rush to find Brendan as soon as they heard.
     
     
    C OLE CROSSED through some side streets, calling Brendan’s name. The Florida sun was out in full force, and sweat slicked his T-shirt and soaked his armpits. It was nerves as much as the heat. Cole glanced at his watch, his throat tight. He stared as the second hand went round and round.
    If Brendan had a flat tire, he had probably walked the bike to some convenience store and was sipping a cold Gatorade right now. Only, why hadn’t he called? That wasn’t like Brendan at all. Cole tried to clamp down on his anxiety. There must be some logical explanation. Maybe he left the phone at his office. Or it was out of batteries. They’d all laugh about it later.
    A lot of their friends questioned why none of the housemates had become coupled off. With Tomas and Marc, Cole wondered too, but they would only say their friendship was too important to risk throwing sex into it, and then they’d both go silent. Cole had tried something once with Tomas, but Tomas had gently turned him down. Since he and Tomas shared the biggest room in the house, while the rest of them had single