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Tom paused. “Have you talked to your father recently?”
    “Not since last week.”
    Tom decided not to mention the loss of his job. “I’m here to wrap up my dad’s affairs,” he said.
    “That can wait an hour or two.”
    “I’ll be in town for a few weeks. And I don’t want to surprise Tiffany.”
    “She’s always ready to see you.”
    Rover stuck his head out the passenger window of Tom’s car and barked. Rick leaned to the side to take a look.
    “Is that thing yours?”
    “Yeah, he’s a beauty, isn’t he?”
    “If you say so. Where are you staying?”
    “With Elias.”
    “Why don’t you camp out with us? We have four empty guest rooms. And your dog could hang out in the kennel beside the horse barn. It’s heated and air-conditioned. After he eats and naps he could romp with my black Labs.”
    “No, I need to be with Elias. He’s not doing too well with all that’s happened.”
    An older car with a broken muffler and a hood painted a different color than the rest of the vehicle came up beside them. A middle-aged man shut off the engine and rolled down the passenger-side window.
    “Need any help, Rick?” the man asked.
    “No, Billy. Just talking to an old friend. This is Tom Crane. His father was John Crane, the lawyer.”
    The man squinted and looked Tom over. “Yeah, I can see that. Your father sued me once. Dragged me in front of Judge Caldwell over a five-hundred-dollar plumbing job I did out of the goodness of my heart for a woman who complained the whole time.”
    “I didn’t know that,” Tom said, glancing sideways at Rick.
    “Billy, you probably deserved to get sued,” Rick cut in. “Give me a call tomorrow. I’ve got some work for you to do at one of my rental houses on Beaverdale Road.”
    “Sure thing.”
    The man started the car and continued on.
    “I guess that’s one of the disadvantages a lawyer has practicing in a small town,” Rick said as the car left in a cloud of oily smoke. “Half the people in town like you; the other half hate you because you sued them.”
    Two more cars and a pickup truck approached and slowed down so the people in the vehicles could stare at them.
    “If we stay here much longer, we’ll have our picture in the paper tomorrow with a silly caption underneath it,” Rick said. “Give me a call so we can set a date for you to come out for supper. And make it soon.”
    “Okay,” Tom replied. “It’s good seeing you.”
    Rick put his hand on the door handle to his truck, then turned back toward Tom.
    “You can run off to Atlanta, but this is the place where you’ll find the people who really care about you.”
    Tom nodded. At that moment in his life he didn’t have a reason to disagree.
    ______
    Tom followed Rick for a quarter mile before the truck turned onto a side road. Rick stuck his hand out the window and waved as Tom continued toward town.
    Tom and Rick were lifelong friends. Tiffany had come along later. Tom first met her during his sophomore year of high school when Tiffany’s father accepted a management position with Pelham Financial and moved to Bethel from Montgomery, Alabama. Tom spotted the cute brunette with brown eyes the first day of school and made a point to sit beside her during lunch. They walked the halls together for a few weeks, but then she met a guy who shared her love for horses. The combination of man and beast was too much for Tom to overcome.
    The summer before their senior year Tom and Tiffany’s romance rekindled. This time it burned hot. From the start of school they were inseparable, but two weeks before the homecoming game they got into an argument. Tom couldn’t remember what it was about, but he was willing to put it behind him and ask Tiffany to the big dance. The day before he popped the question, Rick pulled him aside and told him he had a major crush on Tiffany but had kept quiet because Tom was dating her. If Tom didn’t object, Rick wanted to ask Tiffany to the dance. Tom told him to go