Which Way the Wind Blows

Chapter 4

“Man, you HAVE to become a Yankees fan now,” Pete grinned at Warren. “The Mariners never won the Series!”

“Well the Mets have … twice,” Freddy pointed out.

“And the Yanks won it 26 times!”

“Because they BUY it!” Freddy countered his tie askew and his hair now a mess.

Warren watched the two bicker in amusement. It seemed this was the only sticking point between the two. They all sat around a table in a local tavern around the corner from their office building drinking beer and munching on pretzels and nachos. Warren had tried to buy a round but the other three refused him, claiming rights to taking the new guy out. He was on his third and last beer. The last thing he wanted to do was get drunk and make an ass out of himself, probably whining about Chris. Sam used to take it in stride, but he didn’t know these people yet, and he’d always been under the impression that it wasn’t a good career move to get plastered in front of your coworkers.

The tavern was small with only about seven tables in total and a big, antique wooden bar lining one wall. The bartender, a thin old man with a twinkle in his eye but never a smile on his face, stood behind it wiping down glasses. Warren assumed he also owned the place because he signed for a shipment of bottles when a delivery man came in. There were enough bottles for every kind of liquor Warren could imagine shelved on the wall behind the bar. But he was sticking to beer tonight. Hard liquor always threw him for a loop.

“Maybe he’d like to follow a winning team for once,” Pete shrugged.

“He can’t root for The Evil Empire!” Freddy grunted. “Besides, your guys haven’t won anything in the last few years. They keep acquiring old guys at the end of their careers.”

“Damon’s not old!”

“But his knee went out as soon as the season began.”

Jake shot Warren a smirk from across the table and shook his head. From his expression, Warren took it to mean this could take a while. While Freddy and Pete weren’t really fighting, the conversation did seem to be escalating a bit. Warren was sure the beer was playing its role in that.

“Maybe Warren likes the Mariners?” Jake said neutrally.

Freddy and Pete both turned heated expressions his way before looking to Warren for confirmation. He felt his face turn slightly pink, not comfortable with being the center of attention.

“Um, actually, I’m an Orioles fan.”

“Orioles?!” Pete and Freddy said together while Jake just grinned.

“Um … yeah. I’m from Maryland originally.”

The conversation seemed to falter there as they waited expectantly until he realized that they wanted more details.

“I went to Seattle University, and after that,” Warren shrugged, “I just … kind of … stayed.”

They all nodded.

“What kept you there, though?” Jake asked. “Not that Seattle’s not a great town and all, but the weather.”

“Yeah,” Freddy piped in. “Does it really rain there all the time?”

“It rains a lot,” Warren chuckled. “Too much. But on the rare sunny days everything’s always so green and alive. The winters aren’t very harsh, either. More rain than anything else.”

“But I bet you moved here to get away from the rain,” Pete said.

“I moved here for a bunch of reasons,” Warren looked down. “But the rain was definitely on the list.”

“I bet.”

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“What’s with you tonight?” Victoria asked sharply as Chris dismissed the waiter irritably.

“Nothing.”

He wasn’t in the mood to soothe her ruffled feathers tonight. He was still smarting over Sam and Chloe’s refusals to help him earlier that day. Tomorrow, he vowed, he would visit Warren’s old company and see if they knew anything about where he went. They’d have to, wouldn’t they? He’d need his tax documents eventually. But he’d have to come up with a good reason why he needed to know first. Otherwise they’d send him packing like Sam and Chloe.

“Well, you’re a real grump all of a sudden,” she replied.

She gave him a sharp look while she twirled a lock of her long ebony hair around her finger. Not for the first time did he feel she may not be as flighty as she seemed to be. He remembered that in college she was a philosophy major. He’d thought it was a useless degree but she’d said she’d enjoyed the various arguments about existence and the meaning of life. But after college, she’d done very little with her degree, working on the board of a charitable organization that her parents ran. It made sense, though, as she really didn’t need to work, considering her family’s wealth and status. He didn’t either, for that matter, but his father insisted that he and his brothers not waste their lives, so he worked in an advertising agency.

Victoria was very beautiful, and she knew it, though she was never unkind without a reason. Her dark hair contrasted very nicely with her pale skin and light green eyes. She was tall, almost as tall as he was, and her lithe figure could put anyone to shame. But she wasn’t as vain and superficial as most other women in their social circle. That was what had most attracted him to her when they’d met. They’d seen each other casually here and there when either of them needed a date for a family function, but it wasn’t an official match until after they’d graduated college, and he’d already been heavily involved with Warren by then.

If anyone made Chris choose which one he’d like to spend the rest of his life with … if he could only have one and family consequences weren’t an issue … he’d be hard pressed to make the decision. Each gave him something the other couldn’t. But Warren couldn’t accept Victoria, it seemed, and she was unaware that his relationship with his former college roommate and supposed best friend was anything other than platonic. It was a perfect situation … until Warren called him on it then left town while he and Victoria were away.

“Oh, I saw Warren last week before we left,” she said, breaking his thoughts and jarring him back to reality. “Did I tell you?”

The waiter was serving them their salads and cracking fresh pepper over them, so Chris waited until he was finished to reply.

“No, you didn’t. But when I saw him, he told me.”

“I guess I let the cat out of the bag about your promotion,” she smiled. “Sorry, but I was so proud of you!”

“Um … thanks.” He forked up some romaine leaves and began chomping on them.

“I even showed him my bracelet!” she grinned. “He was such a sweetie letting me chew his ear for so long in the grocery store. He’s so shy though. You think he’d like me to set him up with one of my friends?”

Chris blanched and started choking on his lettuce while her look grew concerned. After a few wheezes he finally got the mouthful down. “Sorry. I guess it went down the wrong way.”

“There’s only one way for it to go,” she pointed out.

“Yeah. Uh, anyway, no, I don’t think he’d like that.”

“Well, you could ask him anyway,” she shrugged, nibbling delicately on her own salad. “It couldn’t hurt.”

“I suppose it couldn’t,” he sighed. If I ever find him, that is. “Next time I talk to him. But with his schedule and mine, we don’t see each other as much as we used to.”

“Yeah, I got that impression. He seemed pretty surprised about your promotion and you got it months ago.”

“Like I said, we’ve both been busy.”

And Chris went back to eating his salad in silence, trying to concentrate on not choking himself to death. He contemplated his last meeting with Warren sadly as he chewed. It seemed he’d been right about Chris taking their relationship for granted. Maybe that was why Warren felt he’d needed to make a point by leaving. Well, whatever it was, Chris would find him and get to the bottom of it. Then Warren would come back to Seattle and everything would be all right again. All he had to do was make sure he paid more attention to him. That should work.

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“Have a good first day?” Mindy asked as Warren shut the door behind him.

She was laying on the couch watching television and eating out of a small ice cream container.

“Yeah, actually.”

“You’re home late. Did they pile the work on you as soon as you got in?”

“Yeah, but that was all good,” he laughed. “I went out for a few drinks with my new coworkers.”

“Oooh! Making friends already!”

“They asked,” he shrugged. “I figured, why not?”

“That’s the spirit! So, what are they like?”

Warren spent the next couple of hours discussing his day and his new job with his sister while they shared a frozen pizza. He told her about Pete, Freddy and Jake, and she promptly asked if he would set her up with any of them … in true Mindy style.

“Let me get to know them first,” he snorted. “I don’t want you going out with any creeps.”

“I believe I said that to you when I advised you to break up with Meatball … the first hundred and fifty times.”

“Is that his new name?” he laughed.

“Yup! And don’t change the subject!” She threw a couch pillow at him.

“You know I was always slow on the uptake in the social department,” he sighed.

“Well, at least you finally listened to me.”