Page 48 of The New Place

“Yeah, our guy isn’t known for calm, rational reactions. Is he that bad?”

He’d tossed and turned next to Abbot last night, then spent a long while on his phone, the glare shining over his face. Twice, Abbot had thought about taking it just so Ned could get some rest, but he wasn’t sure that would actually help. Sex hadn’t, which was particularly telling. Sorry, Ned had muttered when they’d finished.

Not that Abbot is going to share that with Pat. “Pretty bad,” he says. Sorry rings in his head. “Perhaps even really bad.”

“Yikes.”

“Yes.”

Pat leans back in his seat and blows out a long breath. “Baxter better be okay, because our Ned can’t handle too much or his head will actually explode. Or he’ll curl up on the couch and stare at the wall for several days in a row.”

A fair assessment, but—“Baxter?”

“Isn’t he a little, I don’t know, off?”

“Is he?”

“Like super thirsty,” Pat says. “Claire should really see him. She said she was definitely worried.”

“Actually see him, as opposed to telling her to see him and then going off with her on your own all weekend?”

“Okay, but look.” Pat holds up a finger like an explanation is coming. He pauses like that as Abbot pulls onto the street, and then sighs loudly, melting to a huge smile. “Yeah, it was a great weekend. She’s amazing. She’s so—I just—you gotta give me a crash course in wine, so I can pretend I know what I’m talking about.”

“Wine?”

“I told her I’d take her out, and Abbot, she knows stuff about the world. I need to be able to look at a wine menu and make this face.” Pat pinches his eyebrows, purses his lips, and taps his chin with a finger. “And then point to a bottle.”

“It seems you have it down already.”

“But you just know the waiter will say something like, oh, the ’02? And I’m absolutely going to need a response to that. My wheelhouse is the ‘on sale’ section. She’s super smart and put together and have you ever met someone and needed to get it right so bad you’re going to actually die if it doesn’t work out?”

“No,” Abbot says, and Pat truly is caught up on this woman to not recognize the lie. “But if you keep seeing her, what’ll she do when she eventually finds out what you’re actually like?”

“Wow. Rude. Let me live in my little bubble of pretend. Though you’re forgiven for giving me the chocolate. That was a hit.”

Yes, living in a bubble sounds nice. One where Ned’s never upset by the machinations of the world around them, and Abbot can move down to Boston and he and Ned will⁠—

Will what? They never got a chance to talk about what comes next for them, what with the sharp turn their weekend took.

They will. Once Abbot reaches out to Beverly. Which he’s going to do really very soon.

“Is Ned shit out of luck finding another job?”

Abbot flicks the lever to spray his windshield, then waits as the wipers clear away the fluid and salt. “There’s always a chance,” he says finally.

“But.” Pat fills in the rest of that statement with one word.

Abbot nods. “But. He’s the newest faculty in the department, and a lot of professors will be looking for jobs in Boston.”

“Sure, but they don’t have us rooting for them. You and I are Team Ned. We should get T-shirts.”

The levity feels good, better than the mire the weekend became, and Abbot latches onto it. “Perhaps with Baxter’s face on it.”

“Let’s get them ordered. That’s our first order of business. Second is: Fix Ned’s life.”

“So simple.” He pretends to focus on finding the turn for the highway, but traffic is lighter than it was on Friday, and soon enough he merges into the stream of cars. In only minutes at this speed, Boston will fade behind them, the crush of buildings beginning to sprawl out into suburbia, and then the strip malls and gas stations will be traded for trees as they drive north, houses peeking out from between them. He and Pat will be back in Portland, until the next time Abbot drives down, and Ned will be in the same spot, worrying and wondering about his future.

“I have the opportunity to ask for a spousal hire for Ned,” Abbot says slowly. Maybe he shouldn’t share this with Pat, but—but he doesn’t have anyone else to talk to. Odd, to not be able to talk to Ned himself about what’s troubling him. “But I’m not sure he wants me to.”