Page 77 of Iron

Last night was a lot. Erasing memories doesn’t work. I can add new ones, but I cannot replace the old ones.

“Yeah.”

“Good boy.”

43

TJ

ME: Dude, meet us for lunch at Ben’s? Got news.

CALEB: Sure, boo, see you at noon.

Caleb sees the ring before he looks at either of our faces.

“Oh. My. God!” He's frozen halfway into his chair, staring at my left hand like it personally offended him. “OhMyGod. TJ. TJ! Is that…”

“Yeah.” I know I’m grinning like a goofy idiot.

“That is a rock, TJ, a whole bunch of rocks. That is not a ring, that is a geological event.” He drops into the chair, grabs my hand and yanks it closer to his face like he needs a magnifying glass. “Emeralds. He got you emeralds. Of course he got you emeralds, they match your…” He looks up at me, then at Gavin, something clicking into place. “You planned this. You actually planned this out, the colors and everything.”

“I did,” Gavin says, mild, like he isn't visibly pleased with himself.

“When? Where? Tell me everything. I need details. I need a full timeline.” Caleb's practically vibrating, still holding my hand hostage across the table. “Wait, no, don't tell me it was somewhere boring. Please tell me it wasn't in an airport.”

“It was at Babylon,” I laugh. “At the bar.”

Caleb's mouth falls open. “Freddie's bar? Freddie was there? Freddie saw this happen?”

“Freddie helped it happen, honestly,” Gavin admits.

“I need to call him. I need to call him like right now.” Caleb finally lets go of my hand, sitting back like he needs a moment to recover, grinning at Gavin like he's reevaluating him entirely. “Okay. Okay, you did good. I take back every mean thing I ever thought about you at the start of this.”

“You thought mean things about me?”

“Everyone thought mean things about you at the start. You were an intimidating old stranger dating my best friend. It's allowed.” Caleb waves it off, already moving on, appetite apparently returned, reaching for the bread basket like the emotional crisis has passed. “So, when's the wedding? Am I planning it? I feel like I should be planning it.”

“We haven't gotten that far,” I say, laughing.

“Well, get there. I have opinions.” He butters a roll with the focus of a man plotting logistics. “Anyway, forget me, what's going on with you two this week, anything besides the obvious life-altering engagement thing?”

“Nothing much. Practicing to be ready for Oklahoma. How’s re-registration going?” I lean forward a little, genuinely curious, because he's been dodging this topic for two weeks now, always giving some vague answer whenever I ask. “You never really tell me.”

Caleb's smile falters, just slightly, enough that I catch it.

“It's, um.” He busies himself with buttering the roll, instead of looking at either of us. “It's going. There's stuff to figure out.” He’s buttering so hard, the roll is crumbling in his hand.

“What kind of stuff?”

“Just logistics. Scheduling stuff.” He's still not looking up.

“Caleb.”

“It's fine, TJ, really, it's just…” He sighs, finally sets the mangled roll down, drags a hand through his shaggy blond hair. “Okay. So. There's a spot. Like, an actual spot, starting right away, not next semester, now, because someone dropped out, and the program called me last week.” He finally looks up, guilt written all over his face. “But it's full-time. Clinicals start almost immediately. There's no way I can still caddie for you and do it. Like, none. I checked every possible way to make the math work, and it doesn’t.” He looks down, the guilt making his shoulders droop.

The table goes quiet for a moment. I feel something drop in my stomach, not surprise exactly. Some part of me already knew this was coming, eventually, but it still lands harder than I expect.

“You should take it,” I say, before he can spiral into apologizing, because I can see it building behind his eyes.