RUSH (City Lights, #3)(88)

He gestured at the people seated at the table: a portly man with great shocks of white hair, two young men—Logan and Jonesy by their nametags, the former pale with freckles, the latter African-American—and a wiry, spikey-haired woman in black leather. Her nametag was on upside down. Polly, I deciphered. They all stood up to greet Noah and hug him and shake his hand.

I was introduced to everyone and then Noah and I sat between Yuri and Deacon, and I knew it was no accident I was beside Deacon.

“I thought Barbara tells me a lie,” Yuri Koslov said, rubbing his reddened nose. He reminded me of Santa Claus without the beard and red suit, but with a flask of something in his pudgy fingers that made his eyes shine. He hauled himself out of his chair and thumped Noah on the back. “I miss your face. But never thought to see you here. Strange business.”

“No business just yet,” Deacon laughed. “Noah and sweet Charlotte haven’t even had a drink. Business can wait.”

Yuri leaned back, watching with dark eyes as Deacon pulled a bottle of champagne from an ice bucket in the middle of the table and poured two glasses. He handed one to me and reached across me to offer one to Noah.

“Here you go, buddy.”

Deacon pressed the glass to his fingers but Noah set the glass down again as his friend made a toast.

“To Noah: PX’s very own Lazarus! He has risen!” He reached across me again to clap Noah on the shoulder. “Welcome back, chief.”

The others toasted and I saw them all exchange awkward glances.

“So,” Logan said. He was a short, stocky guy wearing a plaid suit and red bowtie. “How’ve you been, Lake? Last I heard you were in rehab. How’d…uh, how’d that go?”

“It sucked,” Noah said, smiling thinly.

“He’s just being modest,” Deacon said. “I paid a visit in the beginning. This guy had to learn to walk and talk all over again. Isn’t that right, buddy?” He shook his head. “Fuckin’-A.”

After a few cursory questions for Noah, the four of them—Logan, Jonesy, Polly and Deacon—spoke at great lengths about recent articles they’d been working on, and the countries they’d visited. Noah sat in stony silence as Yuri had been called away to talk to some other people.

The DJ started a slow song, “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper, and I started to lean in to ask Noah to dance when I watched him find his champagne glass and down the whole thing in one go. Jonesy was talking about a village in Viet Nam he’d been to and Noah jumped in.

“Do you remember that year we were in Cambodia? The year of the flooding?”

“The leeches!” Jonesy shouted, laughing, and soon Noah was embroiled in reminisces of his Planet X days.

Deacon refilled Noah’s champagne glass, then mine—though mine didn’t need refilling—and flashed me a wink. “So, how do you like our little shindig? Pretty sweet, right? The f*cking Empire State Building. Too classy for us bums. The higher-ups must’ve had a very good year. In fact, I know they did, because everyone from Accounting has been drunk all week.”

I smiled thinly. “Congratulations.”

Logan stood up suddenly. “Come on, Lake. There’s some people you haven’t seen yet.”

“Oh,” I said, as Noah got to his feet. I noticed his glass was empty again. “Do you need me…?

“I got him,” Logan said. “I promise not to walk him into a wall.”

“It’s you we’re worried about, Loge,” Deacon laughed.

Logan flipped Deacon the bird. His face was bright red and his eyes were glassy as he went around to take Noah’s arm.

I glanced up. “Noah?”

“I’m fine, babe.” He bent down to plant a kiss on my cheek. He missed and got my nose, and I could smell the champagne on his breath. “We’ll have that dance, I promise.”

I watched Logan lead him away, and my hands strangled the linen napkin in my lap.

“The drunk leading the blind,” Deacon laughed, and the remainder of the table laughed with him. “And Lake’s a total lightweight! He’ll be shitfaced in no time.”

“So what do you do, Charlotte?” Jonesy asked. “You’re Noah’s assistant? How’s that working out?”

“Yeah, how’s that job? He was a dick to us when we tried to visit,” Polly groused. “Seems better now, but damn, totally blind? I’d be pissed too. More than pissed.”

“Suicidal,” Deacon said, nodding solemnly.

I glanced quickly at Jonesy who quickly killed another glass of champagne.

“What’s his plan?” Jonesy asked me. “To write for PX?” He blew air out his cheeks. “Noah belongs on a mountain, not behind a desk. I can’t picture it.”

“He’s not going to try to climb again, is he?” Polly wondered, and I wasn’t sure if it was to me or not. And it didn’t matter, as she kept talking anyway. “Christ, I hope not. Enough is enough, right?”

“Can you imagine the HR nightmare? Insurance?” Deacon laughed then glanced at me. “But hey, we gotta make…what’s it? Accommodations? If a person’s handicapped but they want to go back to work? That’s the law.”

“He wants to write,” I said, my voice sounding pathetically small in my own ears. “He can’t do everything he once did, but he’s not done.”