"Long story," was all I said. "How are you?"
"Fine," he responded curtly. I didn't see a hint of the terrified teenager I'd known ten years earlier.
"Listen, I just wanted to tell you that… that I'm here if you need to talk about anything."
Xavier actually chuckled, but there was nothing amusing about the sound.
"Xavier—" I began, but he cut me off with a hard look.
"Save it, Doc," he said stiffly. I wasn't actually a doctor, but Xavier had always called me that because he’d considered my questions those of a regular shrink. I didn't bother to correct him. As it was, his tone made it pretty clear that he had absolutely no interest in talking to me. I couldn't really blame him.
I stood next to him as he watched the little girl get off the ride and dart through the exit gate. She ran right up to him and began talking a mile a minute about how scary the ride had been but that she’d loved it and wanted to do it again. I heard her ask about where Brooks had gone, but I didn't hear Xavier's answer. When the little girl spied me, she asked Xavier, "Who's that?"
Xavier looked at me briefly. "Nobody," was his response.
As he and the little girl turned to leave, I couldn't help but call Xavier's name. He stopped, but it seemed to take forever for him to turn to face me. I knew I was treading on thin ice, but my need to know that he hadn’t been alone for the past ten years won out. "The friend—the one you were waiting for—did he ever show up?"
He didn't answer right away, but what he did next caught me off guard. He glanced in the direction Brooks had gone and his eyes softened considerably. It was the same look I thought I'd seen moments earlier when Brooks had walked away. But it made no sense because I knew who Brooks was and he was supposed to be the enemy.
Supposed to be.
"Yes and no," was all Xavier said, and I realized he was answering my question about his friend. And then things clicked into place. His friend had been none other than Brooks and if Xavier's look was anything to go by, friends wasn't the right word to describe the relationship.
Neither was enemies.
That left one thing.
"Welcome to Eden, Doc," Xavier said coolly. With that, he turned on his heel and took the little girl's hand and walked away. The man who left definitely wasn’t the boy I'd known. I'd always assumed I'd been one of many to fail him along the way, but seeing the town's reaction to him confirmed my suspicions. And if my intuition was right, just like with Jackson and possibly Brooks too, he’d be facing an even bigger fight if the truth were to come out.
But as I turned and headed back to where I knew the woman who would be my future was waiting for me, I swore to myself that it was a fight that none of the men would have to face on their own ever again. They’d have me and they’d have my Joli.
My Joli who had enough fight and heart in her to win any battle.