CHAPTER TEN
He looked at himself in the mirror, smoothing a hand back over his hair to neaten it. He wanted to look perfect. He wanted to be more than himself: polished to a shine, smart but fashionable, ready for the social event he had been looking forward to so much.
It wasn’t a party or a big night out or any other kind of event. No, that wasn’t really his style. Maybe he would go to a party with all of his friends later in the year – or maybe they would get together on New Year’s Eve, which, after all, was only a few weeks away. Yes, perhaps they would do that. It would be a lot of fun, and he was sure they would all rather spend time with him and each other than with their families. Oh, that would be a lot of fun for everyone.
But focus: now was the time to think about right now. He had an important visit to make tonight, even though other people might not think it was so important. Dropping in to see your best friend and spend time with them – what could be more natural and casual than that?
But see, that was the thing. That was what he knew set him apart, made him a better friend than most. The fact that he valued every single moment with his friends so much. That he treated every time they went out together or saw one another as a special occasion.
He had so much to talk about with his best friend. They didn’t have enough chances to talk. They never had. That was the way of life, always something or someone getting in the way.
Well, tonight, nothing was going to get in the way. He had made a whole plan to make sure of that.
Tonight they would be able to talk as much as they wanted. And every night after this, too. They would never be interrupted again. That was the beauty of his plan.
Because when you had a best friend, someone who was really important to you, you had to make sure that you had all the opportunities in the world to appreciate and value them as much as you could. Life was too short to spend it without the people you loved.
He’d only decided that recently, although he knew how true it was as soon as the thought settled in his mind. You had to spend time with the people you loved, and if there were barriers in the way that would stop that from happening, you simply had to do all you could to remove them.
He’d done it twice before. He would do it again.
He would do anything for his best friend.
Even if that best friend was never really going to know all that he had done, all that he had sacrificed. It wasn’t about that. You didn’t do things for people in order to receive their thanks. You did it because you loved them and you knew they deserved it.
He straightened his tie in the mirror. Yes, tonight he was going to make sure that he and his best friend had the time of their lives – and that the party would never stop again.
He took one last look, finally satisfied that he looked good enough to call on his best friend, and then gathered his tools. He stepped out the front door and locked it behind him, glancing around the neighborhood. No one was going to notice him. He wasn’t afraid of that.
No one ever did.