He almost didn’t want to open it. There was every possibility it might be the last thing he heard from Ty, and though he tried not to think that way, he was only human. The notion kept creeping in. What if this was it? What if this was the last thing they managed to say to each other? How could it ever be enough?
He forced himself to tear into the envelope before he could make himself sick.
Zane,
I’m okay. We’re all okay. I miss you like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and I wanted you to know that. I can’t say more. Please don’t ask Nick details. Just know we’re doing our damnedest to get home.
It was signed formally, with the words Captain B. Tyler Grady scrawled across the bottom.
“Captain,” Zane murmured. He smiled even as his composure threatened. There was almost nothing to go on, but it was from Ty and that was all that mattered. Beneath the signature were eight numbers that seemed to be random. Zane wondered first if they were perhaps a processing code, but they were in Ty’s handwriting.
After staring for a few more seconds, he realized what it was. A simple cipher. Ty had sent him an encoded message. He grabbed a pad of paper from the bedside table and began writing down the letters needed to replace the numbers, and it didn’t take long to decipher what the message said: “I love you.”
Zane began to laugh. Ty had sent him a puzzle to play with.
It took him long minutes to write his response. He kept it just as short, just as succinct, knowing these letters were being read. He included his own cipher in return, with the message, “Aye aye, Captain,” just to throw Ty off.
He didn’t seal it, knowing it wouldn’t matter, and then thumped back down the stairs. Nick was nowhere to be found, though. The living room was silent, and nothing was out of place. Zane called his name, cocking his head to listen.
The distant reply came from outside. Zane ambled out to the front stoop, but again he found no one there. “Nick?”
“Up here,” Nick called.
Zane craned his head, peering two stories up to the top floor balcony where Nick stood, leaning over and looking at him.
“How the f**k did you get past me?” Zane asked, chuckling at the memory of Nick and Kelly scaling a balcony in New Orleans.
“I have skills,” Nick said, his voice just low enough to travel down. He waved the cigar held between two long fingers. “Come share this thing with me.”
He disappeared over the railing, and Zane headed back inside to join him. He climbed past the bedrooms on the second floor and into the large attic room, where the door to the balcony was propped open and the curtains were flowing in a light breeze. He stood in the doorway, watching Nick for a moment. Nick was reclining in a rusty old lawn chair, his feet propped on the railing. He’d changed into jeans and a black T-shirt, and he was barefoot.
He held up the Cuban for Zane to take, and Zane moved to sit in the chair beside him, putting the cigar in his mouth. He studied Nick for several more seconds.
Zane had never paid a lot of attention to Nick, other than briefly deciding he was going to try to like him instead of hit him. He didn’t know him well, even though he was so much like Ty on the surface. He didn’t know his moods, and he couldn’t read him. But even Zane could see that Nick wasn’t the same person he’d been in New Orleans.
“Got a response?” Nick asked when he finally turned to Zane and smiled.
Zane handed him the envelope. “Are you okay?” he asked impulsively.
Nick glanced up from folding the letter, his eyebrows jumping. “Why?”
“Well, I mean . . . you’re here. You’re not in Boston. I know I wasn’t the top person on your list to see, so . . . are you okay?”
Nick smiled, looking away from Zane to peer out over the city stretching beyond the balcony. Zane had sat up here with Ty many times. It was where Ty liked to come to think, to ponder their cases, to decompress after a stressful day. Nick had obviously been up here enough to know that if he hadn’t propped the door open, he would have gotten locked out.
“I’m not okay,” he finally said, his voice so soft and hoarse that Zane had to lean closer to hear.
Zane held his breath, waiting for Nick to elaborate. Nick remained silent, though.
“O’Flaherty,” Zane finally whispered.
Nick lowered his head, licking his lips. “I never thanked you for what you did.”
“What?”
“Ty is my best friend,” Nick said. “He’s been the most constant thing I’ve had in my life. I know if you had forced him to choose between us, he would have chosen you. And he should have,” Nick added quickly with a glance at Zane. “Thank you for not making him choose.”
Zane had to take a few seconds to gather his thoughts as Nick met his gaze with striking green eyes. He finally found his voice. “I’m glad I didn’t. It would have killed him.”
They sat in silence, staring at each other for several more moments. Zane didn’t feel awkward about it, and the moment didn’t strike him as especially heavy or fraught. Nick had a way of making him feel at ease despite their shaky start, and Zane had to wonder if that was why he and Ty had remained so close for so long. Nick was the rock to Ty’s hurricane. He was impervious to Ty’s moods. It was like his superpower.
Nick plucked the cigar from Zane’s fingers and took a long drag. When he spoke again, smoke accompanied his words. “Doc’s flying in to meet up with me. He should be here soon. We’ll probably get some dinner. You’re welcome to come.”
“I’d like that. Thank you.”
Nick smiled and took another drag.
Zane laughed at the devious look in Nick’s eyes. “Oh my God. Ty told you to take me out to dinner, didn’t he?”
“That’s classified,” Nick drawled. He tilted his head back and blew a smoke ring toward the sunset.
“Great,” Zane grumbled. His eyes followed the ring as it wavered off on the breeze. He’d have to get Ty to teach him how to do that when he returned. “Now I’m a charity case.”
“Aren’t we all, Garrett?”
Zane nodded, smiling wryly. He propped his feet up on the railing. “I’ve always been a little jealous of you and Ty,” he admitted.
Nick glanced at him.
“I never had a friend like that. Someone I knew would be there no matter what. I can’t imagine what that’s like.”
Nick pursed his lips and gave a slow nod. “Garrett, you have at least one friend like that now.”