Keeping Secrets

Ben

“So, what are you doing to do, then?” Jerrod asked, leaning on the bar with his elbow. He had a beer in his hand, and his words were already starting to slur a bit. We’d been drinking a while.

“I don’t know, yet,” I said.

“But you can’t just hang around here and do nothing. Didn’t you leave and quit everything to run that company of yours? And now you’re not there, but you’re not doing the firefighter thing here, either.”

I shrugged and took a sip of my beer. I wasn’t going to tell Jerrod that I was headed back soon. I was merely spending as much time here as I could before I had to leave. I suddenly had so much to lose, and I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. I was lying to my best friend and my girlfriend. Calling Mila my girlfriend had a beautiful ring to it.

“It’s just a lot for me to deal with,” I said. “Besides, I have a ton of cash, and I own a million-dollar company. I can do whatever the fuck I like.”

Jerrod shrugged. “This isn’t the Ben I know. We had all these plans, re