Clay called the following week and invited me to have a drink with him after work. I considered declining because I was still feeling a little surly over the whole thing with Ryan, but changed my mind and agreed to go. Clay had always been a good friend to me and, right now, I needed all the friends I could get.
We made plans to meet at a neighborhood bar, and he was there when I arrived, and he already had a drink in hand. After I’d ordered my own and Clay asked for another, we chatted about work and the lousy, rainy weather we’d been having lately. Since I wasn’t anxious to bring up dinner with Ryan, I delayed that conversation and asked him how Patrick was doing.
Clay rolled his eyes. “Patrick’s dead set on moving to Evanston.”
“I thought you were going to talk him out of it?”
“I tr
