Our second meeting wasn’t planned. In fact, I was almost positive I would never see Ned again. I woke up sitting in that damn chair staring out into the woods. My head was pounding and the glare of the morning sun cut cruelly through my mini-hangover. “f**k,” I muttered and stood, then managed a haphazard dash to the bathroom, where the need to piss overwhelmed me. It was just as I was flushing the toilet and about to reach for the aspirin when I heard the phone.
“Hello?”
“Pryor, it’s Ned. You mind if I come over?”
“Where are you?”
“Just down the street. I brought some samples, thought you’d like to take a look. I also got some coffee.”
I don’t remember agreeing to Ned coming over, but he did anyway. He knocked so hard on the door I thought he’d split the wood.
“Hold on. Jesus, you w
