Chapter 62018—late March
The dinner special at the diner that evening was pork chops with Spanish rice, and both men ordered it, along with a couple of vegetables.
“Do you cook much at home?” Carlton said.
“Yeah. I really got into cooking while I was working on my Doctorate, but it’s not a lot of fun to cook for one person.”
“You and Rusty don’t live together, then.”
“No way. I’m a bit of a neat freak, and he’s more of a slob. We’d kill each other after a few weeks living in the same place. He lives in a garage apartment behind his parents’ house, and his mother cleans up for him.”
“And yet, you’re friends.”
“The very best of friends—friends with benefits.”
“Whatever works.”
“What about you, Carlton? Have you ever settled down with someone?”
“I had a brief fling when I was in gra
