Chapter 2It all began the first day back from Christmas break senior year.
“You grew a beard!” Kirby settled into Sam’s orange Miata on the cold January morning.
“Trying to.”
“It matches the car.” Kirby buckled up immediately, since Sam insisted on a “seatbelt click before I move the stick.” He leaned in. “Let me get a closer look.” He touched Sam’s face. “Hot.”
Sam had spent the holidays out of state and took a moment to reacquaint himself with the smell of cigarette smoke and coffee and the scratch of Kirby’s sparser whiskers as they came cheek to cheek. “Thanks.” Man, he’d missed him.
“Guess where I hung out over vacation, Sammy Smart.” Kirby sat back.
“Where?”
“A bar.”
“Nice.” Sam pulled into traffic in front of the school bus he’d ridden until he could afford to pay half for h
