Lex and Lu Read Online Free PDF Page A

smirk.
    “Like that’s hard to do.”
    “True,” Lex said. “Let’s go.”
    “Where’s your luggage?” Pete asked.
    Lex nodded his head toward the empty conveyer belt where a lone bag continued to circle. “Right there.”
    “We could have been out of here ten minutes ago if you weren’t flirting with that girl.”
    “Woman, that was all woman. And she kept me from thinking about the reason why I am here. Totally worth the ten minutes.”
    “Point taken!” Pete said.
    Gathering up the luggage, they strolled through the sliding glass doors toward Pete’s car.
    “So you drove straight here last night? That’s a hell of a drive.” Lex said.
    “Yeah, I know. But I just needed to get here. Somehow it didn’t seem real to me. And I thought if I was here, I would know he was gone. Hard to explain.”
    “Does it seem real now? ’Cause I’m struggling with that.” All hints of his smile fled. “I just can’t quite get there.”
    “Maybe after we see that body?”
    Lex stopped in midstride. “We’re going to see the body? And why are your referring to dad as the ‘body’?”
    Pete stopped and turned back to look at him. “He’s gone. All that’s left of him is his body.”
    “Is this your idea of a good bedside manner? Is this what they teach you in med school?” Lex replied, annoyed.
    “Look, I need to see him. You don’t have to come with me, but it just doesn’t seem possible to me. I need proof.” Pete continued walking to his car.
    Overwhelmed, Lex scrubbed his hands over his face, picked up his bag, and followed his brother to the car. Pete opened the trunk for him and he put stuff away, still reluctant to continue this conversation with his brother. Pete got in the car, but Lex hesitated, leaning on the trunk, trying to figure out if he wanted to see his father’s body. It seemed like too much—coming home after such a long time and going straight to the morgue. He didn’t think he could do it. But he knew it was what his brother needed. And Lex always looked out for his brother.
    Opening the door and folding his large frame into the front seat of Pete’s Nissan 300X, he leaned his head back and breathed deeply. “Is that bar still there, on 301, or is it 41?”
    “Which bar?”
    “The BiHi Hut?”
    “Yeah,” Pete smiled. “How do you know about that place? You weren’t old enough to go there when you left.”
    “Ha. Like that stopped me. I need a drink if we’re going to do this thing.”
    Pete looked at his brother. “You’ll come with me?”
    “Fuck!” Lex said. And, closing his door with too much force, he looked over as his brother started the car. “Get me a Scotch and I’ll go with you to see Dad.”

4
     
    They returned from the morgue to their empty house. Depositing his bag in the room over the garage, Lex quickly changed into his training gear, pulled on his running shoes, and grabbed his iPod. Heading back downstairs, he found his brother and told him he’d be out for a while. Although he was exhausted as hell, he needed to get a workout in. A hard game, a sleepless night, a transatlantic flight, and a viewing of his father’s body—oh, and a Scotch in between—had his body craving a good, hard run. He wished like hell he had a game so he could forget for a while.
    Turning out of the driveway, he set a hard pace through his childhood neighborhood. He ran by all the old haunts, memories assailing him from every direction. When they were young, the kids counted the ratios. There were sixteen of them and only twelve adults. Lex felt confident that if they’d ever had to mutiny, the kids would win because they had the majority. They’d joked about that all the time, even though, deep down, none of them wanted to take on their mothers. He wondered how many of them would show up for his father’s memorial service. He didn’t relish being the first family to lose someone. And while he figured most of them would be there, he had to admit that the loss of one