Coda 02 -A to Z

came. “Do you want to watch the movie while we eat or stay in here?” I asked. “I could turn on some music, but I have a feeling you’d hate it.”
    He looked at the puzzle and looked into the living room, then pointed to the table and said, “Let’s take this in there and do both.”
    So we moved the table into the living room and sat on adjacent sides, eating pizza, working the puzzle, and watching violence and mayhem. Angelo was right. There was nothing better.
I DIDN ’ T hear from Tom at all the next week. I thought about
    calling, but I didn’t want to come off sounding desperate. I was starting to realize that our relationship wasn’t really a relationship at all.
    I tried not to think about it too much. It was just too depressing.
    Somehow Angelo ended up at my place almost every night that week. A couple of times I invited him. A couple of times, I wasn’t sure how it came to pass. Either way I was glad to have the company. We finished the first puzzle and started a second one. We had fun together, and it was definitely better than spending the evening contemplating my non-relationship with Tom.
    Monday rolled around again, but that week, I at least had something to look forward to. The next weekend was Folk Fest, a weekend-long music festival in Lyons, Colorado. I went every year, even if I had to close the shop. I was really looking forward to getting away for a few days. I couldn’t help but wish, though, that I wasn’t going alone.
    My original plan was to give Angelo his choice between covering the store while I was gone or taking the weekend off, but by the time he came in that morning, I had a different plan.
    “What are you doing this weekend, Angelo?” I asked him as soon as he came in.
    “Nothin’. Why?”
“Have you ever heard of Folk Fest?”
“Is that like Bluegrass Fest, ’cept with folk music?” “Exactly.”
“Nope, never heard of it.”
    That made me smile. “You’d love the food there,” I told him. “They have these chicken-basil pot stickers that are to die for. They have curry too. I haven’t tried it, though. They said it was pretty hot.”
    He smirked at me. “Wimp.”

    And I couldn’t help but smile back. “I know. You want to come with me?”
    “It’s folk music?” he asked incredulously.
“Well, yes, but there’s a pretty broad spectrum of music that falls under that category. You’d be surprised. We’ll just hang out in the sun and drink beer and people-watch. What do you think?” He looked over at me, and it looked like he was thinking about it. I realized how much I hoped that he would say yes. “The ticket’s kind of expensive, but I’ll split it with you.” That would seriously cut into my funds, but I suddenly didn’t care. “It’ll be fun. Will you come?”
    He gave me that lopsided smirk. “You want me to hang out with you all weekend and listen to shitty music?”

    “I do.”

    “Why the hell would I do that?” But I knew that impudent tone and the spark in his eyes, and I knew he was planning to say yes.
    “Just for the hell of it?”
“Don’t say I never did nothin’ for you, Zach.”
I was still laughing when Jeremy walked in.
    “Zach, I’m here to get your signature on these petitions.” He had three clipboards in his hand. I didn’t even ask what they were for. I just started signing, passing each one to Ang as I finished. “Have you watched that movie yet?”
    “No,” Angelo answered for me, “but we ordered a copy. It should be here next week.”
    That seemed to make Jeremy happy.
Ruby was next.
    “Did you have a vision?” Angelo asked her. He sounded completely serious, but I could see the glint in his eyes that betrayed his amusement.
    “As a matter of fact, young man, I did. I saw you standing by two stone doors. Then your brother came and opened one for you, and you pushed a blind man through.” She nodded, then turned to me and said knowingly, “It was that black man who sings.” “Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles?” I asked, trying not to laugh.
    “Well,” she said, looking confused, “the black one.” Angelo’s look of amusement was gone. “Don’t have a brother,” he said bluntly.

    “Oh.” Now she looked even more confused. “Are you quite sure, dear?”

    Angelo just glared at her, and she turned and left, muttering to herself.

    “You could have a brother,” I said gently to Angelo. “Have you ever thought about looking for your family?”
    He turned away from me without a