My phone buzzes.
Hazel: They picked up the letter. Fingers crossed.
I don’t reply, because we are meeting up in like twenty-minutes, and we can chat after. Has she told her family about Jake? My brothers have no idea about it, and wondering if I should wait until Damon is back before saying anything. I can hear them now, they are already think I’m immature and reckless. This is going to give them more ammo.
I grab my keys off the counter, and leave my house, heading to the diner. We will see how this goes. It’s the first time Liam has seen her, too, so who knows what kind of questions he is going to ask and what answers she will give. Is she even going to talk to me?
The diner isn’t busy yet, so I park on the street in front, and go inside, seeing them already in a booth in the corner. Just like old times.
“Hey guys.”
I haven’t eaten yet, and my stomach is growling.
“Have a seat. Hazel is telling us about Massachusetts and her fancy job as a lawyer at this law firm.”
Let's be real, here. I always knew she would reach her dream. Hazel is nothing but persistent. Her dream of helping innocent people overturn their convictions has been around since before I met her. I love her thirst to make the world a better place, and to help rid the justice system of its racial misconduct. When we were only fifteen, she made me watch a documentary about a man who spent fifteen years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit. It took him fifteen years to get a judge to overturn his conviction. The evidence was circumstantial at best, and the jury only took half an hour of deliberating before finalizing the guilty verdict. The lawyers worked together, finding jury bias and tampering evidence, and were able to finally get him out of prison. The man ended up getting a four million settlement for being wrongfully convicted.
She looks at me, and continues to talk. “I work a crazy amount of hours. Half the time I forget to eat. But I love it.”
Hazel is one of those that let passion lead them. It's a good thing. It's what is going to make her a wonderful lawyer, because she is persistent and won't give up until she gets the truth or justice that her client deserves. As much as it pains me to remember that she left me behind, it was for good reason. Look at what she has become. A lovely, confident, strong willed woman who has followed her dream and continues to do so every day.
"So, I have so many questions," Harper says.
Those two start talking about true crime cases, and Liam and I smile. As a man, we know that sometimes they consider another woman around a threat, but not Harper. Like she needs to worry anyways. Their relationship is solid. Liam would never cheat on her. He’s not that type of man. Our daddy taught us better than that.
Liam jumps in the conversation and changes the subject. “So, you seeing anyone?”
Hazel looks at me, and chuckled. “No. Just got divorced a little while ago.”
Liam’s head cocked back. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
The mood shifts and everyone is silent including Jeremy. He has been eyeing me, and that means Hazel has probably told him about Jake. Does he think I’m a piece of shit? Hopefully he knows the whole story, and that I didn’t want to give him up.
“Well, I think it’s time for me to go. We don’t like leaving dad alone too long by himself anymore,” Hazel says.
What is she talking about?“Why?”
Jeremy gestures for her to go, and then tells us about their father. Why didn’t she mention that last night? Poor thing is dealing with all these regrets and now this. It makes sense how emotional she is right now, given the situation with her father, finding out she can’t have kids, and Jake. All that together is bound to fuck up your head.
The conversation continues, but I dip out early. We used to tell each other everything, and not knowing about her dad's condition hurts. Why wouldn't she tell me? She is the only one that kept me sane when my mother passed. Without her, who knows what kind of trouble I would have gotten into. Right now, she is going to need a support system, and I need to make it clear that I'm a part of that.
Friends until the end.