"Well uh…"
"Uh what?" Wren asked.
He wasn't sure he had ever actually mentioned Harlow to them by name. Sure he'd told people he used to visit a small town as a kid but there were dozens of small towns within reach of Bostara and he'd never been specific about which one.
"How do I say this without sounding like a stalker?" She sounded nervous.
"The fact that you called my childhood friend's phone already makes you a stalker." Wren said. "Just come clean."
Leah sighed on the other end.
"Well you see… I was really really curious where you were from so I hired someone to find out since you wouldn't ever tell me." She said. "And then I found out you had some history in Harlow… you see this girl called Dani had a Pictr account where she posted photos of you all as kids so we were able to confirm you lived there sometime and since you vanished so suddenly this morning I just—"
Wren hung up.
He ran a hand down his face slowly.
"Fuck." He muttered.
The whole reason he had come to Harlow was to put the pathetic mess of his Bostara life somewhere behind him and he had been found out in less than a single day.
He looked at Dani. "Can you block that number or something?"
He handed the phone back and she took it with a thoughtful expression. Leah had started calling again immediately but Dani set it face down on the table without answering.
"Why are you ignoring her?" Dani asked with her chin in her hand. "Are you playing with her heart or something?"
"Not even close." Wren poured himself another cup of Coastline Lager. "She has a boyfriend and apparently he has a problem with me being close to her. So you can see why I left."
He drank it down. "But it's whatever. What about you guys?"
The conversation moved away from Leah naturally after that. If there was one thing Wren had always been that they all still remembered it was that he was honest… he probably wasn't lying about the boyfriend.
But if this girl had a loving boyfriend at home, why would she go out of her way to hire someone to track Wren across state lines?
Nobody said it though so it sat at the table anyway.
"Well, unlike you, I actually have someone I like." Zach rubbed the back of his neck. "We go to the same college, same class, but I just—"
"Like I said before." Toby adjusted his glasses. "There is a 0.004% chance of someone accepting a bastard of your caliber. Join me in my single endeavors… It is the only logical path forward."
"And become a Fansly Connoisseur like you?" Zach turned to Wren. "Can you imagine this guy is subscribed to some woman's Fansly account?"
Wren raised an eyebrow at Toby.
Toby did not look ashamed. He pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose and took a long drink.
"Is it wrong to appreciate beauty as a single man?" He asked. "I receive a fresh supply of quality content daily, You receive nothing. The math is not complicated."
"I genuinely don't think this is appropriate public conversation." Dani gave both of them a flat look. "I'm perverted too but I have limits."
"Oi, don't act like you're that different. You touc—"
Dani's hand clamped over Zach's mouth. Her other hand lifted the Ironside Bourbon bottle off the table with complete calm.
"Say the next word." She said. "And I'll murder you."
Nobody said the next word. A chill went around the table including Wren who had nothing to do with any of it.
"All of you… relax." Priya's voice came quiet from the end of the table and everyone turned.
She was twirling a finger slowly through her hair. "There's not nearly enough reason to be arguing, especially now that Wren's here. We should be showing him how much the town has changed since he left."
"Are you suggesting a tour?" Dani asked.
She nodded a little shyly.
"I already had one with Ryan earlier." Wren said. "I don't think I need another one. Honestly just being here with you lot is enough. I'm really enjoying this."
"Awwn~" Dani melted slightly. "Well we're glad to have you back then." She straightened up. "Okay fine, no tour. Tell us about Bostara instead… colleges there do excursions to other cities right? Tell us about all that."
Wren looked around the table. All of them were leaned in slightly, even Priya, even Derek who had no personal stake in any story about Bostara.
He sighed and then smiled.
"Sure. I'll spill. So you know–"
…
"That was an amazing time." Dani said with her eyes drooping as she hung off his back like a sack of potatoes. "Now take me to your place, Let's do the deed already Wren."
The group had split up reluctantly after Derek settled the bill without being asked twice and Wren had ended up with the job of carrying her home and Bam materialized from somewhere nearby like she'd been waiting the whole time.
She apparently wanted to help him over to Dani's house so he didn't question it and her parents agreed too.
"Brother Wren." Bam looked up with her freckled face and her slightly too-large glasses as they walked. "What is the deed that Sister Dani is talking about?"
"Oh, little Bam, it's when a man and a wom… Oomph." He shook his shoulder and she trembled, shutting up immediately. Wren wasn't about to let her poison the mind of a little girl because she was drunk.
"When a man and a woman what?" Bam raised an eyebrow, she really had the persistence of someone twice her age.
"It's when they love each other." Wren said and pressed a finger to his lips. "And get married."
Bam processed this with seriousness on her cute little face.
"So Sister Dani wants to marry Brother Wren?" She asked.
"Pretty much." Wren said. It was a cleaner answer than the alternative and he was sticking to it.
"But then why does Brother Wren not want to marry Sister Dani?" Bam tilted her head. "Do you not like her?"
Wren put a hand on his waist and looked down at Dani who had gone mostly limp against his shoulder with her eyes closed and completely unbothered.
"Sister Dani deserves someone good." He said. "I'm not a good person."
He was about to spend the foreseeable future chasing married women for a floating system's entertainment, someone like Dani had no business being anywhere near the middle of that.
[Tch. If she had a boyfriend or even a man she was seeing, she would have been the perfect mission vehicle. What a waste.]
Even Nyx had written her off, that was that then. The three of them stopped in front of a house on a quiet road and Bam knocked.
"Mama Rita! Dani's home!"
The door opened and a woman appeared… she was taller than Dani by a meaningful amount with brown hair and brown eyes as well, she wore a Sparq apron over her shirt and the cap slightly tilted on her head like she'd put it on in a hurry.
"Oh, Bam, thank you for being a dear and—" She stopped.
She looked at the tall blond who had her daughter draped over one shoulder like a sack of rice. "Who are you?"
"Mom~" Dani raised one hand limply from somewhere behind Wren's back. "It's Wrenn~"
The hand dropped and she was completely out.
Rita looked at him for a moment longer and then her expression changed as she recognized him.
"Wren." She said. "It's been a long time."
She looked him over properly.
"You've really grown, huh? I guess that's what living in the city does to someone." She stepped back. "Please come in."
He genuinely didn't know what it was that people in this town thought city life consisted of but they seemed to believe it was some kind of elite physical conditioning program but he didn't say anything.
He carried Dani inside.
"Thank you for having me, Ma'am." He said.
"No need to thank me, Wren." She waved it off and held the door for Bam. "This house is as much yours as it is mine. A lot of things have happened since you left and I'm just glad someone I know is still out there breathing."
She closed the door behind them.
He set Dani down on the couch carefully. She rolled immediately onto her side and continued drooling without interruption.
"I'm glad I saw you again too." Wren straightened up. "I haven't seen Uncle Elliot at all though… last I remember he used to help Uncle Ryan out sometimes and he always took us all for ice cream."
Rita went quiet.
She turned toward the far wall and Wren followed her eyes. There was a photo mounted there… a man with full cheeks and a wide smile on his face. Below it sat a small pedestal with a sealed container and fresh flowers were arranged around the base.
"He passed away a few years ago." Rita said. "He just left so abruptly, you know. You never really know when death is going to take the people you love so you have to live life to the fullest."
She was quiet for a moment, still looking at the photo. "After he died, I started drinking. And then I passed the habit over to Dani."
She looked at her daughter on the couch, drooling into the cushion.
"I…" She turned back. "I shouldn't bore you with my life."
Without waiting for him to respond she turned around and started buttoning her shirt properly. "It's already getting dark out and since I'm heading to the store, want me to drop you somewhere?"
He remembered suddenly.
"Uncle Ryan told me to come over for dinner tonight actually. If it wouldn't be too much of a prob—"
She grabbed his hand and pulled.
"Don't be so uptight." She said. "You sound like I'm your boss or something."
She turned to Bam who had already claimed the remote. "Do you want to stay or go home, Bam sweetie?"
Bam pointed at the screen without looking away from it. "I'll be here watching over Sister Dani until she wakes up."
"Good girl." Rita pulled Wren out the door. "Come on. Get in the car."
He felt for her… her husband was gone, she was raising Dani alone and she was also heading to work on an evening that was meant for relaxation however she didn't want to make it a thing by talking about it so he wasn't going to make it a thing.
At least Nyx had the sense to stay quiet for once but alas he spoke too soon.
[Host. She needs a real man to comfort her. Her husband would want her to move on.]
'The hell, Nyx?!' He thought, stopping mid-step. Rita had turned back because he'd stopped moving and she bit her lip.
"If you don't want to come along then I can just give you directions—"
"Let's go." He said.
She faced forward and he followed her to the car parked on the road outside.
It was small and wide… a Torino Mira, it was a compact four-door that seemed to be the default vehicle of half of Harlow.
Light blue paint slightly faded on the hood from years of use but it was clean enough inside. She unlocked it with the key and all the doors clicked open together.
"It's not the kind of car you see in the city." She said, getting in. "But it gets me from Point A to B."
Wren folded himself into the passenger seat. His knees sat higher than they were supposed to but it was comfortable enough.
She reversed out onto the quiet road and drove.
"The town really has changed, huh?" She said, cutting through to another street.
The roads were nearly empty this hour with a few people on foot.
"It was really small when we were young. Now look at it." She glanced sideways at him. "So. Wren…"
"Yes."
"Got a girlfriend?"
He looked out the window. "No."
"Ah." She thinned her lips slightly. "Someone you like then?"
"Why are you asking?" He gave her a side eye. Honestly he didn't… he was more interested in getting to Ryan's and then getting back home to talk with Diana again.
"I was going to teach you how to treat a woman properly." She said. "But you're still as haughty as ever."
The car slowed and pulled up outside a house with a low fence around a small front yard, there were warm lights inside too.
"This is Ryan's place… it in't far from ours at all." She put it in park. "Come over for dinner anytime you feel like it. You're always welcome at ours."
He got out and raised a hand as she pulled away, the little Torino Mira disappearing around the corner. He stood on the pavement for a second and looked at the house.
[Host, she was absolutely hitting on you.]
'She was being very aunt-like.' He thought.
[Host. She asked if you had a girlfriend, then asked if you had someone you like, then offered to teach you how to treat a woman. I'm a System designed around reading human behavior and I am telling you that was not aunt behavior.]
'She's Dani's mom.' He thought back.
[So? Stop being a bitch.]
He didn't have a follow up for that so he let it go and walked through the gap in the fence instead.
There was barely a gate… it was just a low fence with an opening wide enough that a person, a bicycle, or honestly a moderately sized animal could walk through without adjusting their stride.
He made a mental note about small town security in general and went up to the front door and knocked.
'I smell a bit like alcohol.' He thought. 'But it should be fine.'
The door opened.
A woman stood in the frame and Wren blinked.
She had dark blue hair that fell past her shoulders and light blue eyes that caught the porch light cleanly.
She was wearing a simple house dress and had the kind of figure that put him in mind of Diana immediately with wide hips and a full chest. She looked at him with those light blue eyes and said nothing for half a second, taking him in.
"Welcome Wren!" Ryan's voice came from somewhere inside the house. "Cara, let him come in… he's like a nephew to me."
Cara stepped back and opened the door wider.
Wren came inside and toed off his shoes in the hallway where the other pairs were lined up neatly, then followed the smell of something rich and warm through to the dining room.
Ryan was at the table with a small girl settled in the crook of his arm, looking completely relaxed. He grinned when Wren came in and tapped the chair beside him.
"Glad you could make it. Cara's almost done with the curry so sit down, it won't be long." He looked down at the girl then back up. "This is my daughter, Olivia Briggs. You should take her as your little sister especially since you'll be seeing more of her"
He held Olivia out toward Wren and Wren took her, holding her under her arms.
She looked at his face for a long moment and then she giggled.
"She's cute."