Chapter Text
Patrick sighed as he walked down the empty road from the place he was staying into town. He could have driven, but Ray said the walk wasn’t too long, and Patrick honestly just needed some time to think.
The last few weeks played over on a loop in his mind.
Breaking up with Rachel one final time. Moving back in with his mom and dad while he figured out what to do next. The sad way both of them looked at him every time he emerged from his room. Running into Rachel almost immediately when he finally did leave the house, making him realize that he really did need more distance from everything. Finding a job in a small town, hours away, that he’d never heard of. Meeting the friendly, if not too-friendly, entrepreneur he was working for and renting a room in his house.
Patrick had told his parents where he was going, and then he’d left without another word. He needed to figure things out. And he needed somewhere new to do that.
Which left him here, walking through what must be the center of Schitt’s Creek. He passed Town Hall, then further on, a typical small-town garage and a storefront, some kind of boutique that seemed much nicer than the aesthetic of the town, “Rose Apothecary” emblazoned across the façade, a large sign artistically lettered “COMING SOON” in the window, before he finally arrived at the town’s only restaurant, according to Ray, Café Tropical.
Ray had wanted to get dinner with him, but had been unexpectedly held up with clients, so Patrick had been sent off by himself with a very lengthy apology. Patrick had discovered very quickly that Ray really likes to chat.
Patrick slipped into the Café and found it pleasantly crowded, a few empty tables and open seats at the counter, but a steady hum of voices filing the air. It reminded Patrick of his favorite diner back home where he used to go with his parents after baseball games. He felt an immediate pang of homesickness.
“Hi there! You can take a seat wherever you’d like, and I’ll be right with you,” a friendly voice greeted him, a brown-haired woman with a wide smile, “Twyla” according to her name tag.
Patrick offered a nod in thanks and took a seat at the far end of the counter, grabbing an oversize menu and scanning through the large pages quickly.
“So what can I get you to drink?”
Twyla was back behind the counter, the same wide smile still on her face as if permanently etched there.
“Just water for now, and a burger and fries too,” Patrick ordered quickly, closing up his menu.
“Sure thing.” Twyla took his menu from him and disappeared for a minute, reappearing with a glass of water.
“Thanks.”
“You’re new here, right?” Twyla asked conversationally. “Are you just passing through or is this more permanent?”
Patrick shrugged. “I just got a job working for Ray Butani,” he said, assuming that the town was small enough that Twyla would know Ray.
The look of realization in Twyla’s eyes confirmed it for him. “Oh, right! Ray had me put up a job posting on the bulletin board the other day. Town business manager or something right?”
Patrick nodded. “Yeah, business manager or consultant or whatever Ray needs from me here.” He probably should have been clearer on the job title, but in his hurry to get out of town, Patrick hadn’t been too picky.
“Well, welcome to Schitt’s Creek! I’m Twyla. If you ever need anything, don’t be afraid to ask.” With another smile Twyla was gone, off to take another order or deliver some food.
With Twyla gone, Patrick allowed himself to look around the Café. Most patrons were the typical small-town folks he would have expected in a place like this. Lots of flannel, lots of jeans, lots of smiles and waves from table to table.
So the occupants of the middle booth along the opposite wall naturally caught his attention.
The family – he assumed it was a family – looked entirely out of place in a little café in a town in the middle of nowhere, though, as Patrick watched, several different townspeople came up to talk to them in a familiar sort of way that led Patrick to believe they weren’t out-of-towners like him.
The older woman was wearing some kind of gown, her hair half black and half white as she peered out thin glasses at the man next to her, her husband certainly. He was wearing a full suit that would have been much more at home in the business district of a big city rather than this small-town café at 7PM on a Thursday.
The pair across from them, Patrick would have bet siblings by how they kept jostling each other for space in the booth, were also impeccably dressed, the younger woman’s blonde hair hanging in perfectly styled waves with gold bracelets dangling against her arms.
But it was the man beside her who most caught Patrick’s attention. His black and white sweater stood out sharply even against his family, though Patrick could see some style resemblance between him and the woman who must have been his mother. But it was something about his face that struck Patrick.
He was beautiful. That was the only word for it. Those dark eyes and his mouth raised slightly to the side, smirking at something the older woman was saying to his sister.
It was an odd thing for Patrick to notice, but he wrote it off as regular curiosity about the most interesting person he’d seen since arriving in town. And if he watched the man in the black and white sweater for longer than was socially appropriate, who was going to say anything?
“Those are the Roses,” Twyla startled him, setting down his burger on the counter. “They’ve been living in town for a year or two.”
The name Rose stirred up a memory. “Wait, like the Rose Video Roses?”
Twyla nodded immediately. “Yep. Mr. Rose ran Rose Video, and Mrs. Rose used to be on Sunrise Bay, the old soap opera.”
Patrick nodded. He remembered Johnny Rose from old Rose Video paraphernalia from his teens, and he’d definitely seen some kind of tabloid article about the Rose family in the last year or two, maybe on the cover of some trashy gossip magazine at the dentist or the grocery store. Something about them losing their money.
Apparently they’d wound up here.
Patrick opened his mouth to ask Twyla about the younger Roses, but she was gone.
Patrick spared one last glance back at the dark-haired Rose man who was now eating a sandwich and ignoring the rest of his family. Maybe Patrick would meet him sometime.
He returned to his own burger (not the best, but not bad, about what he expected from small-town café food) and ate quickly. As he went to pay at the register, the Roses passed by him.
“If we get another last-minute booking, we’ll be full tomorrow for the first time!” Mr. Rose was saying.
“All thanks to you, no doubt,” Mrs. Rose replied supportively.
“Dad almost selling out the motel is not the most important thing happening tomorrow, I hope you all know that.” The man in the sweater was speaking now. His voice had an edge to it. He was annoyed about something. Or nervous. Maybe both.
The family left before Patrick could hear anything else, so he paid his bill and thanked Twyla who replied with another bright smile.
Patrick started to open the door but found himself suddenly face to face with the dark-haired man.
“Oh!” Startled by the other man’s presence, Patrick was unable to say anything more than that, let alone move out of the doorway.
“Hi,” the other man replied, seeming just as confused to see Patrick as Patrick had been to see him.
“Right, um, sorry,” Patrick apologized, finally shaking himself out of whatever trance he was in and moving out of the way.
“It’s fine.” The other man passed him, but then stopped. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”
Patrick nodded quickly. “Just moved here this morning.”
The other man’s eyes went wide. “Wow. I would like to say that it gets better than the Café, but honestly this might be the high point of the town.”
Patrick laughed. “I haven’t found anything too bad, so far.”
The other man grimaced. “Just give it time.”
Patrick grinned. “Maybe I’ll see you around, and you can show me just how bad it is. I’m Patrick, by the way.”
He extended his hand, but before the other man could take it, the blonde woman who had been sitting with the other man opened the Café door.
“Ugh David, grab your wallet and come on! Mom and Dad are being gross, and I don’t want to walk the whole way back with that.”
“Ugh, Alexis!”
David, Patrick now knew, flashed Patrick an eyeroll before heading back across the Café to the booth where he had apparently dropped his wallet.
Patrick stared after him with an amused grin on his face.
“I’m David, as you might have surmised,” David said as he returned. His voice was soft now, any annoyance gone. “It was nice to meet you, Patrick.”
He slipped through the door and was gone.
Patrick smiled to himself and then followed him, witnessing David groan as he tried to catch up with the rest of his family, walking in the opposite direction of Ray’s.
Patrick kept smiling for his entire walk back.
He’d made a friend. Or, more accurately, he’d met someone who he could see becoming his friend. Patrick didn’t think he would mind spending more time with David Rose. And Twyla had been nice too.
It certainly could have been a worse first evening in a new town.
He was feeling a little less charitable two hours later when he’d finally been released from conversation with Ray and half of a movie on TV that Patrick had no interest in actually watching. Ray was nice, but Patrick could tell he was going to have to get used to him.
He settled back in bed, his thoughts turning back home. His parents were almost certainly worried about him. And Rachel was probably still upset from their very awkward grocery store encounter the previous week. He missed them. Even Rachel. Things were familiar here in a small-town sort of way, but it wasn’t the same.
He knew it was for the best that he’d left, but it was going to be a while before he felt okay here. Not that he’d really felt all that okay back home either.
But still.
He would just have to work with whatever this new town was going to throw at him.
Patrick woke up the next morning to the approaching sound of singing.
“Then put your little hand in mine. There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb.”
Patrick furrowed his brow as he rubbed at his eyes. Was that Ray singing Sonny & Cher at – Patrick checked his phone – 7 in the morning?
“I got you babe! I got you babe!”
Patrick’s door opened at that, revealing a wide-awake and smiling Ray.
“Rise and shine, Patrick! First day on the job!” Ray announced brightly as though he hadn’t just barged into Patrick’s room. “I’m making you a nice breakfast. What would you like?”
“Oh, you don’t need to go to any trouble, Ray,” Patrick replied immediately, feeling a little self-conscious about Ray being in his room like this.
“Of course I do!” Ray replied with a laugh. “You’re my guest! Though for our agreed upon rent of course. The breakfast I do throw in for free.”
“Really it’s fine, Ray.”
“Pancakes? Eggs? Bacon?” Ray continued as though Patrick hadn’t spoken.
“Whatever’s fine, really,” Patrick acquiesced finally.
Ray beamed at him. “I’ll just make a little of everything then.”
And before Patrick could argue, Ray was gone.
Patrick lay back in his bed hard as his alarm started going off beside him. He’d been setting it later than usual lately because he’d been having trouble sleeping, but he’d have to go back to his usual time to avoid waking up to Ray again. He shut the alarm off quickly, catching sight of the date as he unlocked his phone.
7:15AM, Friday June 19th. The first day of his new life in Schitt’s Creek.
Patrick got up, showered, and got ready with only two more interruption from Ray – one to ask if he preferred blueberry or chocolate chip pancakes and another to ask how he liked his eggs.
Fortunately, breakfast was good. Ray’s blueberry pancakes were almost as good as his dad’s. And they only made Patrick miss home a little bit.
By 8:30 Ray had started unceremoniously bringing boxes over to the desk that was now Patrick’s, explaining that the town’s business affairs had been piling up a bit since he was only partially responsible for them and really it was the town council’s fault. Patrick wasn’t exactly following the chain of command here, but he knew he could handle the work. Getting business licenses, filling out forms, filing paperwork, figuring out whatever organizational system Ray had been using – Patrick could handle all of that just fine.
“Oh but the first thing that you need to do today is this.” Ray rummaged through a stack of more recent-looking papers that were already sitting out. “Aha!” Ray pulled out a paperclipped pile of forms and handed them to Patrick.
Clear across the top was a name that Patrick already knew.
“David Rose has to sign these today and have them submitted before his store opens tonight,” Ray explained pointing to the line below David’s name where “Rose Apothecary” was written in neat script.
“Oh that’s David’s store?”
“Yes, and tonight’s the opening. He’s doing a friends and family discount, but I unfortunately will be unable to attend. It’s bingo night in Elmdale.”
Patrick frowned slightly, numerous questions floating through his mind about David’s store, the opening, whether Ray technically qualified as a friend or family member of David Rose (and if he was a friend why bingo would trump such an important day), and, most importantly, why this paperwork had been left until this very last minute (that one Patrick already thought he knew the answer to, based on the stacks of paperwork Ray had for him and Ray’s clear preoccupation with his many businesses), but Patrick just nodded.
“David lives at the motel, but he could be at his store already, so maybe check there first,” Ray suggested. “That paperwork really should have already been filed.”
The reproachful glance that Ray gave him as he walked back to his own desk left Patrick blinking behind him.
Okay maybe Ray would take a lot of getting used to.
Patrick checked his watch. It was almost nine. As good a time as any to try to track down David Rose.
Patrick nodded a goodbye to Ray, who was already on the phone about something, before heading into town retracing his steps from the night before, reading through David’s business documents curiously as he went.
This time he stopped for a moment in front of Rose Apothecary to peer in through the storefront.
The lights were off, but he could see products stacked on shelves, all labeled identically “Rose Apothecary” with a stylized rose. Flipping through David’s forms had told Patrick a lot about David’s business. He was impressed honestly. It was a really good idea, and if the market he was proposing panned out, it would be a really nice addition to the town.
But darkness in the store meant no David, so Patrick decided to pop into the Café before trying the motel. He only had a general idea of where it was, but the town was so small he was sure he could manage it if he needed to.
But luckily it wasn’t necessary, because the very first thing he saw upon entering the Café was David Rose seated at the same booth he’d sat at with his family the day before, wearing a different black and white sweater and staring intently at into a notebook, a cup of some kind of fancy coffee in front of him.
“Hi Patrick!” Twyla greeted him brightly. “Good to see you again!”
“Hi Twyla, thanks. Can I just get a tea? I have some papers to drop off with David.”
Twyla nodded at him, still smiling and turned away.
David didn’t look up at Patrick approached him, entirely absorbed in his notebook, probably something about the store.
“Hey David, you have a minute?” Patrick asked.
David looked up, startled, but then relaxed when he recognized him.
“Um, just a minute. Patrick, right?”
Patrick nodded and sat across from David. “I work at Ray’s. He sent me with some paperwork for you to sign before tonight. Congratulations by the way.”
The corner of David’s mouth turned up in an almost smile, but his face grew serious as he took the papers from Patrick and flicked through them.
“I feel like I should have signed this stuff weeks ago,” David commented distractedly.
Patrick nodded. “Yeah. Ray’s gotten a bit behind. That’s why I’m here. I’ll take care of everything.”
David offered him that same distracted half smile momentarily, before turning back to the forms.
“It’s a really good idea,” Patrick said after a moment.
David looked up at him, confused.
“The store,” Patrick clarified. “Your business model’s really inventive. I don’t know much about this town, but I could see a store like yours doing well almost anywhere.”
David smiled a little wider at the compliment. “Thanks. It’s been in my head for a long time.”
Before Patrick could reply, Twyla arrived with Patrick’s tea.
“Here you go!” she said with a smile, setting down the mug in front of him, before turning to David. “So are you ready for the big day, Mr. Business Owner?”
David gave Twyla a smile that was more of a grimace. “Yep,” he said, his words clearly forced. “So ready.”
Twyla grinned at him. “We’re all so excited to come tonight!”
David stared at her. “We?”
Twyla nodded, completely obvious to David’s concern.
“Yeah! My mom and her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s stepsons. And the cousins are all coming down, obviously.”
“Obviously,” David repeated, clear panic flashing behind his eyes, though Twyla seemed not to notice it.
“Well, I’ll see you tonight!” Twyla practically bounced away leaving an even more worried looking David across from Patrick.
“It’s a friends and family opening tonight, right? This must be a really close-knit community if you’re friends with all of Twyla’s cousins.” Patrick couldn’t help teasing a bit. David seemed stressed, and something about that just made Patrick want to wind him up a little bit more.
David glared at him. “I had a guest list. It was exclusive.”
“Well, whenever you make something exclusive, everyone just wants in,” Patrick replied with a shrug, the teasing glint still in his eyes. “I’m sure you’ll have a great time with Twyla’s mom’s boyfriend’s stepchildren.”
David groaned and threw his head in his arms as Patrick fought back a laugh.
“It’s good that everyone wants to come,” Patrick eased up finally. “It’ll be great publicity and increase brand recognition.”
David peeked out at him at that.
“No one would want to go to an opening for a store they weren’t interested in. Regardless of whether or not it was exclusive.” Patrick’s lips curled up into a smirk, but he hoped David understood that he was mostly serious.
David fully sat up again, an actual smile appearing on his face finally. “I guess you’re right. It’s just… it’s a lot.”
Patrick nodded, his sympathy genuine. “I bet.”
“I just need tonight to go well,” David continued, clearly needing to talk to someone, and Patrick just happened to be there. “I’ve put so much into this store, and if this opening isn’t perfect it’s all going to fall apart. My parents…” David trailed off, suddenly seeming to remember that he was talking to Patrick. He shook his head. “It’s just hard to be doing it all myself.”
“Tonight’s going to go great, David, I’m sure it will,” Patrick placated him. “And even if it isn’t perfect, it’ll be okay. I can’t imagine Twyla’s cousins are all that picky.”
“Oh you’d be surprised,” David replied seriously, but his face broke into an amused smile as he let out a breath that seemed somewhere close to laughter.
Patrick grinned himself, pleased to have somehow elicited a smile from David Rose when he’d been about to spiral into some kind of meltdown just a few minutes before.
David offered him a more sincere smile as he finally turned back to the forms Patrick had brought him. “You just need my signatures, right?”
Patrick nodded quickly. “That’s it. And I’ll submit them for you. Since it’s not your fault they’re so last minute.”
David frowned slightly looking up at him between scribbled signatures. “It’s not your fault either.”
Patrick shrugged. “I think you have more on your plate today than I have on mine.”
David let out a sigh and glanced down at the notebook in front of him. “You’re not wrong.”
“I should let you get back to it then,” Patrick said, taking the papers and standing up, but David stood too.
“I need to get going anyway. Lots to do.”
Patrick nodded and followed David out of the Café.
He was about to say goodbye to David again out on the street, when David called out to a dark-haired woman getting out of a car across the road.
“Stevie!”
The woman came over, her eyes flicking to Patrick momentarily.
“Sorry I’m late, things at the motel are crazy. Your dad-”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” David cut her off. “You’re still gonna help me, right?”
“The rest of the morning, yes, and I’ll be back before the opening tonight.” Stevie seemed apologetic.
David sighed. “I guess that’s all we can do.”
“So who are you?” Stevie was addressing Patrick now.
Patrick introduced himself quickly, while David quickly filled in that Stevie owned the motel.
“Okay, well, I need to get back to Ray’s,” Patrick said after a moment, already feeling some of David’s nervousness returning as he and Stevie prepared to go get the store ready. “Good luck with everything, David,” he said as reassuringly as possible. “Don’t let Twyla or anyone get in your head. It’s gonna be great.”
“Thanks Patrick,” David replied softly with a small smile that made Patrick smile himself automatically.
Patrick turned away, but David’s voice stopped him.
“Oh, um, Patrick?”
He turned back around curiously.
David wasn’t quite meeting his eyes. “If you wanted to come to the opening tonight, that would be okay. It’s at seven.”
A smile spread across Patrick’s face quickly. “Does that make us friends or is this a more meaningful relationship, like Twyla’s-cousins level?” he asked, grinning unashamedly.
A delighted smile appeared on Stevie’s face, but David just shook his head. “We’ll see, Patrick.”
Patrick flashed one more smile at David and Stevie. “Looking forward to it. See you tonight, David. And nice to meet you, Stevie.”
Stevie was still grinning. “Nice to meet you.”
Patrick kept smiling the entire walk back to Ray’s.
The rest of the day Patrick spent unpacking boxes and organizing Ray’s files as best he could, only slipping out for an hour at lunch to buy groceries and grab food in Elmdale, the next town over.
True to his word, Patrick had submitted David’s forms as soon as he returned, but that was the easiest thing he did all day. Ray had very clearly just let things pile up, and Patrick knew it was going to take him a while to get things together properly.
The work was distracting half the time, but a lot of it was mindless filing that allowed his mind to wander, always back home to his parents, to Rachel. What was she doing right now, was she okay, when would she start texting him again – that was her move. Usually she held out for at least month, but with Patrick out of town it could be sooner. What would he do when he finally heard from her again?
And always there was the refrain in the back of his mind. Why am I here? What am I doing? Was this all some huge mistake?
At least the next day was Saturday. Maybe Ray knew some good hiking trails. That would make him feel like normal again. Or something.
Ray said goodbye to Patrick as he made a quick dinner in the kitchen around six, and Patrick headed back into town right around seven, not wanting to be late, but not wanting to be too early, since he and David really barely knew each other.
He made it to Rose Apothecary fifteen minutes after the store had opened, and there were already people milling around outside, the store clearly packed with people.
Patrick’s eyes went wide as he stepped inside. David really shouldn’t have been worried. Patrick had been impressed when he peeked in the window earlier, but standing inside the store was something different. It was beautiful from top to bottom. Patrick didn’t know anything about interior design, but he could tell when something was done well, and this certainly was.
But the best part wasn't the colors or the shelving or any of the displays. What Patrick liked most was how much of David he could feel throughout the entire place. He’d only had two conversations with David Rose, but Patrick could already tell that this was his. It made Patrick happy to see it, especially after their conversation at the Café that morning.
Patrick quickly found his gaze drawn to the man of the hour at the back of the store speaking to customers, gesticulating wildly as he made a point, his eyes darting around the store. Patrick could practically feel David’s mind whirring away, trying to think of a hundred different things at once.
Stevie was manning the register in a dark corner of the store, though she didn’t seem quite comfortable there and a line was already growing behind her.
Patrick spotted Twyla amidst a knot of people who looked a bit like her, the cousins no doubt, and she managed a wave and a bright smile at him before returning to group.
“No Alexis, I really can’t talk right now,” David’s voice carried over the crowd as Patrick moved more into the store. David was talking to the woman he’d been at dinner with the night before, his sister, who seemed upset about something.
“Ugh, David!” Alexis sighed and retreated to sulk in a corner.
David shook his head, clearly trying to center himself, but he was immediately interrupted by a couple of older women and a white-haired man.
Distracted watching David, Patrick found himself jostling a woman on the phone, older than him but younger than his parents. She shot him a glare even as he stumbled through an apology, returning to her phone call without a word.
“Yes, I’ll tell Moira and Bob what happened.” A pause. “No, I don’t think David will mind that you aren’t here.” Another pause. “Jocelyn, please don’t put Roland on the phone. I don’t- Roland, hi! Yes, we missed you today.”
The woman was swallowed up into the crowd, and Patrick didn’t hear any more.
He milled around a bit more, examining the products, feeling even more impressed with David than he had been before.
“Hey, you came!”
David’s voice jerked Patrick away from a display of something called “body milk,” which he was trying and failing to understand.
David was finally no longer surrounded by townspeople clambering for his advice, and the smile on his face was more natural than Patrick had seen the entire night.
Patrick grinned back. “Yeah. It felt pretty special to be invited to a ‘Friends and Family’ opening so I wouldn’t have missed it.”
David shook his head exasperatedly, but he didn’t lose his smile.
“This all looks really great, David. You should be proud.”
David glanced around for a moment, allowing himself to really take it all in. “Thanks, Patrick.”
Patrick started to say more, but David’s eye was caught by a frantic looking Stevie gesturing him over to the counter, so he flashed Patrick an apologetic smile before hurrying over to his friend.
The easy smile was gone from David’s face in a moment as he and Stevie had a rushed discussion behind the counter with lots of hand gestures from David and an increasingly impatient line waiting for pay for their products.
Patrick knew immediately that he wasn’t going to get to speak to David again for the rest of the night.
With a sigh, Patrick slowly moved back out through the store, a few different products catching his eye that he thought his mom would like. Maybe he would come back when David wasn’t so overwhelmed and shop then. He’d lose the discount that had prompted this frenzy, but Patrick didn’t mind supporting a local business.
He glanced back as he walked out the door. David had taken over the register, and it looked like Stevie was leaving.
Patrick hoped David would be okay with everything. David’s sister was probably still somewhere too if he needed help.
Patrick sighed as he left the store and started the walk back to Ray’s.
Maybe he could have a life here. Maybe he could make friends with David and Stevie or any of the other townspeople that had filled the store. But would it even be worth it? That was the real question. He’d hoped that leaving would help make him feel like he had control of his life again, like he wasn’t being put into boxes by Rachel or by his parents or by his hometown. This was supposed to be the start of the rest of his life or something cliché like that.
But few things were more isolating than being in a crowded room where everyone knew each other except for him. Patrick made friends easily, but he wasn’t sure he was cut out for creating an entire new life for himself.
He missed home.
He went to bed early that night, before Ray got back from Elmdale, making sure to set his alarm for 6:30AM, just in case Ray decided to barge in at 7 the next morning, even thought it was a Saturday.
Maybe tomorrow would help him figure out where he was supposed to be.
Patrick woke up the next morning to the approaching sound of singing once again.
“Then put your little hand in mine. There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb.”
Patrick groaned, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. Ray hadn’t even had the decency to pick a different song today. He glanced at his phone. 7AM. He must have slept through his alarm.
“I got you babe! I got you babe!”
Patrick’s door opened suddenly, Ray looking just as chipper as he had the day before.
“Rise and shine, Patrick! First day on the job!” Ray said cheerfully. “I’ll make you a nice breakfast. What would you like?”
Patrick furrowed his brow, confused. “You know I started yesterday, right Ray? And I thought I had weekends off…”
Ray looked at him strangely. “How could you have started yesterday when I haven’t even given you any of the paperwork yet? And of course you have weekends off, but it’s still Friday. The move must have thrown you off a bit, huh?”
Patrick stared at him. Yesterday was Friday. He’d moved on Thursday and yesterday was Friday. He glanced down at his phone to pull up the date for Ray, but he stopped short.
Friday June 19th. Clear as day on the lock screen. 7:05AM. Friday June 19th.
Again.