....

...The day at the beach ended typically. Grant and Tod drank too much, Grant and Maria fought about nothing, and Kathleen and I sunburned our backs. We were all tired by the time the sun started making its descent, and Kathleen and I voted firmly against a bonfire. So we loaded up the truck and the Civic and headed home.

Three weeks later I was sitting in the backyard with a cup of coffee and a mystery novel when I heard yelling over the back fence.
"Brent, you can't do this. What are the rest of us supposed to do."
"You'll figure it out, dude. I've just got to get out of town, get some space....get out of here."
"Well, what about staying until we find another drummer, at the very least."
"Look, man, I wish I could help. But I've got a one way ticket out of here on a bus tomorrow morning. And I'm on it."
A string of cursing and insults, an engine starting up, a car roaring off and then silence. Just me and the birds again. The screen door slammed behind me.
"What's up?" Kathleen said around a yawn, cradling her own cup of coffee. Clearly she was just moments out of her bed, yet still her hair looked perfect. Drove me crazy.
"Brent left the band."
"Seriously?" Kathleen settled into a lawn chair next to me. "Why?"
"To find himself?"
Kathleen rolled her eyes. "What a load of crap."
I shrugged. "Well, Tod was pretty pissed."
"Still am, eavesdroppers."
I laughed and walked over to the fence and up on a stool that sits beside it for just this very reason. Peaking over the top I saw Tod laying spread-eagle in the middle of his back yard.
"Sorry, man," I said. "Tough break."
"Yeah," he said, his voice flat. "Especially considering we're more booked up for the next three weeks than we've ever been, with more prospects for after that AND a chance at South by Southwest."
"Really?" Even Kathleen sounded impressed. "Your tape got through the first round?"
"Yeah," Tod said, "Not that it matters. You can't fake your way through a set with no freaking drummer." He sighed, and seemed to sink deeper into the dirt.
"It'll work out," I said.
"Just try to sound like you believe it, Miss Optimism."