Brezyinski nodded. “Yeah, he told me about that. Said he convinced you to come along.”
Johnson laughed aloud. “That turkey! I already decided to go. Just wanted to have some downtime with him so I played him like…” He grinned. “A fish on the line.”
Breezy regarded the erstwhile Foreign Legionnaire. “I guess you guys became pretty good buds, too.”
Johnson shrugged. “Well, you know how it was. Hell, you were everywhere I was: Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Chad. Yeah, the B Man was some kind of operator.”
Breezy made his own amateurish effort at casting. Clearly his heart was not in it, even as an accuracy game when the fish weren’t biting. At length, Johnson asked, “How’d it go with Bosco’s family in Ellensburg?”
“Oh, okay I guess. His old man wasn’t around much but I talked to his sister. They wanted to know… well, you know.”
“What it was like when he checked out.”
Breezy nodded, still staring at the lake.
Jeremy Johnson was a worldly young man, not quite thirty. He allowed his fly to drift for a moment, reading Breezy’s mind. “What’d you tell them, Breeze?”
“Ah, the usual stuff.”
“Like, it was instantaneous. He never felt a thing.”
Breezy shot his colleague a sidelong glare, then relaxed. “Yeah, never felt a thing.” He bit his lip in concentration. “Maybe it’s even true. He was dead when I saw him.”
Before Johnson could respond, Breezy added, “I’m seeing a counselor.”
“No, I didn’t know. But that’s good, Breeze. It helped me, after… you know.”
Brezyinski gave a knowing nod.
Breezy felt better about sharing his thoughts. “I tried the VA but they’re always overworked. So SSI got me a private shrink. I see her twice a month. It really helps, you know?”
“Sure do.” Johnson cast again, picking a different spot. “What’ve you learned so far?”
“Well, I said that I couldn’t understand why I was so shook when Frank was killed but I hardly slowed down for… Bosco. I mean, I had a lot of respect for Frank but we weren’t close or anything. He usually rode us about our laid-back attitude, you know.”
Johnson laughed. “Tell me about it!”
“Anyway, Ms. Cottin — Michelle — says that I empathized with Frank because I was trying to save him and watched him die. I mean, I heard his last breath and I saw the light go out of his eyes. But with Bosco it was almost like, ‘Bye, guy.’ I just looked at him and then Steve Lee pulled me away. Michelle says that I had a subconscious resentment toward Bosco, because he was such a good bud and checked out without saying good- bye. How weird is that? I mean, it’s not like he had a choice!”
“What about Lee? You tried to save him, too.”
“Well, that’s different, I guess.” He paused to gather his thoughts. “Ah, hell, J. J., I dunno. I didn’t know him real well, either. I’ve talked about it with Michelle and I think there’s not so much grief there because it was his choice. At the time I thought he was just looking for an easy way out, and I couldn’t carry him or anything, so I gave him the needle. But now I know that he was really looking to give me an out — saving the radio and whatnot. So no, I don’t have as much heartburn about him.”
“This Michelle sounds like a cool lady.”
“Hoo-yeah.”
Johnson turned to regard Breezy. “What’s that mean?”
“Well, she’s almost a babe.”
“Oh, c’mon, Brezyinski! You’re not hitting on your shrink, are you?”
Breezy laughed again. “No, of course not! It’s just that…”
“Just what?”
“Well, sometimes I wonder what she looks like undressed.”
Johnson suppressed his own laugh. “Brezyinski, you are one sick puppy.”
“Well, of course I am!” He was smiling in the afternoon sun.
“Lemme guess. She’s a good ten-fifteen years older, married to a millionaire investment broker with six kids.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much in the zone. Her husband’s a surgeon. Based on her diploma I think she’s eleven or twelve years older. Three kids.”
“Pardner, I think Ms. Cottin is doing you a ton of good.”
Breezy made another cast, better than before. “So do I, J-Man. So do I.”
