little for the remainder of the day, he forced himself to finally get dressed around 5:30. He figured the least he could do was pick up some dinner for his family. And even though the thought of eating pizza distressed him more than anything, he really wanted to see his best friend.
Robb met him at the back door just as he was raising his fist to knock. With a hurried glance over his shoulder, Robb squeezed out the door, shutting it tightly behind him. Dave took a step back and offered him a questioning stare.
“Dave, man,” he began in a low voice, “What are you doing here?”
Dave was perplexed by this question. “I wanted to talk to you—”
Robb cut across him, “Yeah, same.”
Dave arched an eyebrow as Robb took a deep breath. “Look, I heard about what happened. About...you and that woman.”
Dave felt anger once again slice through him. “You mean the woman who falsely accused me of attempted rape?” he snapped.
Robb hesitated, “Yeah, that one.”
“Well?” Dave demanded impatiently.
“A few of the waitresses are freaked out about the whole thing.”
Dave blinked. “So I’m banned from your pizza place? The one I helped you open?” he added, just to clarify.
“It’s not permanent man, relax. It’s just until things cool off, go back to normal.”
“Don’t you get it!?” Dave railed. “This is never going to go away for me. That woman has completely ruined my life.”
Dave couldn’t believe it when Robb’s face split into a sardonic smile and he shrugged. “Nothing could ruin your life. You have a beautiful wife, tons of money...so what you lost some stupid job? It’s not like you needed it.”
Dave couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing. This was the same man who’d been by his side for almost his entire life, like a brother. When Robb went down for his drug use, Dave made the choice to go down with him. He helped pull him back up afterwards, too—and now here he was, showing zero sympathy at his plight.
“Wow,” he muttered under his breath, turning away. “Okay. You too, then.”
Robb was already opening the back door once again. “It’s bad for business, Dave. If there’s anything you ever taught me, it’s not to mix the personal with the business.”
The door slammed shut before Dave could tell him to go to hell.