We Make Mayhem [boyxboy]

Epilogue

It was a bright spring morning, one of the first of the new year, and Luca Vecchio was making espresso for Mom and I.

"This is the best, so far," he said, watching as we took our first sips. "Very authentic, just like home."

This was his third short trip out to visit Mom, and each time, he had scoured markets, cafés, and grocery stores for espresso that would measure up. Just like all the other kinds he had tried, this tasted bitter and unpleasant. I couldn't tell the difference.

"Mmm!" Mom said. "Luca, it's amazing."

"Yeah, it's great," I said, setting my tiny cup down. "Just needs milk and some caramel syrup."

Luca almost wretched, but once he'd collected himself, he smiled and winked at me. "What is it you say—'agree to disagree'?"

He was a decent guy. Mom certainly could have picked a much worse Italian guy to sleep with on her school trip twenty-odd years ago.

"Well, I have to go," I said, grabbing my jacket. "Josiah's already there testing the new mics. There might be some kinks to work out."

"Good luck, sweetie!" Mom stood to kiss my cheek. "First podcast in the new studio! So exciting!"

Luca kissed my cheek, too. "In bocca al lupe, Riley!"

The Italian way to say "break a leg" literally meant "in the wolf's mouth." I said the customary response, "Crepi!" which means "may it die."

Italian was fucking weird.

I got in my car, said a prayer that it wouldn't die, and took for my brand new studio. I had accepted the money to outfit the studio, but I wouldn't yet accept a new car from Decker Lord.

"Come on, man," he had said at dinner the night before. "It's literally just giving you one of the thousands of cars Edison makes. The studio was actual money, but you won't accept a gift?"

"My car has plenty of life left," I had said, even though it wasn't true. Noah had had to pick me up from the side of the highway just the week before.

Noah rolled his eyes.

It was one of the rare points of complete agreement between Decker and Noah: that I should stop being stubborn and accept the offer of a car. Aside from that, there was a lot of friction, but anything was an improvement over the first couple days that Decker's body had its real owner back. I listened to a lot of rants, and cuddled him when he was too angry to even talk. A lot of Disney movies were watched. A lot of pyjamas were worn all day long.

As far as I could tell, Noah was Decker's one challenge. The younger kids had accepted this fun, goofy new version of their dad almost immediately. And Elise... I didn't know the details, but she seemed very happy.

His professional life seemed to be flourishing, too. He was ridiculously philanthropic, throwing money at anyone who made a good case for themselves. He was learning to manage his companies, even having fun playing the enigmatic CEO persona his former parasite had created. Really, things couldn't be better.

I pulled into the parking lot outside the new studio. It was a little old building in North Van's Deep Cove, a hipstery little community full of breweries and vegan restaurants. The studio was in what used to be a general store, with its ancient porch and Old West-style front.

Josiah's car was already there, and so was Chloe's.

I let myself in and breathed deeply: the smell of new recording equipment, plastic and foam and the leather padding on our headphones, still filled the place. We were recording our first show there today, and it was going to be huge.