“I’ll get it,” Sean said.
Voices drifted into the kitchen. Bernard strained to hear but couldn’t make out any words.
He picked up his head to see Kelly and Sean sitting across the table.
“Sean told me what happened,” Kelly said.
“We want to help,” Sean said.
“There’s nothing you can do. I’ve destroyed my one chance at happiness.”
It was true. After the way he treated Rory and his mother, Rory would never come back.
“That’s not true,” Kelly said. “If it were, then we’d all give up.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Bernard stood. He grabbed the table to balance himself. “I called his mom a bitch. He won’t talk to me after that.”
“I don’t agree with calling her a bitch, but she pushed you. Calling someone a faggot is much worse. She sounds like a horrible, controlling person,” Kelly said.
“I apologized, but it was too late. Now I’ll probably never see him again.”
Bernard broke down in tears. Sean and Kelly got on either side of him and consoled him.
“John’s off today too,” Kelly said. “Why don’t we grab him and have a boys’ day out?”
“I don’t think I’ll be much fun,” Bernard said.
“It’ll be great. We’ll head over to Santa Cruz and hit up the boardwalk. We’ll have fun.”
Kelly picked up the phone and dialed.
“Hey John, it’s Kelly. Are you busy today?” Silence. “Perfect. Sean, a friend of Bernard’s, and I are taking him to Santa Cruz and wondered if you’d like to join us?”
Sean and Kelly helped Bernard dress after forcing him to shower, then dragged him out to Sean’s SUV. Kelly brought Ginger and Chester with him.
“We can leave Ginger and Chester with Sarah,” Kelly said.
They stopped at John and Sarah’s house, unloaded the dogs, and loaded up John.
“So, what’s the issue?” John looked at Bernard. “Man, what happened?”
Bernard had to listen to the story of how he screwed up his relationship with Rory again as Sean and Kelly retold it.
“Man, that’s harsh,” John said. “I’m sure it’ll work out. You just need to give him time.”
“What would you have done if Sarah called your mom a bitch with you standing right there?” Bernard asked.
“Well, she has,” John said. “When we were first dating. Didn’t she tell you?”
Bernard thought hard. He didn’t remember Sarah ever mentioning it. If she called John’s mom any names, he was unaware of it.
“She never told me.”
“Well,” John said. “I won’t go into details. But she called my mom a bitch once. It hurt. But we got through it.”
Bernard cocked an eyebrow.
“I got past it because I knew she didn’t mean it and it was out of anger,” John said.
