“I’m messing with you, kid. I’m notthatsocially inept.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“Addie.”
“I’m trying to help you, Dad. It’s been a while since you’ve been on a date. You need pointers. And fashion tips. You’re not planning on wearing the khakis, are you?”
I take a sip from my coffee, narrowing my eyes. “What’s wrong with them? They’re comfortable.”
“Comfortable,” she repeats with a scoff, taking her eggs to the table. I follow, sitting across from her, relaxing into the morning quiet before Ollie comes downstairs and it becomes utter chaos.
“Don’t tell Ollie,” I say when I think of my son. “I don’t want to confuse him.”
“Obviously.” She gives me the ‘you’re an idiot’ look, but I have to make sure. I can’t imagine how confusing it would be for Ollie…
“Okay.” I relax into my chair. “Good. It’s this Friday.”
She picks up her fork, grimacing before she takes a bite.
“I have plans Friday, remember? Emmett and I have been waiting to see this movie literally forever, and you said I could go.” Now that she mentions it, I do remember that.
“That’s fine. I’ll ask your grandparents to take Ollie. And you can sleep over at Emmett’s?”
She nods, satisfied, while part of me is freaking out inside. Now it’s real. A plan. I’m going on a date with someone new for the first time since high school.
Joyce answers on the fourth ring, slightly out of breath, like she might have rushed to her phone. “Nolan, honey. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine.” I lean back in my chair, my lunch growing cold in front of me. “I was wondering if there was a chance you could take Ollie Friday night?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, dear,” she says, “we’ve got the church dinner that night, and it’s adults only, I’m afraid.”
“Of course.” I rub my eyes under my reading glasses, more resentful than ever that this is what my life’s come through. If Jess were still here, I wouldn’t be having to do this. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Is everything alright? Friday is supposed to be your day off—”
“It is, everything is perfectly fine. I have an errand. It’s nothing. I’ll do it another day.”
An errand.
I can’t even tell my mother-in-law what I’m doing.
How would she respond tothatnews? It feels like telling them that is an acknowledgment of the one thing we’ve all been trying to avoid. Jess isn’t coming back, and things aren’t going back to the way they used to be. Joyce would be supportive, but I know it would hurt her.
“You sure you’re alright?” she asks, and I don’t know what to say to that, so I lie.
“I’m sure. See you at dinner this weekend. Tell Frank I said hi.”
Will strolls in the moment I hit the end call button, looking like he’s lost a fight with the can of paint he was supposed to beputting on the wall. There’s a streak of white across his forearm and another one along his cheek that I’d bet he doesn’t even know is there.
His clothes are painted too, and his sweat-covered shirt clings to him in a way that makes me avert my eyes.
I’m just lonely.
He drops into the chair across from me at the small table with a tired sound, and I can’t say I blame him. I painted one wall myself before I realized that wasn’t the job for me.
While he unpacks his sandwich, I watch the coffee maker. Anything to not look at my brother-in-law’s arms I’m suddenly findingveryinteresting.
“You’re off Friday,” he says around a bite of food. I glance his way reluctantly, and he nods at the phone in my hand. “Why do you need somebody to watch Ollie?”
