Page 8 of Scoring Chance

Lulu puts a hand to my heart.

"Daddy, your heart is having palpitations," she says.

I love the way the Ps pop in her mouth. It’s a bright moment before I dive into the ugliness.

"So I got some news today. It wasn't great." I take a breath. Parents have had to tell their kids bad news forever. If I can tell them about their mother passing away and have us survive, we can get through this. "My company has decided that there are too many people in the company, and so they had to let a few of us go. And they're letting us look for new jobs."

"You got fired?" Lena asks.

"In a way, I did. But it happens. And it's just a job. I can find another job. But I just wanted to let you know. And it's gonna be okay. The important thing is, nothing in your life is changing. Everything will be fine.

"Davy, you still have your hockey practice and you're still going out for your traveling team. Dean, I still want all the jokes and magic from you. Lena, you're still in high school. You're being a great student. Everything's going great.

"And Lulu...you just keep being Lulu. You got it?"

She gives me a thumbs up. Her big eyes and cuteness melt my stress away.

"Are we gonna run out of money?" Lena asks, her forehead creased with concern.

"No, we will not. We have savings. We are fine."

The mental calculator starts going like crazy in my head. Things add up fast. How long will my savings last? That’s something to freak out about in private.

"I have a joke! I can cheer you up," says Dean. “What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta!”

It's so dumb I have to laugh.

Lena groans. Davy punches him on the shoulder.

"Davy, you're gonna hurt his cardiovascular system!" Lulu says.

She started watching some kid science show on YouTube, which is her new personality. Hopefully, this means she'll be a doctor. Should I be letting her watch YouTube? About fifty times a day, I question whether or not I’m a bad dad.

I hear a knock at the door. Des strolls in with cupcakes—gourmet cupcakes—from the fancy bakery in town, and a six-pack of beer hidden in a paper bag. His tall, broad-chested frame glides through the front door. With his fancy suits and hair neatly combed to the side, sometimes Des can feel like an anachronism, someone who stepped out of the 1950s.

"It's my favorite little humans!" Des gives them high-fives.

Dean runs up to him, about to give him a hug. Des stops him. "Dean, you gotta wipe your hands off. I see they're covered in some kind of sauce...or you just committed a murder. I'm hoping it's the first one, right?"

Dean runs back to the bathroom to wash his hands. God forbid anything happens to one of Des’s fancy outfits. I once borrowed a T-shirt from him. I looked it up online.

It was three hundred dollars. For a T-shirt!

“Are those cupcakes for us?” Lulu asks.

“Nope. This is my dinner. Sorry. None for you guys.” Des hugs the box close to him only for a second before putting it on the coffee table. The kids immediately start grabbing cupcakes. “Let’s wait until your dad and I get plates and napkins. Lots of napkins.”

Des may say that he hates kids, but he loves being Uncle Des. He can be the fun uncle and then leave when things get too loud or annoying. My soul lifts having him here.

"Hey," he says to me, his voice low. His deep chestnut eyes study mine. "Everything good?"

"Yeah. I was just telling the kids that I'm going on a new job adventure."

"Adventure!" Lulu echoes.

"Your dad is amazing.” Des peers around my cluttered living room as he sits next to me on the couch. “He's so smart. He's gonna find something new, and those…c-words are gonna get what's coming to them."

"What's a c-word?" Dean asks.