Page 55 of Alonzo

He looks over his shoulder at me, sad. And he’s just about to say something when the screen door bangs open and… yup.

There he is.

And his eyes are locked right on mine.

Lonnie Derringer. AKA Alonzo Dumas.

Finally, we meet.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - ALONZO

Jesse isn’t such a bad dude, I guess.

I spent all day yesterday wondering about the sausage-making he showed Emma when they first reconnected. It took my mind off the fact that Tara never returned my call. For a few hours, anyway. But then I couldn’t think of anything but Tara.

Jesse explained the girl game to me. Rule number one: “Do not, under any circumstances,” he said yesterday afternoon, “call her back again until she calls you first.”

“So… when Emma gets mad at you, you don’t call her back and play nice?”

“That’s different.”

“Different how?”

“She’s the boss.”

I laughed. “OK. But in my case, I’m the boss?”

“Sure. You can be the boss.”

“I know I can be the boss. I’m asking you if I am the boss. Because typically the boss doesn’t stare at his phone for three days straight willing it to ring.”

“You’re the boss. Until you two get serious. Then she’s the boss.”

“I never understood that. Why bother being the boss in the beginning if you’re only going to surrender your power later?”

“Because women who date guys like you and me like us to be the boss. And we are always the boss, we just boss them in different ways after we get serious. Haven’t you ever had a real relationship?”

“Define real.”

“Did you ever date a girl for longer than six months?”

“Yeah. Tara.”

“She doesn’t count.”

“She does so count. She’s the only one who counts.”

“Besides her?”

I pretended to think about this for a moment. Like there was maybe, possibly, some off-chance that I did have a long-term relationship, and it just slipped my mind.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“I dated Kraken Karen in high school for a little while.”

“OK. So who wore the pants in that relationship?” I opened my mouth to speak, but he pointed to me. “Don’t lie to me, Alonzo. We all know Kraken Karen cracks a whip.”

“Fine. Then no. I’ve never had a long-term relationship in real life and I’m not sure where you’re even going with this, other than I think your advice is stupid. She’s not calling me back. I should call her. What if she’s in trouble? What is she’s been kidnapped?”