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The guys nodded, most of them headed for their trucks. Jeff stuck around for a minute.
“I knew something was eating you. Wanna tell me about it?” he asked.
“Nah,” I told him, “you go see Remi. I’ll catch you tomorrow.”
There. I’d taken the first step to making things better again. No more distractions. No more hook ups with Nicole. No more acting like a grouchy bastard at work and being a shitty boss. I had responsibilities and it was time I acted like a grown man about them. I had a business to run, and I was going to keep my eye on the ball here. My original goal was the same. I’d make sure this community center was as sturdy, well-constructed, and wonderful as I could make it. All my skills and energy needed to go into this project. It meant a lot to me and to this town. Anything that took away from that goal was nothing more than an obstacle, a weakness. I was made of sterner stuff than this. I’d be damned if I’d let my baser impulses screw up something this important.
It was going to be the kind of facility I wished I’d had when I was growing up. A place where kids could go and get homework help and learn all kinds of skills and hobbies from how to make piecrust or play the guitar to how to do yoga or CPR. A lot of kids would have good role models and a ton of interesting things to do that kept them out of trouble. Not that a childhood of being yelled at while I helped out my dad at his work and spending weekends hooking up with random girls while I courted alcohol poisoning wasn’t magical in its own way, of course. This would be a place where it was safe, and there were caring and qualified adults to provide everything from help with pre-algebra homework or job applications to some counselors and social workers volunteering their time. Parenting classes, AA meetings, art therapy—all kinds of things that every community needed, and little old Rockford Falls was finally getting a chance to have those resources as well as a nice place to house them.
I’d even heard Nicole mention at the city council meeting that she’d gotten a PA from the Overton hospital to do school physicals and some nurses who’d do vaccine clinics, too. I had meant to ask about getting some dental hygienist to do cleanings because dental care was a big deficit for a lot of kids around here. I had been lucky as an adult that I could get the work done I needed, or I would’ve ended up with dentures like several guys my age already had from just not having adequate checkups on their teeth as kids. I was self-conscious about that growing up, that my mom cut my hair and I didn’t see a dentist till I was nineteen years old. Truth was, my dad’s business hadn’t been the greatest, partly because of his drinking.
That was another reason AA and Al-Anon meetings at the community center would be a boon for the town. The only ones running when I was a teenager were at a church, and that was thing for my mom. She knew he had a problem, but it would’ve embarrassed her for the well-dressed, prim and proper ladies at the Baptist church to know she was going to a meeting because her husband was a drunk and wouldn’t go himself. She couldn’t bring herself to go accept coffee and butter cookies and pity and gossip from those women in their church hall. Maybe I could get her to go now, even though he was gone. It might help her out. It sure as hell would’ve given me a place to go instead of running my dad’s errands while he hung out at the liquor store.
It was better value for your money than a bar, he said. Just get the whole bottle, it’s cheaper. That was what passed for fatherly wisdom when I was growing up.
I had turned his business into something to be proud of since I took it over. Even more so once he was gone. My mom was out of debt. I was making a good enough profit to take a hit on this passion project, the community center. Max was probably the only one who knew how much it meant to me to be able to help bring this kind of place to this town. Lots of people around town grew up a lot rougher than I did. And all of us would’ve benefited from having a safe place to go on weekends and after school, maybe learn archery or baking or something useful. It could help people of any age find new hobbies and learn what they were good at or guide a few kids toward their calling maybe. Fill up their time with something constructive and good.
