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It wasn’t that big of a deal. It held a few of them. Sammie would catch one and drop it or chase it around for a few minutes. When she lost interest in that one, he’d send another flying, entertaining her again. So yeah, maybe he did get more exercise because he had to collect them to put them back in the machine.
“As long as you are both alive and eating, I guess I can’t ask for more,” she said.
“We are,” he said.
“And you’re happy with her? Not mad at me anymore for bringing her to your house?”
“I was never mad at you,” he said. “I could have told you no and you know it.”
His mother chuckled on the other end. “I know. I worry, you know that.”
“There isn’t anything to worry about.”
“Really?” she asked. “Not a few weeks ago you looked like you’d rolled down the mountainside after being held hostage by wolves and you think there was nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t look that way now,” he said.
Not only had he been trimming his beard every few days, but he was actually combing his hair.
After Vivian had finished with his cut he’d realized how truly horrendous he must have looked. Maureen would have been embarrassed and he’d never want that.
She’d kicked his butt months after her death and he could tell she was going light on him after Rob died. Seemed she was going to try another tactic and involve their mother.
Either way, it worked.
His job was still going to eat up a massive amount of time in his life. He wasn’t a social butterfly and never would be. But he could get out there with the rest of the land of the living.
He would try to take his dog for a walk when he could and maybe see if he’d run into Vivian again.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been on a date or thought of a woman that he wanted to spend time with. Nor could he remember talking to one as much as he had her last week and wondered how much of a fool he sounded like during that conversation.
She hadn’t been trying to escape from him so it couldn’t have been as bad as he thought.
Now he had her on his mind and wasn’t sure how to go about seeing her other than returning to her shop and asking for another haircut. For a guy who’d gone more than nine months without one, that would be looking slightly desperate.
So his only option was walking by her house again. He knew the hours of where she worked, so Sunday would be his best bet.
“Thank God,” his mother said. “You know, if you went into the office now and again, I’m sure you’d be more presentable.”
“I stopped going into the office years ago. That had nothing to do with it and you know it.”
He’d let himself go after Rob died because Rob was the one that got on his case as much as his mother.
Rob was the one that would drag his ass out of the house a few times a month to get a beer or pizza. Brent would be the wingman and he used to bust on Rob and say the only reason he was riding along was so that the women would see that Rob was a much better catch.
It was a joke they had that brought a grin to his face rather than sadness to his heart.
“You need a reason to leave the house other than food because I’m not naive enough to think you haven’t been getting your groceries delivered half the time.”
He smiled. “Anything you want can be shipped to your house now for the right price. Even dog food and toys.”
“Which I’m sure you’re doing. And since this is the longest conversation we’ve had on the phone that I can remember, I’ll have to assume things are changing enough in your life.”
“They are,” he said. “Don’t worry about me, Mom. Please. I don’t need that on my conscience.”
“You sound like Maureen now. She used to say the same thing to your father and me.”
He knew that. His twin was one of the least selfish people he’d ever known. She was a teenager dying of cancer and she was more worried about how her family was going to be when she was gone rather than ever feeling sorry for herself.
