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Prosper sat on a picnic table a few hundred feet away from the tent that Maggie and Jack shared. He could see their silhouettes against the illuminated canvas. Maggie stood as still as a rock in the middle of the storm of emotion Jack seemed to be creating. Jack’s hands were wildly gesticulating—he threw them up in the air, rubbed them over his face, and stabbed the air with his fist—all evidence pointing to Jack’s surprised outrage at what Maggie was telling him.
Prosper stomped out his tenth cigarette in as many minutes and lit up another one. “Really, brother? That’s the way you gonna play this?” Prosper muttered to himself.Fucking Jack. Fucking Jack and his fly-by-night, irresponsible, Peter Pan existence.
It was about a half hour later when Jack left the tent and made his way towards Prosper. Then without a word, he plopped himself down on the hard wooden bench. Prosper reached into the icy water of the cooler and pulled out two cold beers. He twisted off the bottle caps, handed one to Jack and kept one for himself. They were on their second brew before Jack spoke.
“So … uh … Maggie’s pregnant,” Jack began hesitantly.
“Yeah?” Prosper kept his eyes on the joint he was rolling.
“Yeah.” Jack scrubbed a shaking hand through his hair. “Last fucking thing I expected, brother. I don’t know what the hell to do.
“What do you mean, you don’t know what to do?” Prosper took a hit of the weed and handed it to Jack. “Seems to me there’s one choice here, and it’s already been made.”
Jack inhaled deeply. “So, you think I should stay with her and raise the kid?”
“’Course I think that. What the fuck else would I be thinking, Jack? I sure as hell ain’t thinking that you should leave her to deal with this on her own.” Then Prosper added with meaning, “Only a real asshole would think about doing that.”
“I know. I know what you’re sayin’. Just didn’t plan on this, brother.” Jack scrubbed a shaking hand over his jaw. “I’m just not ready for this. Me with a kid? I just don’t see it. I don’t know how to do the father thing.”
“How fucking hard can it be, Jack?”
“You serious? We ain’t talking about a pet here. Shit just got real.”
“You love her?”
“Maggie? Yeah, I love her.” Jack nodded.
“Then, like I said, how fucking hard can it be? Just got to be there, man. Provide for her and the kid, lay off the booze, and you’re good to go. Maggie will do the rest. You do your part, she sure as shit will do hers. You got this, brother.” Prosper clapped Jack hard on the shoulder.
“Yeah?” Jack sat up a little straighter. “You really think so?”
“I know so.” Prosper hoped he sounded convincing because, really, Jack and fatherhood? Not so much.
“Well then, it looks like we need to start figuring out where we’re going to wait out the winter. It might be for a while this time,” Jack said with thought. “You mentioned somewhere in the Carolinas a few days ago. You still thinkin’ that way?”
“Not sure what I’m thinkin’. I need a few days to consider all the options. In the meantime, I think it’s best you go ease the mind of your woman. Let her know that you’ll be sticking around for her and the kid.”
“You down with this, brother? ’Cause I sure as hell can’t handle this without you.” Jack frowned.
Prosper hesitated. “Yeah, I’m down. But don’t expect me to change any diapers.”
Prosper watched Maggie as she hung the clothes to dry on the line. A few weeks had passed since that night the pregnancy had been revealed, and things had happened fast. Once Jack had wrapped his head around the daddy thing, he had stood up in a way that made Maggie feel proud and Prosper feel relieved. Because of Maggie’s love of the ocean, they had decided to settle in a small town on the Southeastern Seaboard. Prosper and Jack had spent time there on previous trips and had made some good connections. Prosper knew a guy who knew a guy who had an old farmhouse that needed some renovations done. He agreed to do the work in exchange for rent. Once the renovations were completed, if they still wanted to live in the house, the owner would negotiate a reasonable rental fee.
So, while Prosper got busy tearing up musty rugs and pulling down rotting cabinets, Jack and Maggie got busy preparing for the future. Jack found a landscaping job that not only paid pretty well, but also offered health insurance. A week into the job, he and Maggie went to city hall on his lunch break and got married so he could add her to the policy.
As far as things went, Prosper thought they had worked out better than expected. Both Maggie and the baby’s medical needs were secured, Jack was happy at his job, and Prosper was having a good time tearing shit apart.
Yeah, everyone was happy enough and life was good. Except for just one little thing: Prosper had fallen deeply, irrevocably, and undeniably in love with his best friend’s wife.
He blamed it on the renovation.
Day in and day out, Prosper and Maggie were caught together in a strangely intimate web of domesticity. The owner had given Prosper a healthy budget and free rein on the design. While Prosper was good to go as far as carpentry, he didn’t have a clue about putting colors or textures together. Magaskawee, on the other hand, had a natural artistic eye, and Prosper had employed her help in picking out flooring, cabinetry, paint color, and the rest. Together, while Jack was at work, they made countless trips to the lumber yards and home improvement stores. They argued, debated, and even sometimes agreed on the components for each phase of the project. It was a friendly, healthy partnership and things were still moving along nicely.
It was the outdoor lighting that did them in, or more precisely, it was when Prosper let Maggie have her way and bought that damn lantern. It was a fancy thing with all kinds of scrolling on the top and bottom. Since Prosper was not a fan of reading directions, he installed it without looking at the pamphlet. When Maggie came out to check on his progress, she looked from the lamp to Prosper then to the lamp again with incredulity.
“What?” he growled at her.
Maggie’s eyes danced while she bit her bottom lip in an obvious effort to keep a straight face.
