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Nic: Mina can have my house. Can I move back in with you?
Nic: You can’t ignore me forever. When you’re ready to talk, to me or Mina, let me know.
Nic: She broke my gym. Timothy, she’s SCARY.
I toss both Jessie and Nic into a group chat with me titled TIMOTHY FOLEY FAN CLUB. Jessie immediately leaves the chat. Nic doesn’t see it. Or is too scared to look.
One day, when I can figure out how to get back on my feet, I’m going to get those two together.
Who am I kidding? Mina’s hit me with a knockout and I am not getting back up. Nic and Jessie are on their own.
“Daddy says you’re dumber than a brick wall,” Freya says after bouncing a beachball off my head. We’re in the pool, with this little piranha-child standing in the shallows and me out deeper. It’s been a week since Mina left. I think. Time doesn’t matter right now, but a million years feels about right.
“Does he?” I ask, pulling myself out of the pool to get the ball. “Did your daddy ever tell you about the time he ran headfirst into an actual brick wall instead of the fake one he was supposed to?”
Freya giggles. When I jump back in the pool and toss the ball to her, she hits it clear out of the pool. Again.
“That was on purpose,” I grumble, getting back out. “I need a bigger pool, so you can’t do that.”
Pretty sure Danny told her to wear me out and trample my already destroyed soul. I love Freya, she’s great, but children are vicious little shits.
“He also said you’re a chicken.”
Vicious.
“Yeah, well, he’s a rooster.” Closest I can get to calling him a dick and not getting yelled at for language by a five-year-old.
She laughs and I know she’ll be calling him a rooster for a while, which makes me smile. Honestly, this smells like a setup. Danny and Freya were whispering over breakfast when I came downstairs this morning. I can hear them now:
Tell Timbo he’s a chicken. Tell him he’s a dumbass.
Language, Daddy!
Okay, tell him he’s dumber than a brick wall. If we annoy him enough, he’ll sort his shi—stuff out.
“He says you’re scared,” Freya continues. “He says you’re stuck.”
Yup. A setup. Danny is using his daughter to get me to think about what he said on the first day. And every day since. Climbing and fear and getting stuck.
I’m not scared. I’m not stuck.
I can crawl out of this wallow anytime I want.
Liar.
“Your daddy is full of it.” I cannonball into the pool close enough to splash her.
“Full of what?” she asks, splashing me when I resurface.
Bullshit. Can’t say that, though. “Silly ideas.”
Fine. I’m stuck.
I feel like a caged zoo animal. I should be free, but my world has shrunk and I’m pacing and pacing.
Maybe I am scared. What if nothing compares to what I’ve lost? Both Mina and my job.
“Tell your daddy I get what he’s saying,” I tell Freya. “Tell him Uncle Timbo is scared he’ll never be good at anything again in his life.”
