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Goddamnit, not again.
Lips in a thin line, I set my bags onto my front porch and hurried over to my neighbor.Widowed long before I’d bought my split-level in Saugus, he’d been living alone.
While I hadn’t lost a husband, the rest of our lives aligned.He’d been a police officer prior to retirement.Had no family to speak of.His best friend had been his lover—but also his partner.
Lucky old fart.
Mr.Rogers groaned a bit as I helped him to his feet, and I grasped his elbow until he steadied himself.We’d celebrated his ninetieth birthday earlier in the spring over cold beers and a Boston cream pie I’d grabbed from the local bakery.
“I think you need to hire a lawn service that does more than just cut your grass,” I told him, my tone firm.
“Bah,” he grumbled, pulling from my hold, stubborn as always.“I’m fine.”
I grinned and bent over to pick up his foam pad before he attempted to.“Where’s your cell phone?”
“On the kitchen table,” he muttered as I handed him the pad.
“I thought we agreed you would keep it on you in case something like this happened again.”
It hadn’t been the first time I’d come home to find Mr.Rogers unable to get up from wherever he’d settled on the ground for one reason or another.He loved his flowers and the spiral herb garden I’d built for him a couple of years earlier, but perhaps I needed to set aside a few hours every week to do more for him.
Mr.Rogers brushed soil from his pants.“I forgot the damn thing, but I knew you’d be back from the store soon.”
Nosey and observant, same as me, he’d learned the few parts of my schedule that didn’t change week to week.He’d also grilled me about my buddy he’d seen hanging out at my house late into the night at least once every weekend.
“How about we take an hour together tomorrow afternoon to tackle the weeding together?”I suggested.
“If it’s not too much trouble…”
“You know it’s not,” I assured him.“Now come on, let’s get you out of this heat.”
“That boyfriend of yours coming over tonight?”
Chuckling, I turned him toward the ramp leading to his house.Mr.Rogers couldn’t handle stairs very well, so I’d helped him put in an easier way of getting onto the front porch.“Not tonight,” I answered.
“I don’t understand why you don’t dump his ass and find the man who will love you as you deserve.”
My smile faded.Perhaps I’d shared a bit too much with my elderly neighbor, but loneliness and too many beers loosened my tongue once or twice when hanging out on his back patio.“Alex is my everything.”
“Bah,” he repeated, sounding like Scrooge.“That boy already has a spouse of his own.His heart isn’t available, so why waste your time?Life is too short, son.I speak from experience.”
Mr.Roger’s words rang in my ears long after I deposited him in his favorite recliner with a glass of ice water and went on to the task of putting my groceries away.Alex had cancelled for the night earlier that morning via text without an excuse.
But I rarely asked him to explain himself.The man was married.Had the two cutest little boys ever.His family came first, something I had to remind myself of on a daily basis.
I got the refrigerated items put away, and my cell rang.
Seeing Alex’s wife’s name on the screen, I frowned.
“Hey, Teresa.”
“Sorry to bug you, JJ, but have you heard from Alex?”Her voice shook slightly, halting my steps toward my pantry.
“He texted me this morning that he had to work today,” I said, “but that was around eight.Everything okay?”
“No.”Teresa choked on a sob, and I set the jar of peanut butter down on the counter and grabbed my keys from the table.
“What’s wrong?”
