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Matt finished stuffing his belongings into a duffle bag and then got into his truck and drove off. Five minutes before arriving at his apartment, he realized that the girl from the bar could possibly still be there, so he made a U-turn and headed south with no particular destination.
“God,” he uttered. “If you’re really there, help me figure out my life.”
Matt shook his head. He hadn’t prayed since he was a teenager. God didn’t answer his plea back then, so Matt came to the conclusion God didn’t care. Now as an adult, Matt figured God didn’t have time for his consistently poor decision-making skills, so he continued driving to no predetermined place.
Thirty minutes later, he parked in front of a house he knew well. He had helped plant two of the trees in the front yard and was pleasantly surprised at how big they had grown over the last three years. It had been too long since he had stopped by to say hello to whom he hoped was still a good friend and he hoped he wouldn’t be turned away.
The front door swung open with force as a tall, dark, muscular man leaped out of the door.
“Matt!” he yelled. “Get out of that pathetic excuse of a truck and get over here!”
Matt forced back the sob that tried to escape and got out of his Honda truck. Before he could close the door, his friend embraced him in a bear hug. Matt was not a small man, but next to his friend he felt small and his friend’s hug helped him feel a little less like falling apart.
“I can’t believe it took you this long to grace us with your presence!”
“Sorry, Bobby. I should not have stayed away this long. How are you? How are the kids?”
“Come, come inside.” Bobby grabbed Matt by the arm and started pulling him toward the house. “Junior is in the backyard and Kamila is taking a nap.”
Bobby successfully pulled Matt inside the house, but Matt put on the brakes after stepping inside. The house still smelled the same… it looked the same… and he half expected Bobby’s wife to come out of the kitchen singing and dancing her crazy Cuban Latin songs and demand Matt sing and dance with her.
Matt told himself not to look at the photo he knew would still be hanging on the wall, but he looked anyway. Hanging on the wall was a wedding picture of Bobby and Carla. His big African body overpowered the petite, yet muscular Cuban frame of his wife, but that was where their differences ended. Carla was a force to be reckoned with, and after anyone talked with her for a mere five minutes, no one would ever think she was petite again.
Underneath their wedding picture was the newborn pictures of their two children, Bobby Junior and Kamila… the perfect combination of their parents. On both sides of the wedding photo was a single frame. One of Bobby and one of Carla, both on their graduation day from the Fire Academy. All three had graduated from the academy at the same time. The three of them got the same tattoo on their upper chest to celebrate their accomplishments, but Bobby and Carla got something that Matt didn’t get.
Love.
And they gave Matt something that he ran away from.
Family.
Matt was attracted to Carla the moment he laid eyes on her at the academy, but he could tell her attention lay elsewhere… which was for the best because Matt wasn’t ready to settle down. He enjoyed his bachelorhood too much, and Bobby and Carla were a well-matched couple.
“You should see Kamila. She’s the spittin’ image of her mother.”
Matt turned to face his friend. “I’m sorry, Bobby. I should have come over after the funeral to visit.”
“We all grieve differently my friend… but you’re here now, so let’s enjoy it. What are you up to these days? How’s the RFD?
“Up until today… great.”
“What happened today?” Bobby mumbled.
“I got terminated.”
“What?” Bobby yelled and then covered his mouth hoping he didn’t wake up his daughter.
“You didn’t go to the station drunk, did you?”
“No!” Matt laughed, but it was a painful laugh.
“Long story,” Matt said.
“I’ve got all afternoon, so talk to me!”
An hour later, after Matt explained his habit of getting drunk, bringing home a girl from the bar, and then getting up late and showing up hours late for his shift, they finally decided enough was enough.
“Besides, my heart isn’t in it like it was five years ago.”
