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“You did?” I asked.
He nodded once. “I did. You grew up in the house next door to me. One I used to share with my
wife.”
I looked down at his bare wedding ring finger and frowned.
“We’re divorced,” he answered my silent question. “Have been for about ten years now.”
“That sucks,” I admitted.
Captain Morgan tilted his head and stared at me for a few long moments.
“I’m not upset about it,” he finally admitted. “My wife and I were best friends. Still are, in fact.
We just realized that we were no longer in love with each other.”
An amicable divorce.
Those were rare.
“Anyway,” Captain Morgan said. “Belle and I used to watch you growing up. Wishing we had a
kid like you for a kid of our own. We saw how your parents treated you. How you were more of a
commodity to them than an actual child.” He grinned. “I think you were over at my house more when
you were a kid than you were at your own. Always wanting to know how to do this or that. How to
mow a lawn or ride a bike. How to fix a car. Shit. There was this one time you asked Belle how to
bake a cake for your mother for her birthday. Y’all spent three hours in the kitchen baking this cake, and you presented it to your mother only for her to tell you that she didn’t eat cake because it made her ass fat.”
I winced.
“Yeah,” he said. “Exactly.”
“So, you felt sorry for me?” I asked. “That’s why you hired me?”
He shrugged. “You were qualified. Oh, and I didn’t want to see you floundering. You were a kid,
but I still cared a lot about you. When y’all moved, I think that’s what set Belle and I back. When we realized that we were just skating through life together and not living it like we were supposed to.”
Belle sounded like someone that I wanted to know again.
“And Belle?” I asked. “Where’s she?”
Captain Morgan grinned.
“She used to be a cop,” he said. “Used to see her all day every day. And she still picks up the odd shift or two. But, saying that, she now owns a CrossFit gym and exercise facility. All the cops go out there and workout. You probably got a membership letter for there about a week after you started the job,” he said. “You should go. See her. Belle misses the hell out of you.”
I would.
I’d go.
Belle sounded like a good person.
And, even though I didn’t remember her at all, I was more than willing to be friends.
