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“Yeah, she was hot, but it doesn’t matter because I’m not dating her anymore. Three years, wasted.”
It wasn’t a waste. Being with Haley taught me how to love in a way I’d never experienced. I learned how to treat a girl, how to talk to a girl, and how to be in a relationship. Growing up seeing my parents and their abusive relationship, I had no clue how to be in a healthy one. I learned by watching Dean with Brook. He’s so good to her, and he’s worked really hard to make himself better for her. I took what I learned from him and used it in my relationship with Haley. I tried to be the best boyfriend I could. But I guess I still wasn’t good enough.
“Three years?” Troy says. “Shit, that’s a long time. You knock her up?”
“No,” I say, surprised he’d ask that. But around here, guys are always getting girls pregnant. It’s like everyone forgets to use birth control.
“Mick got a girl pregnant again,” Sean says with a sigh. “He found out last week.”
“What does that make?” Leo asks. “Four?”
“Yeah, this will be his fourth kid and he’s not even thirty.”
“The guy needs to learn to wrap it up,” Troy says. “Or get a vasectomy. He doesn’t need any more kids.”
“How often does he see them?” I ask, noticing there’s no sign of kid stuff in the house.
“He doesn’t,” Sean says. “His exes say he’s too irresponsible. I can’t disagree. When his kids used to come over, he’d forget to watch them. One of them almost got hit by a car. They haven’t been back since.”
“How’s he paying for all these kids?”
“He doesn’t. He doesn’t have a job. He got arrested a few months ago and has to do community service. That’s where he’s at now. Picking up the trash on the road.”
“Babe!” Troy yells. “What the hell you doing back there?”
“I’ll be out in a minute!” a girl yells back.
“Where is she?” Sean asks. He’s still in the kitchen, making the hotdogs. I hope he doesn’t offer me one. Maybe he’s making them for himself.
“She’s in the bathroom,” Troy says. “She got something on her shirt. She’s cleaning it up.”
A girl comes into the room and goes up to Troy, pointing to her shirt. “Is it gone?”
He stares at her tits as he puts his cigarette out in the metal ashtray next to his chair. I grew up around smokers, but now I’mnot used to it. The smoke is bothering me, but I’m trying not to cough.
“Is it gone or not?” the girl asks.
“How the fuck should I know?” he yells at her. “I don’t even know what I’m looking for.”
“The stain.” She points to her shirt. “I can’t tell if it’s gone.” She turns to Leo. “Do you see anything?”
I look at the girl as she waits for Leo’s response. She’s really beautiful, with big brown eyes and long, dark hair. She’s tiny, barely more than five feet tall, and thin. She has on tight-fitting jeans and a green shirt with some kind of logo on it. I think it’s a restaurant logo. It looks like a slice of pizza with some writing next to it.
“I don’t see it,” Leo says. “I think it’s gone. Ask Jake.” He motions to me.
The girl’s gaze goes from Leo to me. “Jake? Jake Sanders?”
She knows me? Do I know her? She does look kind of familiar.
“Do we know each other?” I ask.
“We went to grade school together.” She smiles and I feel my heart beating faster. “Tara Kentz.”
I stare at her, remembering the little girl with long brown braids who always wore overalls to school. I think she only had one pair because every day she’d show up wearing the same denim overalls with a red stain on the leg. She was poor, like everyone else at our school. Clothes weren’t something our parents spent money on. The last time I saw Tara was fifth grade. Soon after school started, her mom took off and she had to move in with her aunt, who lived in a different part of town.
Other than her big brown eyes and the same sweet smile she had as a kid, Tara looks totally different. I never would’ve guessed it was her.
“Sorry, I didn’t recognize you,” I say, still staring at her.
