Junkyard Dog(22)

“I’ll stay at a hotel until I buy shit to go in my place.”

“On me.”

“Don’t overdo it, Guster,” Moot says, using the ridiculous nickname he gave me years ago. “You’ll come off pathetic.”

“I’ll just rough up a few little kids and get my * cred back.”

Moot grins. “I noticed pictures of kids on Candy’s desk. Tell me you’re not banging someone’s mom.”

“You need to stop asking about her.”

“What the f*ck else am I going to ask about? Your dad? Naw, you’ll tell me he’s alive and leave it at that. If I ask about your business, you’ll say you’re solvent. You’re not an open f*cking book.”

“Fair enough, but talking about Candy isn’t on the day’s schedule either so shut the f*ck up.”

Moot nods and returns to enjoying his meal. I lean back and think about Candy’s flavor. I remember her intensity when she gripped my shirt. The woman is waiting for me to take her, and I’ve been f*cking around for too damn long. Today, I sampled what Candy has to offer. Next time, I plan to take more than a damn taste.





FOURTEEN - CANDY


Hayes texts me to say he won’t be back in the office for the rest of the day. While I’m happy to know he has a friend to play with, I wish he’d return so I might know what the kiss meant.

The afternoon wears on, and I keep myself busy by going through the remaining boxes. Each slip of paper is a reminder of Hayes. I smell his cologne at times. Smell his cigars too. His presence remains in the office, making me miss him even more.

By the time I pick up the kids, I’m relieved to have their company.

“Crappy day?” I ask when they slide into the SUV.

“My teacher is an idiot,” Cricket announces, having kept her mouth shut all day. “She only pays attention to two brats and ignores the rest of us.”

“That’s probably why they act like brats,” I say, heading home on the quiet, tree-lined streets. “How about you, Chipper?”

“Some boys said I can’t be in their group because I don’t have a dad. I told them I didn’t want to be in their group because they’re lame. I said they should ask their dads how to be cooler.”

Laughing, I relish how much the kids mimic me rather than Toby. No doubt their father would obsess over getting into the one group who wouldn’t have him.

“Did that go over well?” I ask.

“They didn’t get it.”

“Well they’re idiots, and there’s no fixing that.”

“My teacher says I can be the line leader next week,” Chipper announces.

Pulling her dark hair out of the ponytail, Cricket frowns. “I want to be line leader.”

“Life never promised you a rose garden,” Chipper says, using my line. “I got the better teacher. You got…”

Cricket growls at him, and they frown at each other.

“Want to make pizza tonight?” I ask, hoping to improve their moods.

The twins stop glaring at one another and look at me. I see their heads nodding in the rearview and suspect my ploy worked.

“How much homework are we looking at?”

“A lot, but they’re the same.”

Sighing, I think the one part of parenthood I will always loathe is homework. Ideally, we could go home and chill for the night. Instead, they get a second dose of school.

I think about Hayes suggesting homeschool. I don’t know if I could swing that setup. By the second page of homework, I’ve changed my mind. I could use the meeting room for their school. They could stay with me during the day while I worked. We could go on field trips to Nashville to see the zoo and museum. Yes, it would be so much fun, and I could get out of doing homework at the end of the day.

I don’t mention my daydreaming to the kids. The likelihood of me pulling them from school and becoming their teacher feels farfetched. Hayes wouldn’t want them around all of the time. He expects me to run errands with him and check out work sites. The kids are too young to be alone. No, it wouldn’t work.

“Did you make any friends today?” I ask them once the homework is done and the pizza eaten.

Cricket gives me a pissy side glance. “At lunch, a girl asked to be my best friend. I said maybe, and she stole my fruit cup. I don’t need friends like that.”

Chipper sets up the PlayStation and hands his sister a controller.

“I told you about those boys. They said I could be their friend and then changed their minds.”

“Aren’t there any cool kids at school?”

“Yeah, but they already have friends. What do they need us for?”

Shaking my head, I can’t believe how easily they’ve given up. “You’re the cool new kids. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with you?”

The twins frown at me, and I can’t help smiling at how much they look alike. Seeing my grin, they frown darker.

“Hey, when I was a kid and moved to a new school, everyone wanted to be my friend. You two must be doing something wrong.”

The twins glance at each other and then at me again. I only smile until they give in and smile too.

“We only see each other at recess. That’s the only time we need friends, and I have Chipper,” Cricket says, sitting crossed legged on the ground in front of the TV. “Tomorrow is fish sticks. Can you send lunch?”