Evvie Drake Starts Over(4)

“You don’t have to cry. Everybody knows how much you loved him.”

In fact, everybody didn’t know. Andy didn’t know.

“I don’t get it,” Evvie said. “Nobody pities Tessa Vasco because her husband died and she’s not out partying all the time.”

“Tessa Vasco is ninety-two.”

“So?”

“So you are not ninety-two. And unlike Tessa Vasco, you don’t need a walker or an oxygen tank to go to the grocery store.” He wiped his mouth. “And not to pile on, but I feel like I have to point out that Tessa does water aerobics.”

“Why would you know that?”

“Because my mom also does water aerobics. She’s only sixty-nine, though. Little less embarrassing for you.”

Evvie put one hand up. “All right. It was a bad example.”

“So can I get back to trying to sell you on a tenant?”

She looked around the restaurant, then back at Andy. “Why does a professional athlete want to rent an apartment in my house? I thought they lived…I don’t know, on private islands or something.”

“Dean lives in Manhattan. World’s least private island. He says he can’t get a cup of coffee without somebody taking his picture. He wants to get out of the city for a while, and I told him I thought up here, people would leave him alone. He’s not staying long enough to buy a place, but he’s staying too long for a hotel. I can’t put him up because I have the kids. I thought maybe he could have the apartment. That way, I’d know he wasn’t renting from somebody who was going to Snapchat him in the bathroom or sell his trash to TMZ. You’d get some money coming in, and maybe you’d be friends. Win-win. I told him maybe you’d take $800 a month.”

   It would take a big bite out of the bills. “$800 would be okay.”

“So, yes?”

She looked into her coffee cup, with its lazy hairline curl of cream still on top. “So, bring him by the house.” Evvie sensed a tiny puff of exasperation, and she tensed. “I’ve never met him, Andy. What do you expect me to say?”

“You’ll like him,” Andy said. “I like him.”

Evvie straightened her back. “You like a lot of people. Who knows what smelly college drinking buddies you would drag through my kitchen if I let you.”

“I didn’t meet him drinking. I met him in Cub Scouts. He was in my wedding, Ev, you’ve seen the pictures. And if you remember, he’s the one who sent me and the girls to Disneyland after the divorce. He’s not going to steal your jewelry.”

Evvie smiled. “I don’t own much jewelry.”

“Well, he’s not going to steal your…cozy sweaters with holes in them, whatever.”

She frowned. “Low blow. Look, like I said, bring him by and let me meet him. If it seems like a good fit, I’ll be glad to have the money.” She thought briefly about the overdue bills that were rubber-banded together in the kitchen drawer. That was what a year without a doctor’s income would do. She could put somebody in the apartment, leave the door closed, collect the rent, and she might not even notice he was there.

   Andy sighed. “Thank you. He needs…I don’t know, quiet. Plus, like I said, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if you had company.”

“I have company,” she said. “I’m sitting here with company.”

“Company other than me. And my kids. And your dad. You know”—he gestured at her with a fork full of eggs—“it’s not good to be alone too much. It’ll make you weird.” Andy’s sandy, wavy hair and narrow frame made him look like he was in an indie band, perpetually about to put on something plaid and pose for the cover of an album where he played a lot of washboard. But the dad in him ran deep, seven years in.

“I’m fine. I’m not weird. If I get bored, I’ll get Tessa Vasco to take me to a Zumba class.” He looked dubious. “Andy, I’m fine. I’ll meet your friend.” Suddenly, Evvie narrowed her eyes at him. “This isn’t a setup, is it?”

Andy laughed through a bite of his breakfast, swallowed, and washed everything down with coffee. “That’s what he said, too: ‘Is this a setup?’?” She didn’t laugh. “It’s not a setup. After all, I think my mom still hopes I’m going to marry you, which definitely won’t happen if I set you up with former professional athletes.”

“Oh, no,” Evvie said. “Would you tell her already?”

“Tell her what?”

“?‘Tell her what.’ Tell her we earnestly tried to look meaningfully at each other. And that it was the least sexy thing that has happened between two humans, maybe ever.”

“She wouldn’t believe me,” he said.

“She would if she’d been there,” Evvie said.

“Oh, when you cracked up laughing? That’s the truth.”

“We both cracked up laughing.”

“You laughed harder,” he said, accusing her with the points of his fork.

“Okay, I’ll give you that.”





DEAN SAT IN HIS TRUCK in Andy’s driveway. He’d left New York City more than eight hours earlier and had stopped only once. He took a deep breath. “Okay,” he muttered, as he made his way toward the house and rang the bell.