Second Chance(9)

Nate ordered himself a pint of bitter. That would be all he could have as he was driving, so he’d have to make it last. Turning to Jack, he asked, “What can I get you?”

Jack answered without hesitation. “Orange juice and lemonade, please.”

Nate hid his surprise. The Jack he knew would never have turned down the chance for alcohol. “A pint or a half?”

“A pint please.”

Once they had their drinks, they found a quiet corner near the huge stone fireplace. The table closest to them was unoccupied which gave a sense of privacy and the other tables were taken by families or groups who were busy with their own conversations.

Jack took a large gulp of his drink and put it carefully down on a beer mat. He drummed the table lightly with his fingers, his nails were bitten and ragged, the skin around them picked and sore-looking in places.

“So,” Nate said lightly. “I think we have a bit of catching up to do.”

“Yeah.” Jack glanced up and gave a tense smile. “It’s been a while.”

“Want me to go first?” Nate asked. Given their history, Jack was going to want to know about his transition. It would be good to get that part out of the way. It wasn’t that Nate minded talking about it, but it was frustrating when it felt like that was all people were interested in.

“Yeah. Okay. Start with telling me about your daughter.”

“Okay.” Pleasantly surprised that Jack hadn’t gone straight for the obvious topic, Nate gathered his thoughts. “Well… she’s sixteen now. She’s the product of a relationship that fell apart before she was even born. She wasn’t planned, and he didn’t want kids, nor did I until I knew I was pregnant. He wanted me to have an abortion but there was no way I was doing that.”

“So he just left?” Jack looked disapproving.

“I threw him out. The relationship had been rocky anyway, and that sealed it for me.”

“Are you still in touch with him?”

“Barely. He pays child support, although rarely on time. He saw Cass a few times when she was small, but now she’s lucky to get a birthday card.”

“Well good thing she’s got another, awesome dad then. She seemed like a cool kid.” Jack’s smile was softer this time, more relaxed.

“Oh, yeah. She is. I love her to pieces,” Nate said fiercely. “She’s pretty challenging sometimes though. She had a tough time last year in her old school and was going off the rails a bit. That’s one of the reasons we’ve moved back here.”

“Yeah?” Jack picked up his drink again.

“She got in with a group of kids who weren’t good for her. She was drinking a lot, smoking weed, taking other stuff that teens are into these days—anything they could get their hands on really. She had a boyfriend who was pushing her into a lot of it I think. It wasn’t really her, you know? But she was trying to impress him.”

Nate stopped himself from saying too much. It wasn’t fair to Cass to go into too much detail, and Nate preferred not to remember the night he’d been called into A & E after Cass’s boyfriend had dumped her like a discarded tissue. Cass had landed up being blue-lighted to hospital after drinking herself into oblivion, taking some pills, and cutting her arms with a piece of broken glass. Fortunately that had been the turning point for Cass. Since then she’d been putting herself back together with the help of her therapist back in London who Cass still talked to via Skype once a month.

“Anyway… long story short, things were tough for a while, but she’s doing much better now. Still pushing back at me sometimes. She’s found it hard adjusting to the move and misses her old friends. But she’s starting to make new friends here, and although I still worry about her drinking and experimenting with drugs—because I know it goes on—she seems to be less self-destructive. I set boundaries where I can, but there’s a limit to how controlling I can be without alienating her.”

Jack snorted. “If our parents had known what we were up to when we were that age they’d have locked us in our bedrooms at night. They had no idea, did they?” His eyes lit up with mischief and the grin Nate remembered so well was back.

“No. God. They were clueless. Even when I was off my face mine never seemed to notice.”

“Remember that time we got the munchies and tried making bacon sandwiches at your place after a party?” Jack asked.

“Shit. Yes. We were so drunk and stoned that we burned the bacon, set off the smoke alarm, and woke up my parents. But they still just thought we were being useless teenagers.” It wasn’t a happy memory for Nate. “My dad was livid.”

“Yeah.” Jack frowned. “I’d forgotten that part.”

Nate hadn’t. His father had been drunk as well—not unusual for him on a Saturday night—and he’d yelled at Nate while Jack stood by, wide-eyed at his aggression. Nate had ended up running out of the house in tears and Jack had followed. They’d walked a mile back to Jack’s house in the dark with no coats in the middle of winter, and Nate had stayed there for the night. That part was the bit Nate liked to remember. Jack had been so sweet. They’d slept in Jack’s single bed together, Nate as the little spoon with Jack’s arms wrapped around him. Comfort had bled into Nate until he felt safe again.