Page 21 of Employing Patience

It’s not the first time Hannah’s said something like that, and just like every other time, her words give me pause. It’s no secret Kilborough isn’t exactly ideal for a seventeen-year-old, but this is our home. What’s she going to do? Go away for college and never come back? My chest gets uncomfortably tight at that. So I ignore it. Hope she gets over … whatever this is.

“Sure, I’ll just let our landlord know, will I? Sorry, buddy, can’t pay you this week. My little sister said I have to study.”

She scowls and plonks the plate she’s holding onto my dressing table. “Eat.”

Hannah turns on her heel and leaves me with the smell of melted parmesan and tomato sauce.

My groaning stomach outweighs my need to go back to sleep, so I reluctantly get up, grab the plate, and carry it out into the kitchen.

I eat in complete silence, trying to ignore Hannah’s closed bedroom door. The dishes in the sink. The sheets I nailed over the windows for curtains and never got around to replacing.

The list of everything I didn’t do keeps growing.

I ignore that too.

6

ART

Mack collapses on one of the couches beside the large mullioned window. He’s half an hour earlier than I told everyone to get here, and my you’ve got a friend in me radar is tingling. I bypass the bar to grab two beers, and when Joey hands them over without glancing in my direction, let alone sparing a smart-ass come-on, a whole bunch of other radars starts going off.

But I can only deal with one thing at a time.

And as much as I’d like to keep pushing Joey and calling his bluff, Mack needs me. DMC are more important letters than HJ, BJ, or D-I-C-K. So I take the beers without comment and head for my boy.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Mack’s head jerks up like it’s somehow surprising to see me here. In my own bar. “Ah, nothing.”

I hand his drink over before dropping down to sit opposite. “If you didn’t want to talk about it, you wouldn’t have flopped in here like a wet rag and done everything you could to make sure I knew you were upset. Out with it. The kids again?”

Mack’s pale blue eyes fly wide. “Gee, at least let a man think he’s being subtle.”

“Bullshitting’s not my style.”

His laugh is feeble at best. “I … I dunno. Things are still so hard.”

“With Davey?”

Mack hesitates for a second, then nods. He and Davey separated amicably because Davey’s job constantly has him away for work, and they even joined the DMC together. They’re closer than any other divorced couple I know.

“I thought everything was okay there?” I ask.

“Ninety percent of the time, it is. But because we’re still friends, the kids don’t understand. They want Daddy at home with us when he’s back, so he comes over and then—”

“Then you end up being the one all confused.” Makes sense why he got here so early now. Mack’s the kind of guy who doesn’t want anyone to see him as anything less than happy. He’s a man made of sunshine, easily confused, doesn’t always know what’s going on, but is pure in the way most people aren’t.

“What do I do?” he whispers.

“Tell him to stop coming around. Cut the cord. You’ve been separated for a year now. It might be time to move on.”

“And what if I don’t want to?”

“Probably shouldn’t have gotten divorced.”

Mack huffs. “You wanna know something dumb?”

“Always. It makes me feel better about myself.”

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