Page 4 of The Rusalka and Mr. Right

Youtry dating while your mother watches.

“It looks really nice, Esther. Look how pretty.”

“Hm. Okay. I guess we can ask for a week off to help you move, Kev.”

“I’ve got this. It’s just one room and a U-Haul. I’m going to tow the car behind.”

My dad looks like he can’t wait to unburden himself of fatherly advice. “Ooh, okay, now when you’re towing a car—”

“Baby, wait!” My mother hushes him. “Should you be moving alone? You could put your back out.”

“I know how to avoid a strain, Mom.Youguys shouldn’t take time off from work. You’re going to be traveling all over for Carter and Calvin this season. Save the time off.”

“He’s right about that. Carter sent me the swim meet schedule last night. He’s gonna be in Texas one week and South Carolina the next, then up in North Carolina and over to Tennessee.” Dad removes his glasses and shakes his head, but he’s beaming. His youngest son is at an “Ivy Plus” university. He smooths his hand over the large white D on his shirt, face spreading into a smile.

Mom notices this, and instantly, it’s a game of “Fix Kevin.”

If she knew how many other people I’ve fixed or at least stabilized—drunk college girls, bros going through break ups, stranded girls who missed the last train out of Temple University Station, the injured, the mentally desperate, the people who are too high to come to class, too depressed to remember how to shower...

Hey, Mom, remember the time you and Dad were away for the weekend and Calvin barfed all over Nana’s handmade quilt and Carter accidentally clogged both toilets? And the hamsters got loose during the twins’ pillow fight? No, you don’t, because even sixteen-year-old Kev was in control. I’vealwaysbeen in “Fix-It Mode.” You never even knew, and my little brothers owe me for life.

Sometimes I think she forgets that my degree wasn’t the only kind of education I got.

“Kevin, that could have been you. You were always just as good as Carter in the pool, and maybe even faster than Calvin on the track.”

“Mom. I like running and swimming as forms of relaxation, not competition.”

My father crosses his arms and looks at my mother. “Yousurehe’s mine?”

She pretends to smack him. “You know you’re my only honey bunny, honey bunny!”

Someone needs to stop them.

I’m about to fake an emergency appliance explosion. (You’d be amazed at how many of my appliances have “malfunctioned” during video and phone calls with my parents over the years. They think I just have really crappy landlords.) “Mom, I think I—”

“Oh, honey, Calvin is calling. I’d better take this.” Mom stops making moon eyes at my dad and snags her phone from the pockets of her scrub pants.

“You go ahead, Mom. I promise, I can handle everything myself.”

Chapter Three

“Here’s the town website, see? Remember, you need to put in NY-dot-Local-dot-Gov, not dot com.” Ingrid Anatol is the receptionist at the Pine Ridge Hospital Outpatient Annex—where I now work as a physical therapy coach. I’m doing an amazing job—considering I’ve only worked here for three days. With luck, at the end of next year, I’ll be Dr. Bailey, and I’ll be one of the physical therapists in charge.

Even though I’ve only been here three days at the PRH OA (as my pine green tee shirt says), I’ve decided that I like it here. The staff is efficient, and they take time to answer questions. No one treats me like the clueless new guy, so there’s an instant positive.

Ingrid says things will get nuts by the middle of September. The local college and high school will be back, and team sports mean team injuries. She also pointed out that we’re the chosen provider for the town’s minor league hockey team, so we’ll be seeing them in the fall, too.

As for the town—it isn’t tiny enough to know everyone, but you learn the area fast. There’s a busy little downtown with cute shops that my mom would drag my father into, the area where the hospital, big chain grocery store, fire department, and schools are, some housing developments, and then there’s the campus. That’s like its own little habitat. My apartment is right across from campus, kind of straddling worlds.

“Here’s the Chamber of Commerce tab. That’s where you’re going to want to sign up for “New In Town” offers for local businesses.”

I nod over her shoulder.

“Library events, click here. Community-wide events? Here. Apple Fest is in September. Pumpkin Fest is in October.”

“Instead of Halloween?”

“No, Halloween festivities last like... four days. Kids have off from school on the actual day.”

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