Page 14 of Dizzy

“Listen. You remember how I was telling you about that new development that the Wade group’s putting up outside of Hazleton?”

I do not remember, but that don’t mean she didn’t tell me.

She rolls her eyes. “Fifty single family homes on three acre lots? Starting in the low five hundreds?”

We bought our house for two hundred when I got back from my final deployment. Paid cash.

“I told you how Baker and Coyne are going to be the exclusive agents? We’re doing a blitz? All units sold before the New Year?”

This is not ringin’ a bell.

She drops her head back and closes her eyes. “I’m expecting that Bill will tell Steve and I tonight that we’re lead agents. We’ll have to get a room at an extended stay. Petty’s Mill to Hazleton is a two-hour commute, both ways. This is gonna be a one-month full court press. All hands on deck. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Six years ago, right after Carson was born, she took a class to get her real estate license, and overnight, she started talkin’ like she’s selling time-shares.

“You’re gonna be out of town for a while?”

“Yes. At the end of next month.” She starts to sigh in aggravation, but she catches herself. “Which means Parker and Carson are going to have to stay with you. Are you going to be up for that?”

I’m clenching my jaw so tight, my molars ache. I force myself to take a deep breath. “Yup.”

She waits like she’s expecting me to say something else. “We can work out the details later.”

“All right.”

“I haven’t mentioned it to the boys yet. Carson’s going to be upset. You know he’s a mama’s boy. He’s going to need support with the transition.”

“Okay.” I have no fuckin’ clue what that means.

Her face is turning pink. She’s gettin’ frustrated, but I don’t know what she wants me to say.

“This is a great opportunity for Steve and me. We have a chance to take it to the next level. A five-figure month.”

She looks at me, expectant.

I shove my hands in my pockets and nod.

She needs something from me, but that was the story of our marriage. I don’t know what she wants. I did all the things my pops did. Mowed the lawn, kept her gas tank topped off, worked my ass off so she could buy whatever she wanted. Enlisted in the National Guard so she could move out of the townhouse my folks helped us buy and get a house with a yard.

My mom was a happy woman. Pops and her both passed when the kids were babies, less than a month apart, and I don’t remember either sayin’ a harsh word about the other.

Get Sharon started, she can go on all night about me. At least she could when we were married. I’d piss her off, and she’d spend hours on the phone, whisperin’ to her friends, bitchin’ me out to one lady after the next.

She taps a pristine white sneaker on the driveway.

Shit. What do I say?

“Congrats.”

She throws her hands up and blows out her cheeks. Guess that wasn’t what she was lookin’ for.

“We can talk it through later,” she says. “You’re dropping the kids off at school Monday, right?”

“You said I should bring ‘em here Sunday night.”

“Fine,” she huffs. Without a word to the boys, she turns on her heel and flounces into the house.

Parker and Carson are both starin’ out the truck windows at her. Carson’s bottom lip is wobbling. Damn. He’s so big; sometimes I forget he’s only seven. And he is a mama’s boy.

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