We’ve spoken every night, she’s read to Rose on video calls, and I’ve hung up, feeling so fucking alone.
Today she has a big meeting where she’ll see whether her story made the print edition, and she promised she’d call afterward.
I hear the ping of a text and I look down, but it’s not her.
Everett
So, you let her go?
Miles
What do you think he did?
Killian
And they wonder why women think we’re stupid.
Miles
Oh, he’s stupid for sure.
Fuck off. All of you. She has a life and it’s not here.
Everett
They have these new things called planes. They go up in the air, really high, and then come down in a new place. I hear they even go to New York City.
Killian
I’ve been on one. They’re very fast and efficient.
Everett
That’s right! You go to Boston.
I exhale through my nose, trying to remember why I like my friends.
And what about Rose? Do I leave her? Make her quit cheer so we can travel to New York so I can be with her? Did any of you think about my daughter?
Miles
Did you ask her? Rose is a smart kid who loves her father, and she loves Ainsley. I think we often forget they have wants too. I’m not saying you leave it up to her, but I’m pretty sure she misses Ainsley as well.
I know she does. She’s had no issue expressing how much she wishes Ainsley was here, and she loves her.
This isn’t cut and dry.
Killian
Nothing in life is. It hasn’t been easy reconnecting with my son who hates my guts, but I’m out here, making the hard decisions.
Everett
None of us think it’s easy, we just think it’s right.
Advice heard. See you at practice tonight.
I go back over the paperwork on my desk and try to figure out why the town denied my request for new gear. I’ll never understand these denials, and I also get why the previous chief told me I would regret leaving my truck.