Page 50 of Bully's Second Chance
Then again, I always did surprise myself.
“I, Michael Johnson Levy, being of sound heart, mind, and body, do hereby bequeath my estate, my belongings, and my finances to one, Mr. Jackson Michael Levy.”
And on top of it all, Lily was still at my place. Two months later, and the woman hadn’t moved out. I didn’t know why. I didn’t care to know why. All I wanted to know was if she’d stay.
Or if I’d have to grief the loss of her as well.
“Layaway International, this is Lily speaking. How may I direct your call?”
“Layaway International, this is—no, sir, he is currently indisposed for the day. May I take a message? I can ping him if it’s important.”
Every morning, I came and sat at my desk. And every morning, Lily was the one who took over for me. She dashed between her workspace out in the hallway and my phone as it rang mindlessly on my desk. Then, eventually, she ended up routing all of my calls to her desk phone altogether.
I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself.
I had nothing and no one. Well, nothing that meant anything, anyway. What I wanted was my father back. I wanted his smile, his laughter, and his old tales from business in the “good ol’ days.” I wanted his essence back. I wanted to smell his coat after coming in from a long smoke break only to chew on a piece of gum because he thought it covered up the smell.
I missed the smell of his tobacco and Big Red combination.
“Jax?” Lily asked softly.
I looked up from my home office desk since I couldn’t stomach going to work today. I hadn’t showered in days. I smelled myself in ways that grossed me out. And yet, as I pivoted toward her to see what she wanted, all I could think about was going upstairs and enjoying my lunch break with my father like I had so many times before.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
I saw the pity in her eyes, and it made me turn back around. “No.”
“Are you sure? You didn’t eat breakfast or din—”
My voice grew hardened. “I said, no.”
My father had been dead and buried for almost two weeks now, and it felt like his death had happened yesterday. If I strained my ears enough, I still heard the droning of those machines. If I closed my eyes, I still saw my father signing that fucking DNR stating that he had essentially given up. It infuriated me that he had quit.
“Well,” Lily said as she burst through my thoughts again, “there’s leftover soup from last night if you’d like some later. Just let me know.”
I sighed. “I appreciate it.”
If you push her away, you’ll really have no one.
Those words scared me, so I swiveled back around. “Actually, Lil’, I’d love some soup.”
She peered over her shoulder. “Did you just call me ‘Lil?’”
I blinked. “Is that an issue?”
And when she smiled, my heart skipped a beat. “Not at all. I’ll be back with your soup and some fresh buttered bread. Would you like anything to drink?”
A stiff whiskey.“Water’s fine, thank you.”
She slipped out the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
As I heard her heels clicking off in the distance, the phone on my desk rang. I had half a mind to let it go to voicemail so I could close my eyes for a few minutes and prepare myself to stomach the food she’d bring me. And when the ringing ceased, I thought I had made it out of the woods until my phone started ringing again.
“Layaway International,” I said with a grumble, “this is Jackson Levy.”
And the voice on the other side of the phone rooted me to my spot. “Jackson? Is that really you?” Her voice was huskier than normal like she sucked down two packs of cigarettes a day. But, that lilt? The intonations of her voice? I’d know that voice anywhere.
“Mom?” I asked.
