Page 74 of All In
“You’re not going to date him, are you?” She crosses her arms over her chest and crinkles her nose. “You were giggling an awful lot.”
“What?! Ricky?” I scoff at the thought. “God, no. He’s the biggest player ever.”
Brielle unfolds her arms as her shoulders relax. “Okay, good. Because I don’t need a new stepdad right now.” My eyebrows raise at her confession.
“Me either,” Mason chimes in. “Come on, Brielle, let’s go get some cookies.”
With that, both of my kids race off to buy some more junk food, leaving me with my thoughts.
Whether Sam and I reconnect or I find someone else, one thing remains unmistakably clear.
I may be focusing on my own happiness for the first time in my life, but I know that this isn’t just about me. Brielle, Mason, and I are a package deal. A team.
A sobering thought, for sure.
The exchange with Ricky and the mention of Sam causes me to think of the last email he wrote me. I try to recall it to mind as I compare bacon prices. It was so final. But it was his words at the end that I never forgot. About finding happiness and standing up for myself.
I know he would be proud of me.
If only he knew.
Chapter twenty-nine
2015
One week later
Sam
“Where in the world did I put those navy blue shorts?” I ask as I stand in my boxers, searching one of the packing boxes marked ‘Clothes’ that sit in the living room.
“How should I know?” Mikey replies from the kitchen as he plates his breakfast.
Mikey and I have been home for a month now, and I’m still not unpacked. Boxes are strewn haphazardly across the living room of the small house I bought, stretching into the hallway and taking up space in the kitchen. They are everywhere and probably collecting dust. At this point, I have to chalk it up to pure laziness on my part. “Here they are!” I pull them out and hold them up in the air, victorious.
It’s Saturday, and Mikey and I have wasted no time getting into a routine. Mostly for him, but also for me. And that means dropping off Mikey at baseball practice while Ricky and I meet at the gym to get in a quick game of racquetball.
Moving back home was the best decision. With Erica gone and Mikey getting older, I knew he would need a female influence in his life. Big C and Jasmine moved back two years after Erica passed. For a long time, it was just Mikey andme. Being his sole parent meant not a lot of time for socializing or dating for this dad. Plus, it meant handling everything with my son by myself.
Mikey’s first day of school, all his T-ball games, his concerts at school. All of them I experienced alone. We were getting into a rut, and I was feeling lonely and homesick. Plus, memories of Erica were everywhere. I could tell both of us needed a change, so I found a job as a psychologist for a local hospital, and we moved pretty quick. Now Mikey has my mom and Jasmine. And of course, mom’s thrilled to have us back. If I’m being honest, it has been great for everyone involved.
At one time, Georgia felt like a new beginning for me. But slowly, it morphed into a prison, and I knew it was time to break my son and me free. It sounds so cheesy to say, but there’s no place like home.
“Dad, when are you going to unpack your stuff?” Mikey asks with a mouth full of bacon. “I mean, seriously?”
Okay … so my kid is more organized than me, and his room was unpacked and set up in mere hours after arriving. Sue me.
“I’ll get to it.” I glance up at him, and he’s glaring at me. “Eventually.” I sit the shorts down over the back of one of the barstools and take a sip of my coffee.
“You need a wife,” he says nonchalantly as he takes a bite of his toast.
Coffee sprays out of my mouth and lands on the counter.
“Eww. Gross, Dad. You just spit coffee on my toast.”
“What did you say?” I wipe the coffee off my mouth with the back of my hand.
“You need a wife. Or a girlfriend maybe.” He shrugs, eating his toast with the coffee spray on it. Ten-year-old boys are gross.
