Page 131 of Hot Four Teacher
“Your–”
“I’d like him to meet the woman I’m crazy about.”
It occurs to me that maybe I should have checked with her about this beforehand.
“Is this weird?” I ask. “I just thought–”
She leans over to kiss me. “Calm down, honey. I think it’s nice. It just took me by surprise.”
I get out of the truck and help her out before walking hand-in-hand inside.
On the way to my dad’s apartment, we run into Darlene.
“Hey, sugar,” she greets with a smile.
“Hi, Darlene.”
“Who do you have with you?” she asks, looking at Michelle.
“This is my girlfriend, Michelle.” I love being able to call her that freely.
Darlene smiles again. “Well, well, well. Good for you, sugar.” She turns to Michelle. “You’ve got yourself a good one here.”
Michelle looks at me. “I think so, too.”
“How’s Dad doing today?”
“Onery. But what else is new? The real talk of the town around here is your sister.”
My stomach churns. “What did Jenny do?”
“First, she came in here all worked up that she walked in and saw your dad and his lady friend playing human wheelbarrow. She wanted us to separate them like they were kids.”
“Did you?” I ask.
She narrows her eyes at me and purses her lips. “This is not a daycare. Our residents are full grown adults. After that, she took it upon herself to bring in bowls of condoms to leave in all the public areas.”
“You’re kidding?”
She walks over to pick up a bowl behind the counter. Sure as shit, it’s full of condoms.
“I’m so sorry,” I say. “I’ll talk to her.”
“Oh, it’s alright. She’s harmless. Maybe just get her a hobby or something. I think she could do with some human wheelbarrow of her own.”
“Gross,” I mutter only loud enough for Michelle to hear.
We start to head for Dad’s apartment, but Darlene says, “He’s not in there, sugar. You’ll find him over in the atrium, playing cards.”
“Thanks, Darlene.”
As we walk away, Michelle says, “Man, you have some stories to tell me later. You’ve been holding out on me.”
“Be warned, it’s a bit like a soap opera.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Even better.”
When we get to the atrium, we walk in and see my dad sitting at a table with two of his friends. There’s a pile of cash and coins sitting in front of him. I’m not surprised. The man has an excellent poker face.
