“Oh! Thought she was staying ‘til the weekend. Why did she leave early? It wasn’t because of us, was it?”
“No, May. She had to get back for a job interview.”
“Oh. Well good. She said she was looking.”
“Mhmm,” I say. There’s dead air on May-Bell’s end for a few seconds.
“Is she coming back?” she asks.
“No.” Sure, anything is possible, but we both know how this is really going to play out.
“I’m sorry, darling. I know you two went through a lot together. And I know you must care about her a lot to invite her into your life like that.”
“Yeah.” There’s another silence and then I hear Jad mumbling something in the background.
“Well Jad’s gonna come by anyway and bring you your chainsaw and I’ll send him over with something for you to eat.”
“Okay.” I take that as a sign that maybe I don’t need to go into town for more liquor. “I’ll be here.”
“Okay.” I hang up with May-Bell and give up looking for my keys. I snap for Titus to come and watch him from the porch while he sniffs around the yard until Jad pulls up.
“How long you been sitting there?” he asks.
“Since I hung up with May.”
“You waiting for me?”
“Yep.”
“Am I banned from your house now?”
“No, just giving T some exercise.”
“Ah. Should have brought Fox by. Next time.” He comes over to the steps and I hear at least three of his joints crack as he groans and sits down beside me. He's quiet for a while. I think he's going to launch into some speech about the weather or act like everything's cool and ask if I want to go fishing, but he doesn't.
“Man to man, I was out of line, Shep. And I’m sorry for that.”
I nod and watch Titus try to pick up a clump of dirt with his paw. “I appreciate that, Jad.”
“I was worried about you and I got a little ahead of myself. Can’t promise it won't happen again ’cause it’s a little hard to unlearn pigheadedness at my age, but I am sorry.”
I chuckle a bit and shake my head. “I appreciate the honesty too.”
“I don’t care much for Sarah still. If that wasn’t obvious.”
“It wasn’t actually.”
“What?” He looks over at me as I shrug.
“I’m pretty sure, or at least Iwas, that everyone blamed me for not making it work with Sarah.”
“In a place like this it might feel like you belong with the girl next door, but that ain’t always the case.”
“True.” I let Titus walk a few feet too far into the woods before I whistle for him. He comes trotting back to the porch. He knows he’s been caught. I scratch his head then Jad gets a turn and Titus tries to lick his palm.
“I know, I’m not your dad and I’m not Egil, but May-Bell and I love you just like you’re our boy. When you showed up May and I decided to give all the love we had that we weren’t spreading around to you. You ever wonder why we ain’t got no kids of our own?”
“You’re too cantankerous to conceive?”