Page 88 of Life, Love, and Other Messes

I shrugged. “Sometimes. We don’t live together.”

“How come?”

“We’ve only been together for a few months. Anyway, we each own our own houses.”

“Oh,” Dad said. The word was long and drawn-out. “I assumed you’d been together for years.”

“Yeah, no. That was Veronica.”

“No, no, I’m talking about Lisa. That’s her name, right? Kevin told me her name.”

I nodded.

“When you told your mother you had someone you could bring to our anniversary, I thought you’d been together for a long time.” Dad realized what he’d said, and we both stared at one another, then at our toast. “Delectable,” he said softly.

We all took Kevin’s kids to the skating rink in the next town over for several hours. Missy circled around flawlessly with the big kids and Kevin helped Rebecca and Rachel on their tiny, double-runner skates. I sat with Dad and Jeremiah, taking pictures, but as soon as the baby fell asleep, Dad poked me and said I should rent a pair.

Well, the gauntlet had been thrown. It must have been almost thirty years since I’d been ice skating, but I’d gone roller skating a few times with the big gay crowd in the interim. That didn’t matter; apparently it was harder to balance on one blade than four wheels. Of course, once I entered the rink, the kids all glommed onto me until they realized I could barely move. Then, Mary Margaret made me her personal project.

I spent the next hour on shaky ankles, my left hand holding onto a finessed six-year-old, the other clutched to the wall. Missy asked if she could do anything, so apparently I looked as stupid as I felt, but I told her that I had plenty of help and Mary Margaret beamed. Kevin asked me if I wanted to skate backwards with Rachel. I flipped him off even though there were about seventy kids circling around. Seth snickered when he skated past, but Asher stopped by to tell me I was doing a very good job. By the time the kids tired, I was exhausted and everything hurt from the million times I’d fallen on my ass. Kevin said it was a miracle I didn’t concuss myself, then we stared at one another and pretended he hadn’t said anything.

When Dad and I made our way home, he smirked at me. “I have that on video in case you want to send it to Lisa.”

“Shut up. At least I was brave enough to do it.”

He patted his leg. “Can’t do it with the artificial knee.”

“Excuses.” My phone buzzed. “It’s Lisa. Want to say hi?”

Dad’s eyebrows jumped. “Well, sure.”

I set my coat in the kitchen and answered. “Hey. My dad wants to say hi.”

Lisa sounded both surprised and pleased. “Okay.”

I handed Dad the phone. “Hi, Lisa, how are you? Nope, call me John…Thank you, that’s very kind of you.” To my horror, he took the phone into the living room, leaving me there in the kitchen. “We went out with Kevin’s kids today and…I’ll have to send photos…”

My dad had never spoken with any of my other girlfriends. Mom had always done the talking, had always been the one to call and answer, and she’d had no interest in acknowledging them. It made me nervous for a second, so I took a moment to distract myself by starting some coffee. Then, I realized it’d been a long time and got nervous again. “Um, Dad? Can I please speak with my girlfriend?”

He was busy talking a mile a minute about how we used to skate at the lake when it was cold enough for it to freeze. “I guess so. Well, nice to talk to you.” He handed off the phone. “Did you put on coffee?”

“Yep. Hey.” I headed down the hallway to my old bedroom. “Sorry about that.”

Lisa laughed. “No, he’s a really nice guy. He had a lot to say. Is he doing okay, or is he masking?”

“Some of both.” I lay back on my bed. “He is a nice guy and he is very pleasant to talk with, but I think he’s babbling a little to fill space. My mom was the talker and it’s kind of quiet here now.”

“I bet. Hey, before I forget, I couldn’t get Ollie boarded until the twenty-sixth…I’m so sorry.”

“It’s absolutely fine. Just let him out a couple times a day and throw him some kibble. I’ll give you some people’s numbers if you don’t have time.”

“Oh, if it’s okay, I thought I could just move in…I mean, while you’re gone.”

“God, of course you’re welcome to!” I had to smile about how she’d felt she needed to qualify that. “I didn’t want to ask, but…”

“Do you know when the funeral is going to be?”

“We’ll know Monday, but no earlier than Thursday.”