Mack Daddy(5)

“She’s planning on going in to meet with you soon.”

“Does she know about us?”

“No. She doesn’t have a clue that we used to know each other.”

“Okay. I prefer it that way.”

“Of course.” Lying my head against the back of my bed, I sighed and asked the question that had been gnawing at me. “Are you happy, Frankie?”

After some silence, she said, “Yes.”

“Tell me about the old guy you’re living with.”

“He’s not that old.”

“Fifty?”

“Forty-five.”

“Old enough. His balls still in good shape? How low do they hang?”

“Oh, my God!”

I’d almost forgotten how much I loved embarrassing her.

“How low?” I was laughing and was relieved to get the sense that she was, too.

“I see you’re still tactless.”

“I see you still can’t help but be amused by it.” I let out a breath. “Seriously, does he treat you right?”

“Yes. He treats me like gold.”

Why did hearing that hurt my chest? I wanted her to be happy. It shouldn’t have hurt so goddamn much to hear that.

“Good. That’s what you deserve.”

“Do you have anything else you’d like to discuss?”

Do you still shave your pussy?

Trying to ignore the rumblings of my overly excited inner thoughts, I said, “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about volunteering. What can I do to help this year?”

That’s better.

“Well, parents sometimes come in and read a book to the class or talk about their jobs. Teach some kind of lesson. You can really choose whatever you’d like.”

“How about next Wednesday?”

“What did you have in mind?”

“I’d like to read a story to the class.” I totally just pulled that out of my ass. But I’d figure something out.

“Okay, I’ll schedule it in for one in the afternoon.”

Her being so formal with me was weird. It was irking me a little. She was acting like we didn’t know everything there was to know about each other at one time. I just wanted to virtually shake her and say, “Hey, remember that time we got drunk and you begged me to fuck you?” At the same time, her acting this way was a challenge to break down these new walls, a challenge I would gladly accept.

“Alright. Maybe I’ll see you in the morning anyway at drop off,” I said.

“Okay.” After a long pause, she said, “Mack?”

“Yeah?”

“He’ll be okay. We’ll take care of him. Even when he’s having a bad day, we’ll do our best to make him feel safe.”

“Thank you, Frankie. I knew you would. That’s why I’m here.”

For him.

And for me.

For you.

I’m here for you.

I want you in my life again.

Even if all you’ll give me is your friendship.

Fuck that. That will never be enough for me.

Not with you.

There was so much I wanted to tell her but couldn’t.

She’d hung up without saying anything further.

Even though moving to Boston had been a huge adjustment for my son, for the first time in years, I’d felt like myself again. I’d only spent a few years here in my early twenties, but those were the best years of my life. I felt like I was finally home again. If only my feelings for Frankie didn’t feel like they were stuck in a goddamn time machine. I feel no differently about her today than I did the day I left our apartment in Kenmore Square and never looked back.

She said she was happy with this guy, but I knew Frankie. She’d tell me that even if she wasn’t. I needed to really know for sure that there was definitely no chance for us. The only way to do that was to earn her trust again, show her what kind of a man I was now since becoming Jonah’s dad. Be her friend. Then she’d tell me the truth. I just didn’t know if I could handle it. I didn’t know if I could handle going back to being only friends with her if she ended up marrying this guy.

I loved her.

She just never knew that.





“Hey, Mrs. Migillicutty!” I said, waving as I rolled in my trash barrel from the curb.

My next-door neighbor was an eighty-year-old widow who lived alone in the house she’d owned for fifty years. She’d spent the better part of the past month trying to get me to date her divorced granddaughter despite my repeatedly turning down her offers to help set us up.

“Mack, why don’t you come over for some Italian rum cake?”

“Thank you, but I’d better get back to work.”

“Come on. You work from home. You’re your own boss. Give yourself a break and have some goddamn cake.”