Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
I was trying my best today, at least. I was good at football, working out, and having a good time, but I wasn’t exactly an expert at cleaning.
I was scared shitless of Zach hating his new school, or being bullied like Evan used to be. Zach had always been a nerdy kid, and I knew how tough that could be in a new place.
“Come on. Enough with the phone. Get up,” I said, trying to sound more serious.
“Dad,” Zach protested, sighing and pushing his thick-framed glasses up.
“You need to change out of those pants. Evan is going to be here in fifteen minutes and you look like you just rolled out of bed.”
“I did just wake up,” Zach said.
That was another thing to feel guilty about. Jess had always made Zach get out of bed by ten o’clock at the latest, but I figured the kid was in the height of his puberty growth spurt. If he slept until two in the afternoon on some weekends, maybe it was because he needed it.
“Do me a favor and don’t tell Evan I let you do that,” I said.
Zach laughed. “Mr. Bailey wouldn’t care. He’s, like, the most chill teacher I’ve ever had, I swear.”
My heart did a little victory dance when I heard that Zach liked Evan as a teacher. Thoughts of Evan had been running on an endless loop in my head since I’d finally seen him last night, but in truth, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since I decided to move back to Amberfield.
My body must have just been reacting to being single again and perking up at every little chance it could, because I’d gotten a strange thrill from hugging Evan last night. I fucking loved Evan, but I’d never gotten… that kind of excited from hugging him. Maybe my wires were just crossed because I hadn’t been laid in months.
It sucked being lonely. And the instant I was around him, that loneliness just disappeared.
I’d also dreamed about him last night. His tongue on mine, then his tongue… other places.
Today I’d vowed to fix up the house a little bit, have a beer with Ev when he came by, and then ask him to tell me everything he knew about Red’s Tavern.
“A little help, please?” I asked Zach, and I got some sort of grunt in response. I bent down to pick up a heavy box full of books, carrying it over to the spare room. When nothing else cleared my mind, I could always count on lifting a bunch of heavy shit to keep me steady.
Zach was still lollygagging on the couch ten minutes later.
“You can just call him Evan when he’s over here, by the way,” I said. “No need to say Mr. Bailey.”
Zach finally got up and off the couch, though he gave me the stink-eye. “That’s weird, Dad. I’m not going to call my teacher Evan.”
“He’s not just your teacher. He’s my oldest friend,” I said.
Zach gave me an accusatory look. “If he’s your oldest friend, why didn’t we ever visit him here?”
My jaw clenched. That was the million-dollar question, and apparently my own fourteen-year-old kid was able to see right through me.
“Because we lived in Chicago for the last fifteen years, and Amberfield is far away,” I muttered, crushing one of the empty cardboard boxes under my boot. “He visited us. Now go change into some jeans, at least.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” Zach said, disappearing down the hallway.
I couldn’t tell him the truth.
We didn’t visit Amberfield for the past fifteen years because just thinking about how I’d left Evan alone here filled me with murky guilt that I couldn’t shake.
I had been by Evan’s side the summer before senior year of high school when his mom had passed away from breast cancer. But when his dad died a year later, I’d already been in Chicago.
Evan had been alone since he was eighteen years old, and I still felt horrible that I wasn’t here for him. I’d called him all the time, but phone calls weren’t the same as in-person comfort.
All Ev had wanted for so long was to start a family of his own, and it broke my heart that he still hadn’t found it.
Even if my own attempt at family had just blown up in my face.
“Fuck!” I heard from down the hall, and my heart skipped a beat.
“Hey—watch your mouth—” I said, more habit than anything, but I knew if Zach was swearing and hollering like that, there had to be a reason. The kid was usually too quiet.
A loud clattering and another clipped shout came from Zach’s room and I rushed down the hall.
“What the hell?” I asked, finding him in the corner of his room, all tensed up, looking down at the ground. A few books were scattered haphazardly around the floor.