“Dad’s turned my old bedroom into his ship-in-a-bottle hobby space! Evan’s old room is Mom’s sewing nook!”
She scoffs. “Again.Notmy problem. The girls will have enough to go through dealing with our separation. I don’t need them uprooted from their home too.”
“I never said they needed to be!” I shoot back. “I agree with you there, but I’m theirfather. I don’t get a say as a parent at all?”
“The day you get a say as a parent is the day you actually decide tobea parent, Gannett,” she hisses. “You’ve always tried to be their buddy. Never, in their entire three years, have you been a father. You need to grow up;that'swhat you need to do.”
The words slam into me like a snowplow, knocking me back a few steps. My back hits the wall, and I slide down it until my ass hits the carpeted floor.
Another humorless laugh bubbles out of her, and she rolls her eyes, zipping up her luggage. “That reaction says itall. Youare totally clueless. I’ll let you know when I’m back in town. Bring a pen, becauseyou’ll have some paperwork you need to sign. And clean up all these empty bottles, too, while you’re at it. You think you’re so sneaky, hiding them, but you’re not.”
I hang my head in defeat, my shoulders slumping as I curl in on myself. She’s right. I am totally clueless. How did I not see this coming? How the hell could I have been so fucking blind?
Maybe it’s true, what everyone thinks of me. Maybe, I’m just the world’s biggest dumbass.
My phone vibrates on the bartop. Instead of just texting me back like a normal person that lives in the twenty-first century, he calls. I’m almost certain his aversion to texting is probably because he’s a man of few words, but it would take a century for his fat thumbs to type even those few out. And emojis? Evan’s never heard of her.
“I take it the time away didn’t do her any good?” my big brother asks in lieu of an actual greeting, though I can hardly hear him over the raucousness at the pub tonight. I gesture at Gordy to give me a refill before I slide off my stool and head towards the back hallway, where it’s a little less loud.
“That’s a negative,” I tell him. “I even tried to tell her about the couples counselor your boo suggested the day before yesterday, and all she sent me back was a middle finger emoji. I’m no Alfred Einstein, but that seemed like a surefire ‘no’ to me.”
Evan snorts. “Albert.”
I rear back, checking to make sure it’s still Ev I’m talking to. “How’s getting a Prince Albert going to help? She hasn’t wanted anything todo with Blackbeard in a while. I don’t think giving him some bling is going to win her back…”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Gan,” he sighs. It’s not a video chat, but I don’t need it to know he’s rolling his eyes at me. “Two things. One, it’s Albert Einstein, notAlfred. Two, grow up and stop calling your dick Blackbeard.”
“Don’t you think I’m going through enough life changes right now? Jesus, man, have some compassion. I would’ve thought Brooks would have thawed your cold heart a little.”
His reply is a soft hum; I can hear the phone muffle a little bit and him murmur, “Sorry, beautiful. It’s Gan. Let me just take this real quick.” I hear more shuffling, and then finally Evan gets back on the line. “What do you need, Gan? You texted me asking for a favor. I’ll do what I can, but make it quick.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Was I interrupting something?” I ask petulantly. He was probably in the middle of getting dicked down by his new beau, and I can’t help but want to rib him a little. It’s what little bros are for, after all.
Truthfully, I probably should keep the snark to a minimum. After all he’s been through, he deserves some uninterrupted time to celebrate his big life changes, and here I am, cockblocking him by asking him to bail me out of troubled waters. And there he is, being his typical self and offering to give me the shirt off his back—even though I’m a grown-ass adult, and should be figuring this out on my own instead of procrastinating and hoping it all blows over.
It’s been all weekend, Sarah’s due back in just a few hours, I’m feeling a little tipsy, and it has not, in fact, blown over at all.
“I need to be out of my house in a few hours, and I have nowhere to go,” I sigh.
“If you need a place to stay, I can contact my landlord and see if he’d be okay with you taking over the lease on my apartment for the time being,” he tells me. “But I don’t think he’ll be around until tomorrow. Can you find a place tonight?”
I’ve got a couple renting out my houseboat—the one my brother and Brooks absolutelydefiledlast night—so that’s a no-go, and at this time of day, it’ll be too much of an imposition to ask my parents if I can rent space on their couch. Sunday’s are Dad’s R&R days. Historically speaking, you don’t fuck with those. Besides, I’m not sure I’m ready to handle the verbal flogging I’ll get from them. They’re not mean, just set in their ways. I already feel like an epic failure. Trust me, I don’t need any more reminders. I’ve been holed up at Portside all day reminding myself, drowning in whatever swill Gordy Masterson’s got on tap.
“Gannett,” my brother grunts. “Have you got anywhere to go tonight?”
“No, I have nowhere to go tonight. Sarah was adamant I be out of the house by the time she gets back from her parents’ in Massachusetts. She already thinks I do nothing, so I don’t want to piss her off more by proving her right and still being there when she gets home.”
Evan sighs. “Spare key is under the doormat at the top of the landing. You’re, uh—you’re going to want to change the sheets before you sleep in my bed.”
“Fuckin’ disgusting, bro. Must you debaucheverything? My boat wasn’tenoughfor you?”
“Would you rather your ass be sleeping out in the bed of your pickup? I hear the stars are lovely to gaze at this time of night out in Ternbay.”
I snort. “Not like you’d know. You’ve just dedicated your life to moving out to Alder Notch to chase after your boyfriend.”
“Mhm,” he hums. “I’d shamelessly follow him to the ends of the Earth, if that’s what it takes.”
I roll my eyes. “Lovesick sap.”
