The hand stroking the boy’s black hair has a Celtic knot ring with the letter R above it tattooed on the ring finger.
Slim walks over to his bored-looking wife, spends about a minute there, and comes back to hand DJ off, having fulfilled his fatherly duty.
“I’ll call you about DJ, okay?” He tells Marissa, who nods.
“Here’s your keys,” she says, reaching into her pocket, and he stupidly replies, “You can keep them.”
“What for?” She asks with a grimace. “The door locks automatically, so I’ll close it after we load everything. And here’s the car key.”
“Riss, you know I got that car for you when you had DJ.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Dylan. It’s in your name, so… I don’t want you reporting it stolen.” Marissa shrugs.
Slim has the audacity to look offended. “You really think I’d do that?”
“I wouldn’t put anything past you,” Marissa murmurs, and his jaw pulses angrily.
He looks at me like I’m to blame, like he wants to deck me for his own mistakes, but when he glances at Rebel, she turns her phone screen to him in an impatient gesture, and he deflates. “Well, then. Drive safe.”
He gives his son a kiss and heads back to his life.
The twins come out to inform us that everything’s taken care of, then hop on their bikes, eager to return to Phoenix.
“All done.” Marisa smiles at me after closing up, but it’s the saddest smile I’ve ever seen.
It’s understandable; she’s mourning a life that she envisioned for herself and her child, and yet, for a moment, I feel like a fool, chasing a woman who might never love me back.
“Are you going to sit in the back with him?” I ask her, trying to shake off that particular devil.
“If that’s alright,” she says gratefully, as she leans down to buckle DJ into his brand new car seat. “I like seeing him, and since his car seat has to face the rear, I can’t really do that when he’s in the back.”
I take my cut off and lay it on the passenger seat.
She straightens up. “Can we make a stop before we leave town? I wanna say goodbye to Susan, DJ’s grandma.”
“No problem.”
Marissa gives me directions to Susan’s house; other than that, we don’t talk.
“We’ll be right back,” she says when they get out.
I play the CD Shroomie has burned for me. Unsurprisingly, the first song that plays is “Run to the Hills”. I keep pressing forward until I hear Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man”. I relax.
Three songs later, they’re still not back. Just when I decide to knock on Susan’s door, I see it open. I turn the music down and smile at them through the window.
I’m 2374 days sober.
My heart is full, and my future is bright.
I got my woman and her boy with me, and we’re heading home.
Chapter 13
Marissa
“I have something for you,” Susan says out of nowhere while playing with DJ.
I look up from his giggling face. “Oh. For me? What?”
