It's time to move on.
57
Buzz
"How are you feeling?" Howie asks, dropping off another box on the front porch.
"Hey. Careful," I say, tapping it gently with my foot. "See that big word written on the side of it? F-r-a-g-i-l-e." I spell it out for him. "Means be careful so you don't break what's inside."
"Gee, thanks for that." He elbows me in the ribs, nowhere near as hard as he could. He's back in top form. The only reason he's in Clovelly is because it's the off-season, but come next month, he'll be in the starting lineup for the preseason game.
We sit down on the stoop, and I reach for my water bottle and take a drink. We've been working all morning, and it's almost eighty degrees, a mini heatwave by Maine standards.
"I'm happy and sad," I tell him. "We've made the right decision, but change is never easy."
"That's why I never change," Ramzi says, waltzing up the path carrying the last of the boxes from the U-Haul I hired for the day, grinning like the goofball he is. "Thank the good lord he made me perfect so I don't have to."
I chuckle even though it's a lame joke. Howie stands up to let him through, staring out into the front yard as Ramzi passes him.
"This one says bedroom, so I'll take it upstairs."
"Thanks, man," I say. "And good job on the reading."
"Fuck you, and you're buying me lunch after this."
I chuckle. "Fair enough."
He goes inside, and Howie sits back down.
"I can't believe I'm a co-homeowner," I say, bumping him with my leg. "And it's all because of you."
"It's nothing."
"Helping me out with my half of the down payment is not nothing. You know I'll pay you back, right?"
"I know you will, but you don't have to. Raising a kid is expensive, and that kid is my half sibling, too. I'd like to do something to contribute."
"Unlike our jackass father," I say, kicking at a loose stone.
Howie groans. "I still can't believe how he reacted."
Court's mom called him last night to say she'd met up with our dad. He, grossly, was under the impression it was for a bit of hanky panky, but apparently, he took one look at her, and his face turned white as a ghost.
They talked instead, and he begged her not to tell Liz.
Elaine went along with it on the condition he doesn't interfere with her plan for Court and me to adopt and raise the baby.
I always imagined in the back of my mind that when Dad found out, he'd step up and do the right thing, be involved in the child's life in some way.
But nope.
He's wiping his hands clean of everything. The kid and the affair, happy to pretend both never happened.
I thought him knowing would provide some sort of closure or resolution. It hasn't.
And it's going to make family holidays awkward as hell. I don't even know if I'll want to go. I might need to ask Zane for advice on how to implement a 'no contact' policy. At least for a while.
Disappointed doesn't even begin to cover how I feel. I've lost all respect for the man.
