Chapter Twenty-Five
Talen
The diner was quiet when I walked in that morning. The older woman named Monica who always occupied the front booth was happily chomping down on a piece of pie. And, there were three older men in various shades of flannel, sitting at the breakfast counter, eating silently.
Lacey was wiping down a table at the back as I walked over to her. She saw me coming at the last minute and gave a little start of surprise.
“Geez, Talen,” she said. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of a scary guy?”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “A few,” I nodded. “Where’s Brittany?”
Lacey continued wiping down the table. “She took the day off today.”
I frowned, instantly worried. She hadn’t been in great shape when I’d left her the previous night, and I was wondering if leaving her in that condition had been a mistake. “Do you know why?”
“She’s out hunting for a second job,” she replied.
“Oh.”
“Why?” she asked. “You look a little worried?”
“I… I’m not,” I said quickly. “Did Brittany mention anything to you about yesterday?”
“Yesterday?” she repeated, wrinkling her brows together. “No, I don’t think so. Why?”
“No reason,” I said quickly, realizing that Brittany hadn’t shared her meeting with her father with Lacey. “Can I get some toast and coffee, please?”
“Of course,” Lacey nodded, looking at me curiously. “Give me five minutes.”
She left me at my usual booth and headed over to the breakfast counter. I took out my phone and dialled in Brittany’s number, but then I thought better of calling. She would call me if she needed me, I decided. Until then, I would give her the space she so obviously needed.
I was surprised at how worried I was about Brittany. I had never spent so much effort thinking about one specific woman before. This was the first time that I actually had a vested interest in a girl I had slept with.
My thoughts kept flitting to my four brothers. They had all been staunch bachelors at one point. I had always assumed that Peter and John would live together in our childhood home until they were old, gray, and cranky. I had assumed Alan and Sam would be playing the field until their dentures fell out of their worn mouths.
And yet, against all odds, my brothers had become the very thing they had always wanted to avoid. They had become family men.
John was going to be a father soon. Peter and Alan were married men, and Sam was a doting stepfather to his fiancés’s child. For me, the strangest transformation had been Sam’s. He was the one brother who had always been closest to me. He was easy to talk to and never got into anything too serious. It was safe to talk to Sam because he didn’t touch on the uncomfortable topics. And even if he did, I could always distract him easily.
He was still easygoing and jovial, but there was a seriousness about him, too. It was a seriousness that was born out of his new set of responsibilities. He dropped Renni off at school in the mornings before he headed to the fire station for his shifts, he picked her up afterwards when he could, he went for all her school events, and he tucked her into bed at night after reading her a story.
Overnight, he had transformed from a carefree player into a loving father, and he was the last person I’d have expected that from. I could see Peter, John, and Alan as fathers in the distant future, but somehow, the most immature brother of the lot had beaten them to the punch. And, the truly amazing part was that he was actually excelling at it.
“Here you go,” Lacey said, interrupting my thoughts as she set a plate of toast down in front of me. “And coffee.”
“Thanks.”
“Sure thing,” she nodded. She paused for a moment, her eyes falling onto my face in light scrutiny. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Me?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “You just seem a little down… Missing Brittany that much, huh?”
I smiled. “I’ll see her tomorrow.”
“True, but not today,” Lacey said teasingly. “She’s been talking about getting a second job for some time now. It’s a good thing that she’s finally acting on it.”
“How easy is it to find a job here?”
“Depends on who you are, really,” Lacey sighed. “For people like us…it’s difficult.”
“People like us?” I repeated.
“Brittany and I are high school drop outs with no qualifications to speak of.” Lacey gave a dejected shrug. “Our skill set is limited and generic. There are a thousand girls out there who can do the same thing we can, probably for cheaper…which doesn’t give us a lot of bargaining power. Which means we take what we can get, and we don’t quibble about it.”
“I see.”
“Brittany’s a smart girl, though,” Lacey continued. “She’s charismatic and cheerful, and people tend to like her right off the bat. Her pretty face doesn’t hurt, either. I’m sure she’ll find something…”
I raised my eyebrows at Lacey. “You don’t sound sure.”
She smiled. “I’ve been looking for work myself,” she admitted. “It’s slim pickings… I don’t envy the day Brittany has ahead of her. Anyways… I gotta get back to it.”
“Right,” I nodded. “Thanks.”
I ate my breakfast in a fog of thought, paid quickly, and then headed over to the facility. Ryan was already there when I arrived, and he was working over a punching bag with focus. I stretched quickly and joined him in the ring. He kept trying to make conversation, but I was just too preoccupied to engage with him. After a while, he just stopped trying.
Despite my resilient silence, my head was just not into training and I kept finding myself on the ground with Ryan standing over me. The third time he managed to pin me down, he actually gave a whoop of pleasure.
“Either I’m getting really good, or your head’s just not in the fight today,” Ryan said, raising an eyebrow at me. “So…”
“So what?” I asked, wiping the sweat from my brow.
“Which is it?”
I shook my head. “You’re getting better?”
He smirked at me. “Even I’m not going to buy that.”
“I’m just a little preoccupied today,” I admitted.
“I can tell,” he replied sarcastically. “The question is why?”
“Yes, why?” Steven’s voice was raised with derision as he stepped into the ring and came to stand between us. “Especially since you have a big fight coming up. A fight that you insisted on participating in, despite being advised against it.”
I lowered my eyes. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“No?” Steven asked. “Because if you’re going to fight like this against Kendrick Conner, I can tell you right now – you will die in that ring and your name will die, too. If people remember you at all, it will be with mockery.”
I flinched slightly, but I took it. Steven was right. I had made the call to bring forward the fight, and I needed to put more effort into the training session. But I knew that wasn’t going to happen today.
“I just…need a day,” I said.
“You need a day?” Steven replied incredulously.
“I promise that when I show up tomorrow, you will see a different fighter.”
“You’re taking off?” Ryan asked in shock.
“I’ll see you both tomorrow,” I said.
Without another word, I got down from the ring and headed towards the locker rooms without a backward glance. I showered briefly, changed into clean clothes, and headed back to my apartment. I was lying on my bed, trying to figure out what to do when it struck me that what I really needed was advice.
I reached for my phone and called Sam, hoping that he wasn’t busy. Much to my relief, he answered on the fourth ring.
“Yello?”
“Hi, Sam,” I said.
“Talen!” Sam said excitedly. “How’s it going, bro?”
“Good,” I said. “My fight got brought forward. I’m going to be fighting Conner in a couple of weeks in Las Vegas.”
“You’re shitting me!”
“I’m not.”
“Fucking hell,” Sam breathed. “Are you even ready for that?”
“I’ll have to be.”
“I’ve seen Conner fight, Talen,” he said in awe. “He’s…a serious fighter.”
“So am I.”
“Yeah I know, but you’re my brother,” he said, as though that explained everything.
I smiled. “That’s not what I called to talk about.”
“Oh?” he said, in surprise. “You called to talk about something specific?”
“Kind of,” I nodded hesitantly. “See… There’s this girl-”
“What!” Sam yelled, overreacting just like I knew he would.
“Oh, calm the fuck down,” I said impatiently. “It’s not like that.”
“It’s not like that?” he repeated. “So you’re not sleeping with her?”
I hesitated.
“I knew it,” Sam said, and I could practically see the goofball grin on his face.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sleeping with her, but… It’s all casual, okay? There’s nothing serious going on.”
“You’ve slept with her on multiple occasions?”
“Umm…”
“Ah ha!”
“You’re making me regret calling you,” I warned.
He laughed. “Oh come on, I never thought I’d see the day. Let me enjoy this.”
“Yup,” I said. “Definitely regretting this.”
Sam kept laughing. “Okay, okay… Now tell me, there’s this girl…”
“Her name is Brittany, and she’s a waitress at this local diner I go to for breakfast each morning,” I explained. “We’ve been spending some time together.”
“Naked time together?”
“I would have thought fatherhood might have matured you a little.”
“It hasn’t,” Sam said immediately. “Especially not when I’m hanging out with my brothers alone.”
“Lucky us.”
“I would say so.”
I rolled my eyes and continued. “Anyway, she’s… She’s a really good person. She’s a really hardworking person, but I can see her struggling to make ends meet.”
“Oh, you mean money issues?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I want to help her out, but I don’t want to insult her, either. Money is a sensitive issue, and she’s had a rough few days.”
“Why have they been rough?”
“She asked her bastard of a father for money,” I explained. “And he turned her down point blank.”
“Whoa…cold.”
“You have no idea,” I said. “It was brutal to watch.”
“You were there?”
“Uh… I went with her for moral support.”
“Damn,” Sam breathed, in obvious awe. “This is more serious than I thought.”
“It’s not serious,” I insisted harshly. “I was just lending some support to a friend.”
“A friend you’re sleeping with?”
“Haven’t you ever had friends like that?”
“Not really,” he said.
“Are you actually going to give me advice or do I have to call another brother?” I demanded impatiently.
I could almost hear Sam’s silent laughter on the other end. “Like you would,” he said, and then his tone turned slightly more serious. “Listen, you’ve been in the same position she is now, right?”
“Not so long ago,” I agreed. “Which is exactly why I sympathize.”
“Okay, so when you were in her position, what would you have appreciated?” Sam asked sagely.
“I… I honestly don’t know.”
“Well think about it,” he said. “Listen… Going through money problems is bad enough. Feeling like you have no one to rely on is altogether worse.”
I nodded. “You’re right.”
“Always am,” Sam replied smugly. “So, how’d I do with the advice, little bro?”
“Surprisingly good,” I admitted.
“Ha!” he said. “I am on fire lately…no pun intended.”
“You are such a loser,” I laughed. “I don’t know why Mia stays with you.”
“Because I’m an animal in bed.”
“Urgh…hanging up now.”
“Okay, I’ll save the details for when I see you face to face,” Sam said.
“Please don’t.”
“It’s a date,” he said quickly before hanging up.
I shook my head at the phone, but the call really had helped. I knew what I wanted to do now and I felt good about it.