3. Galen
“I’ll see your five and raise you ten.” I shoveled a few plastic coins across the table into a similar pile of red, white, and black poker chips, staring dead-eyed across the table at my friend John. He was one of those types that looked for weird things he called “tells”, a scratch of the cheek when you were bluffing, a squint around the eyes when you got the card you needed. Nonverbal language I called it, but he called it tells. Whatever.
“I’ll see you, and raise you another ten.”
John slid more chips onto the pile and I immediately threw more in as well. I had an ace high flush. John was totally buying the pizza tonight.
“Let’s see what you got, Poker Man.”
John liked poker a lot. Too much if you asked me, but it’s his thing and I’d known him since we were both twelve. I wasn’t going to ride him over it.
“Two pairs, read ‘em and weep!” John let out a cackle of laughter that made me grin quietly, and his gleeful eyes twitched as he saw me. Fanning the cards out, I stared at John in satisfaction.
“Rookie mistake, John! You thought you knew me too well, relied on old knowledge, buddy. I win!” I scraped the chips onto my side of the table as the other three men around us whooped in laughter.
“Fuck you, Galen!” John spit out before he grinned at me. “Good hand!”
We bumped fists and I stood, going over to the playpen to check on Rikki.
“How’s our girl?” John stood to follow me, taking Rikki from her pen. He stood with her, which made her give a drooly grin as she slapped at his nose.
At just over two years old, my daughter was beginning to form sentences and was not afraid of using them.
“Nuncle Zohn stink!” she cried with a giggle and pushed away from him. The man was wearing more cologne than he normally did. Only my daughter could have gotten away with letting him know.
“Too much smelly stuff, eh?” He pulled her back to him and nuzzled at her neck, tickling her with his beard and mustache to make her scream with glee.
John was tall, dark, and handsome with hazel eyes and black hair. He’d run with open arms into the embrace of the hipster movement, which at thirty-five, I’d thought was more than a little weird.
He twirled Rikki in his arms, singing a song by some band that was probably inappropriate but Rikki loved it. John was a good singer, which is why he was in a band, famous in our area but not well known outside the state. We all had hope for them.
Eric called for the pizza, Tom went outside to smoke, and Steve went to stare out of the window.
“Hey, man, who’s the new piece next door?” Steve was the classic symbol of douchieness that set feminists off around the world. His thing was trolling feminist organizations on social media, seeing how many heads he could make explode. At heart, he was a good guy, but he did like to see people lose their shit. He knew just how to push the right buttons to do it.
I gave a rueful smile as John carried Rikki around on his shoulders, keeping her amused as he avoided paying for the pizza like a pro. I went over to the window to see that Steve was staring up into a window of the house next door.
“Dude, is she naked?” Steve went closer to the window before he moved away, disappointed. “Nah, she’s just got on clothes that blend in with her skin color. Damn!”
I looked up at the woman, staring out somewhere past my house. Still not my type.
“I don’t know. The house was empty yesterday so I guess she’s new. Probably a student or something. Not my type.” I turned away, looking over at John with Rikki, but Steve drew my attention back.
“Open season on white-tails then?” At that point, I had to wonder if Steve really was just trying to get a rise out of me or if he really was that much of a dick. I really wasn’t in the mood for Steve’s brand of humor tonight, but let it roll over me.
“That’s just wrong. But yeah, I don’t have any tabs on that one.”
“Maybe she could solve your problems? She’s a woman, she must be able to babysit, right? Isn’t that something they can all do? Instinct or something?” Steve was winding his arms around his chest, as though breasts gave women mothering instincts. I rolled my eyes.
“If she’s a student I doubt she’ll have time, but I could ask. Maybe.” I turned away, not really interested in continuing the conversation, or in hearing Steve’s opinions.
I took my daughter from John, fluffing her blond hair with my hand as I carried her to a high chair. The kitchen was large, decorated in stainless steel and dark wood with an open floor plan with a nook in the corner with a round table. I fed Rikki before the pizza arrived, something I wouldn’t feed her, and she was soon staring up at the ceiling sleepily. She’d be out in minutes.
The men talked quietly, a concession to my status as a single father. They’d been great since Kayla’s death, there to help me out in any way they could. John had done the most, often staying with Rikki when I couldn’t find a sitter. I couldn’t disagree that my friends were modern day douchebags, but they were my douchebags, and I loved them for it.
Eric went to the door to stop the delivery guy from ringing the bell and paid for our food while Steve set the table. I rocked Rikki in my arms, her eyes closed as she breathed evenly. She was so beautiful and had changed my world. I didn’t know what I’d do without her.
Having her in my life made me two men, the dad that would kill any man that treated her as I treated women, and the professor that probably deserved to be killed by more than a few fathers. My friends ate quietly as I took her up to her bedroom and put her in her bed. As I watched her I felt the split in my roles more keenly.
I loved women, don’t get me wrong, and I knew they deserved every single right a man has. I just couldn’t become attached to them. Kayla had taught me that.
I turned on Rikki’s nightlight and left the door open as I went downstairs. I couldn’t think about Kayla right now, that part of my life was too painful to investigate, even after two years. I walked down the stairs and took a seat.
“So, what’s these papers you got today?” Steve asked, a slice of pizza dripping oil on his plate.
“Rikki’s grandparents want custody of her.” The guys knew who I was talking about without me having to tell them.
“Fuck them, man! They weren’t here when you two needed them!” John was straight in, his ring-covered fingers formed into an obscene gesture as he pointed his hand into the air.
“Yeah, fuck them! Don’t worry about that shit, Galen. We got your back!” Eric concurred.
“What about the other thing? No babysitter?” Steve asked, his pizza now dripping down the front of his black t-shirt. Like John, Steve was a bit of hipster, but without the beard.
“I don’t know. I can take her into the school’s daycare, but we’re starting week two which will mean getting her a place is difficult.” The possibility I might end up taking her to class with me was becoming more likely the more I thought about it.
“I’ll watch her until you find somebody, Galen, no problem. I don’t have any gigs for a couple of weeks so it’s cool. I’ll try to find somebody too.” John, as always, was there and ready to help out.
“You need a new wife, Galen. Seriously. You get a babysitter, sex, and it might help get your in-laws off your back.” Tom, always the quiet one, spoke up from the dark side of the table, voicing his opinion for once. Tom hardly ever spoke, preferring to sit back and observe.
The ideas he felt deserved voicing were usually right, but this time I was dead against it. Nuh uh! It wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m not getting married again. Do we remember what happened the one and only time I tried that? No, that’s not an option.” I threw Tom a baleful glare, but let my face relax. “Besides, who would I ask?”
Steve raised his hand, bouncing in his seat with what I knew was going to be a stupid suggestion.
I squinted at him and glared again, waving my hand in his direction. “No, I don’t want to hear it. We need better ideas than this. Come on guys, who do we know?”
They all looked at each other and for the first time, the thought that maybe I really was screwed started to sink in. Damnit, I was going to have to interview babysitters. Great!