I took it personally. She was in my care and I couldn’t seem to fix her. I felt like I was failing her. Paul told me as much just before I left for the day. I told him Bree needed to work through this and she would, but it would take time.
Paul didn’t want to wait. He wanted her fixed and he wanted it right then. They fought. Then they were both mad. It only made the situation with Bree worse. I grabbed a beer from my fridge and flopped on the sofa.
I heard my phone ringing and reached for it. It was my mother. “What the fuck?” I mumbled.
Lisa was on duty. Lisa should be dealing with her. I wanted two days of peace. I didn’t have to guess what happened. They got into an argument and my mom was calling to complain about it. I didn’t have the strength to deal with her bullshit.
Dropping the phone back onto the sofa, I stared at the wall. When the chime alerting me to a new voicemail echoed around the room, I thought about ignoring it. I couldn’t. I needed to know everything was okay. I left the phone on the sofa, hit the voicemail button and turned on the speaker.
“Hello, Luke. It’s your mother. I suppose you’re not taking my calls again. I guess that’s okay. I just want you to know that I love you. I’m growing weaker by the day and I’m not sure if I will have the strength to call you again. The doctor switched me to a new medicine and it is making me nauseous. I can’t seem to keep any
weight on. He’s talking about getting me on a feeding tube, but you know how much I hate those things. I just can’t do it. I’ll die, I guess. Slowly. But don’t you worry about me. You keep living that life out there in California. Lisa said you live in a mansion and have a beautiful girlfriend. You just don’t have time for me anymore. Goodbye son. If I don’t hear from you before things get bad, I’m not angry with you.”
I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I hit the button to delete the voicemail. I wanted to tell her she’d been dying for about twenty years. That gave a whole new meaning to slow. She loved to pull at my heart strings. Loved to play the victim with the shitty family that abandoned her. She loved her role and she played it well.
The day just wasn’t getting any better. I finished my beer and decided I was in the mood to get shitfaced. I grabbed my phone and called Austin. He always seemed up for a party.
“Hey,” I said, when he picked up the phone. I could hear loud music in the background and smiled. I knew he’d be the right person to call to forget all about my worries.
“Come over,” he shouted. “I’ve got a few people over. I got a new arcade game. It’s a total blast. You have to check this thing out.”
I laughed, not surprised in the least. Austin was one of the loneliest people I knew. He always had people around him, but he was lonely. I felt bad for the guy. He had everything a man could want in the world, except love and genuine friends.
“I’ll be there as soon as I get an Uber,” I told him.
“Great! Hurry up!”
I shouldn’t be going out on a work night, but I told myself I would hang out for a couple hours. I just needed to blow off a little steam. When I got to his house, I was immediately handed a drink.
“You look like you need that,” Austin said with a laugh.
“I do,” I said, taking a long drag from the stiff drink. “Why do you need that?” I nodded at the drink in his hand.
He grinned. “I lost a couple million dollars today.”
My eyes widened. “Oh shit. How?”
He shrugged. “It happens. A deal went sour and I got left holding the bag.”
“I’m sorry.”
He smiled and took a long drink. “Don’t be. I’ll make ten times that tomorrow, but for today, I’m a little pissed about it.”
I slowly nodded. I had no real idea just how wealthy the guy was, but now I knew he could afford to lose a few million and not have to sell one of his many cars. “Show me this game.”
There were a few other people milling about. I recognized them all. They were his entourage. The hangers-on. He didn’t seem to mind them and it was none of my business if they were using him. “Let’s get a refill first.”
I looked at my glass that was still half-full. I quickly downed the rest of the drink and followed him to the full bar. He mixed us up a couple more drinks and led me to his game room that rivaled that of a real arcade, but with less noise and more alcohol.
“This is awesome,” I told him after a couple rounds inside the massive machine that gave you the impression you were truly on Mars driving some off-road vehicle.
“Pretty soon, I will never leave the house.”
“Is that a good thing or bad thing?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”
“If and when you have kids, you are going to be the coolest dad on the planet. The whole neighborhood is going to want to hang out at your house.”