After dinner we went straight back to my bed. Since we didn’t know just when Greg was going to get back, we kept our clothes on and just made out a little bit. We did a lot of staring at each other, and Nicole tried to keep my hair behind my ear. Eventually I just closed my eyes to the feeling, and before long I drifted off.
For a day that included burying the only father I had ever known, it was a damn good one.
I woke to my phone ringing and tried to grab it off the nightstand before it could wake Nicole. The dim light coming through the window told me it was morning already, and we had obviously completely zonked out. As I hit the answer button without looking at who was calling, I wondered when Greg had come home.
“Hey, Malone,” a fairly somber voice said.
Fuck.
“Oh…um…hi.” I glanced over at Nicole and saw her looking up at me. I took a deep breath. “You want something?”
“Yeah, we need to talk,” he said. “Now a good time?”
“Not really,” I replied.
“Well, yeah—I figured.” He was quiet for a moment. “You need to come into my dad’s office. He’s got some shit to go over with you—you know, will shit.”
I didn’t respond and heard him take a deep breath again.
“Fuck, Thomas—I’m sorry,” he finally said.
“It’s okay,” I replied, deadpan. “I’ll give him a call and make an appointment.”
“Can you get in tomorrow?”
“Yeah, probably.”
“Ten o’clock?”
“Fine.”
“Do you need me to pick you up or anything?”
“No,” I said. “I’m good.”
“Okay…I’ll…um…I’ll be there if you want.”
“No, it’s okay.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Later, Malone.”
“Later.”
I hung up and put the phone back on the nightstand. I glanced at Nicole again, who was looking up at me with her eyes full of questions.
“I need to go see Dad’s lawyer,” I told her.
“Oh,” she replied as she looked away. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”
“He’s in town,” I told her.
“I can take you.”
“Shouldn’t you be in school tomorrow?”