Page 66 of Never Forever

I turned to see Roy Barnes walking up the dock toward me. He was pushing a passed-out Nora in a stroller.

Yes! Yes! Just what I need.

Roy Barnes didn’t talk about feelings. He talked about how the new Red Sox pitcher, Bello, wasn’t worth the hype, and the tinking sound in his Beta A5 engine.

I lifted my hand in greeting. Roy understood silence, hard-work and the water. He wasn’t a bad poker player either. He had a fresh sunburn on his weathered face and he smelled like fish – the way God intended.

He pointed at the bench next to me and grunted. I understood grunt.

Mind if I sit?

I shifted sideways and he put the brake on the stroller so he could see Nora, and sat down next to me. Then like a fairy god father, he pulled two long necks out of an insulated bag in the basket under the stroller.

He lifted the beer and I grunted.

Yes, please.

He handed me the beer and the two of us took long pulls from the icy cold bottles. I could feel the world returning to sanity.

Nice night,he grunted

Weather’s turning,I grunted.

Thank God,he grunted.

We need some rain,I grunted.

Another long drink.

“How’s the engine?” I asked.

That fucker, he grunted. “I got Jolie’s dad looking at it.”

“He knows his way around engines.”

“A-yup.”

More good honest silence. More beer. This was the way things should be. I even liked the toddler sleeping over there. Her pink dress had unicorns on it. That was cute. A lot of the guys at poker were settling down. Having kids. Some nights the wives just showed up, like it wasn’t a damn poker game. They’dgo into Jolie’s kitchen and every time Mari would laugh, Bobby would look up like he’d heard angels sing. Then, before I could win anyone’s money, the women would come back in and sit on their partners’ laps and that was it. Game over. Suddenly it was a party with music and talking.

I didn’t play poker to talk.

“You see the game last night?” Roy asked, watching his girl with one eye.

I shook my head. “Caught the last inning.”

“I knew Bello was too young.”

“Raskin is looking good.”

“Let’s see if he can hold it to the playoffs.”

I grunted in response.

Nora shifted in her stroller and I could feel Roy tense up, like waiting for a bomb to go off, but she sighed and settled back down.

Thank God, he grunted.

That Nora. She was a cutie. A talker, but a cutie.