Page 19 of Error Handling

“You are free to go whenever,” Cassie calls from her desk.

I perk up. “Oh. My boss said I can go drop it off whenever.”

“Okay. Well. Lemme know when they get it.”

Because he needs to close out the account and start a new one? Sometimes I think my dad is laundering money for the mafia. “I will.”

“Okay. Well,” Dad repeats.

I inherited my talent with words from my father.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up from the airport?” I say, referring to our rapidly approaching spring break vacation on Folly Island.

Dad coughs in my ear, a lingering, deep chest heave. “Nope. Mary and I managed to arrange a rental.”

“Who’s Mary?” I already know. Mary is another in a long line of girlfriends who blend together so smoothly they may as well be faceless. He prefers blondes, even though at his age the blondes are gray underneath. Unlike a lot of men his age, he doesn’t date younger women. He mostly courts women born in his decade. It’s one good trait of his, I guess.

“I told you about Mary,” he says.

“Nope. Nope, you didn’t. You told me about Theresa. And I thought she was going to escort you to Folly Island.”

“She had a stroke. Her kids put her in a nursing home. She can’t use her left arm or leg.”

My jaw drops. “How horrible.” And how horrible that my dad traded up already. Although it’s not surprising. He does have some standards when it comes to women. She must be able to walk, apparently, and she must be able to drink milk without spilling it out of the paralyzed side of her mouth. I pinch my brow with my thumb and index finger. I love my dad, I do, but sometimes...

“I still visit her, but she doesn’t recognize me.”

My shoulders relax. Maybe I’m being too hard on him. “I’m sorry, that’s terrible.”

“Yep. That’s what happens when you get old.”

I imagine him pulling up his work overalls as he says it.

“I look forward to meeting... What was her name?” I ask.

“Mary.”

“Mary,” I repeat.Baby Jesus. Baby Jesus. Baby Jesus.Hopefully, the association will help me remember Mary’s name. It’s a memory trick I learned from some comedian. I can’t remember his name.

“Okay, I’ll let you go, then. I’ll call after I drop off the check.”

We say goodbye and I end the call.

“You leaving?” Cassie says after I set the phone on my desk.

“I suppose,” I say. “He’s so funny about his checks. But who am I to argue? He’s paying for my college.”

My phone buzzes.

Sorry I didn’t text you earlier. Cassie just texted me and said there was a mess-up on Saturday, and you didn’t mean to stand me up. Even if you did, that’s cool. But I was thinking, maybe we could try again sometime?

“Cassie!” I yell.

Chapter 5

Chris

“You went on the wrong blind date?” Kahlil Jones says. He glances down at me from high atop the aluminum ladder.