Simple Man by Lydia Michaels

to stand for.”
    Tucker looked highly concerned. “Why don’t you stand for doing the right thing and let someone who knows what they’re doing raise this kid?”
    All joking aside, Shane looked at his friends. “Because he’s mine. He’s my nephew, not some stranger’s. I have no one. I lost my parents. I lost my sister. He’s all I have left. The other day I actually considered drinking drain cleaner because I had nothing to live for. Today I have a purpose. It’s him. He needs me and I need him and I’m going to do whatever I have to do in order to keep him.”
    They were quiet for several minutes. When they spoke again it wasn’t in exasperated tones, but in pure curiosity.
    “What about chicks?” Tucker asked. “Having a kid around is going to majorly cramp your style.”
    Shane shrugged. “He’s gonna be a part of me. If some girl has a problem with that, then she isn’t someone I want in my life. He’ll be like a filter for crappy women. I’ll only let the good ones in. Besides, women dig babies. For all I know he may be a total chick magnet.”
    “What about work?” Duce asked. “Who’s gonna watch him when you’re working?”
    Fuck, he hadn’t thought about that. Living paycheck to paycheck didn’t really allow for much of a savings. He needed to work. “I don’t know. I’ll figure something out.”
    “You know you can’t take him on the job,” Tucker said.
    He tossed a piece of pizza crust at him. “No shit, wise ass. Look, I know I don’t really have a clue what I’m doing, but I’ll learn. This is what Noel wanted. I need to do it right. For her.”
    Duce sighed. “Jesus, this is like our last Goonie weekend. Everything’s going to change.”
    “I need a change,” Shane admitted. “Maybe we all do. Losing Noel was the last straw. I can’t keep letting life slip through my fingers.”
    Duce held up his beer. “To Noel. May this tiny part of her grow to be a piece of us all, so we never truly have to say goodbye.”
    Shane smiled. His friends were good guys. He held up his beer. “To Noel.”
    Tucker joined them. “To Noel.”
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
    Shane was a master of procrastination. “I gotta call out of work tomorrow,” he told Sims who sat like a relentless addict playing the game station on the floor.
    “Yup.”
    “Are you even listening to me?”
    “Nope.”
    Shane sighed and got up. He still had to straighten up his place, go to the library, skim over the books. He looked at his watch—twelve forty-five—he should probably get moving.
    “You’re gonna have to go,” he told Sims. “I got shit to do.”
    “Aw, man, just do your shit around me. I’m on level eighteen.”
    Shane didn’t really care if he stayed, but he knew so long as Sims was sitting around doing nothing, nothing would get done on his part either. He shut off the TV.
    “Fuck! Why’d you do that?” It was a rather dramatic response to having a video game shut off, but Shane had been there before. Sadly, he understood.
    “Seek help. You’re addicted. I gotta run to the library so you need to leave.”
    Sims stood and collected his phone from the table. “Library’s closed on Sunday.”
    “What? No, it’s not,” he argued, but feared his friend was right.
    “Oh, okay,” Sims said easily, telling Shane he didn’t need to argue because he was certain the library was closed.
    Fuck!
    “Shit. I gotta get those books about the baby. I’m supposed to read them before tomorrow.”
    “You can go to the bookstore.”
    “I can’t buy all those books. I already have to miss work tomorrow so I’ll lose a day’s pay. I’m gonna need to buy diapers and stuff.”
    “Just read them there. People do it all the time. It’s part of that new liberal-literature-coffee generation thing stores are doing.”
    “What the fuck are you talking about?” He checked his pockets for everything he needed and picked up his keys.
    “Trust me. Go to a bookstore and you’ll see