Worse Than Being Alone by Patricia M. Clark Page B

you
think?”
    “ Don’t put this on me, Dad. Good
grief, what am I supposed to say? No, I don’t want you to be
happy.”
    “ I’m glad you feel that way,”
Billy said.
    “ That’s really sneaky and very
clever, Dad.”
    “ I thought so, too,” Billy said,
laughing. “Seriously, though, I’ve thought about all this a lot.
Marian is old school and she feels like she couldn’t continue our
relationship if we’re not married. I respect that.”
    “ So, this is the please back off
and accept my decision conversation?”
    The waiter arrived with the appetizer and set it in
front of them, interrupting Billy’s response.
    “ You have to try this, Roni, it’s
delicious,” Billy said.
    “ OK, it’s smells incredible,” Roni
said as she put part of the pancake on her plate. “So, back to our
conversation.”
    “ Well, as usual, I wouldn’t
exactly use those words,” Billy said.
    “ You can clean it up anyway you
want. In the end, is that what this is about?”
    “ Every issue isn’t a nail you have
to hammer, Roni,” Billy said as he put chutney and bacon on his
pancake.
    “ Wow, is that what you think I
do?”
    “ Sometimes,” Billy said as the
waiter took the empty appetizer plate away and replaced it with
their entrees.
    “ I don’t want to hurt your
feelings,” Billy said as the waiter left. “I just want you to
understand. At my age, I realize I don’t have much time left. I
want to make the most of it. I need someone to take care of me and
to be honest, the sex is good.”
    “ Too much information, Dad. No
daughter wants to hear about her father’s sex life. That’s why
you’re marrying this woman?”
    “ Partly,” Billy said. “You know
the old adage about not buying the cow when you can get the milk
for free?”
    “ She doesn’t want to give you free
milk?”
    “ She didn’t put it that way,”
Billy said. “She’s worried about her reputation.”
    “ Wow, I never thought you’d leave
me speechless but I have to admit, I’m there.”
    “ I don’t want to fight with you or
Marian,” Billy said. “I don’t want to feel like I have to make a
choice. I don’t want any more dinner inquisitions.”
    “ Ah, I thought that didn’t go over
so well.”
    “ You’re right, it didn’t,” Billy
said. “You need to tell Kitty to back off.”
    “ She was just worried about
you.”
    “ I know,” Billy said. “Plus, I
wouldn’t put it past you to put her up to it.”
    “ I might have mentioned some
reservations I had.”
    “ Kitty took it to a whole new
level,” Billy said. “I don’t want our relationship to change,
Roni.”
    “ OK, I get it.”
    “ So, you’ll help your old dad out
here?” Billy asked.
    “ I’ll do my best to accept Marian
and make this work, Dad. I promise.”
     

Chapter Thirteen
    The next morning, Roni and I huddled in the back of
Harley’s van, sipping coffee from twin Starbucks cups. The tinted
windows on Harley’s van insured we would remain concealed. We
swiveled back and forth in the captain’s chairs, staring at the
entrance to the Job Simulator, the physical therapy/simulated work
facility where Ho Chi Minh was scheduled to report any minute.
    “ Do you think she’ll show up?”
Roni asked.
    “ I don’t know,” I said. “She’s
been going for the last couple of weeks. She has a pattern she
follows. She goes for a while and then she quits. They send her a
letter with her check informing her they’re going to stop her
benefits if she doesn’t go to therapy. She doesn’t have much choice
if she wants her money. Let me tell you, if that woman shows up,
she won’t waste any time. She’ll be gone in a flash when she’s
done. Guess whose cat had kittens in my closet?”
    “ Oh, oh. I bet all your revenge
fantasies have been revived.”
    “ You got that right,” I
said.
    “ How many kittens are
there?”
    “ Six,” I said. “They’re so small
right now. I guess Harley did OK because they had all been born by
the time I