Part 10

Once upon I time I actually did proofreading before I posted these things...

Eventually I got ahold of Mike to set up a lunch meeting, but I did wait a couple of days before I called him. He must have known I needed it, because he didn’t call me either. It felt like the whole world rolled over and I was just starting from scratch. Ella knew that it was only a matter of time before I warmed up to the whole baby idea. As soon as I said I’d think about it we both knew what would happen, but I still wanted to wait her out a bit. It was nice to be overwhelmed about a good thing for a change.

I had been sitting in a booth at the restaurant nursing an iced tea for almost ten minutes before Mike showed up. It was one of those places that had a fifties theme, complete with Elvis posters and the fake leather booths. It even had an old style jukebox, or at least one that looked old. I think it was one of those fakes that download songs directly from the internet. I sometimes miss the scratches of old records, it just makes things sound authentic.

“Been waiting long?” Mike asked as he walked over to me.

“Not really, “ I said. Mike isn’t much for greetings and small talk, at least, not anymore. “How’s things?”

“Eh,” he growled. “She hasn’t done much of anything. I’m not tailing her all the time or anything, but everything I’ve seen is way too clean. Mostly just working on the house. No visits to the parks or schools or anything.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“No. This bitch is sick, and I don’t like waiting. But you were right about that the other night; we have to do this the right way. I don’t have to like it.”

“She’ll slip soon enough, they all do.”

“Yeah,” Mike said.

“You think about the other stuff?”

“You think about what I said?”

“More than you know.” I responded.

“Then you’ve talked to Ella.”

“Not exactly, we’ve had other things to talk about.”

“Sure you did, everything alright?”

“Yeah,” I said. “She might be getting off of shift work pretty soon, get a normal schedule.”

“That’s going to be inconvenient for us.”

“But good for her.”

“Both of you, I suppose.” Mike said.

“It’d be nice. She also thinks that I should start going freelance.”

“Can you?” he asked.

“It’s a possibility,” I answered. “It might be a good change for me, don’t know if I can pull it off.”

“You can. It could open up your days a bit too, help me out in daylight sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe. It’ll be good to have a more flexible schedule, especially if we have a kid.”

“Ella’s pregnant?” Mike asked incredulously.

“Wants to be, she’s been putting a little pressure on me the last couple of days… we’re thinking about it.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s a thought.”

“Do it.”

“What?”

“Absolutely, best thing that ever happened to us, having Sarah. I was nervous about it, Margot never was, but I was. I’m telling you, it’s the best feeling in the world. If Ella’s ready then you’re ready.”

“Jesus.”

“What?” he asked.

“Just thought you’d react differently.”

“Why? It’ll be great for you. I don’t know about the whole new job thing and a kid at the same time bit, but that’s your business.”

“She’s excited at the idea.”

“I’ll bet, she’ll be a good mother.”

“I know.” I really had no idea how to continue the conversation. I figured that Mike would be totally against the idea of me having a kid, just like he’s against every other idea I’ve ever had. With the family he lost and how it’s affected him, I was sure he was against the idea of family.

Mike didn’t seem in a hurry to keep the conversation going either, and got engrossed in the menu. It felt a little like old times. Like back when we had lunch to catch up and there was no pressure. Every once in awhile the old Mike came along when you least expected it. Too few and far between, but it was a good feeling all the same.

The waitress came by and we both ordered a burger. I got the mushroom with Swiss, cooked medium rare. Mike got the chili bacon burger, well done. I don’t understand why people continue to ruin a good piece of beef by cooking it to death.

After we ordered I figured that we might as well get into the issues at hand and said, “we’re still going to have to plan out what to do with Sheryl, when she does slip.”

“We’ll do the same thing we did last time. Why would we change anything?”

“Because I’m taking this one, remember?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea buddy,” Mike said. “Especially if you are serious about this having a kid thing. I’m telling you, that changes things.”

“I don’t see what it changes. We still are going to deal with Sheryl, and I’m still going to be the one dealing with her. I was pretty clear about that.”

“That was then, you’re starting a family now.”

“Maybe.”

“Bullshit Will, if Ella wants a kid you’ll give it to her, and you should. You need to get your head straight and start thinking about protecting your family. I’ll deal with this, same as always.”

“Like hell, nothing’s changed. If I’m going to protect my family, killing Sheryl Bowman seems like a great place to start. The world needs to be protected from the Sheryl Bowmans of the world.” I said.

“First step in protecting your family is to protect you; that’s how you’ll protect your family. If something goes wrong now you can walk away from all this. You’re safe. You do this and you’re in too deep, and it’ll change you.”

“Safe? I’ve been there since step one Mike, there’s no turning back from this.”

“What? So now you want to take one step forward? You’re as deep as you need to go. I’ll take care of Sheryl, which will keep you and your family safe. I’ve got nothing to lose, and you’re getting more and more. Let this one lie.”

“I was serious about this.” I said.

“I know, and I was going to give in. Who am I to tell you what to do with your life, right? I mean, you’ve been there for me all this time. But I’m telling you Will, this is the wrong move for you now, especially now. You have to trust me on this one.”

“I won’t back down, you know I won’t.”

Mike just sat quietly and stared at me as our food arrived. We started eating in silence, which I guess would look normal to the other customers. It didn’t feel quite right though, and I could tell Mike didn’t know what else to say. I’m guessing he was right about trying to talk me out of it. Maybe I’m too stubborn, but I really felt that it was the right thing to do. I mean, I couldn’t let Mike take all the risks and carry the heaviest burden on these things. He was helping everybody by doing the things he was doing. At some point the rest of us have to make sacrifices too.

“Alright,” he said. “But I have one condition, nonnegotiable.”

“No conditions,” I said.
“One.” He said calmly.
“What?”

“You have to swear to me that when it comes down to it, even when it seems like we’re too far it, that you’ll be able to back down. When push comes to shove and you realize that I’m right you let me deal with it. If you never feel that way? Fine. But you can’t have any regrets and do this right. You have to be willing to walk away, you have to be capable of it. You understand?”

“Fine.” I had no idea whether I’d step up or step down when it came to it, but I needed to find out. “You don’t think I can go through with it, do you?”

“Sure Will,” Mike said. “Doing it ain’t hard. It’s the after that I’m worried about.”