“The answer is still no,” I snapped at Piper over the phone.
Leafy trees filtered the evening sunlight outside Welles Park as I stalked past the library. A little league was playing in the ballpark, and some parents passed me with their kid in a thousand dollar stroller. Lincoln Square was just up ahead, and the sidewalks were packed.
“I’m really surprised and confused,” said my horrible first ex-wife over the phone. “You said your previous attitude was due to Karen. She's gone now, so what's the issue?”
I bit my tongue rather than say the first five things that came to mind; all were too vulgar to be constructive. Piper could smell blood better than a shark, and she hadn’t waited long after Karen left to push me. I stopped walking and leaned against a tree so I didn’t walk into someone in a blind fury.
“I’m going to say this one more time,” I said. “You spent eight years keeping the kids from me every chance you got while I begged and pleaded, and now you want me to be your babysitter. The answer is no, and I’m not splitting your summer camp either. If you want anything more than your child support out of me, make up for what you did to me first.”
I killed the call as Piper wound up for a good solid rant. Once upon a time I couldn’t have imagined saying those words. I would have jumped at anything Piper said to see my kids more…and she would have piled on more demands, more conditions, more barbs. Times change, motherfucker. Find some other poor bastard to push around.
At any rate, my destination was just ahead, and my date was already at a table on the patio. Marie had a killer undercut, she had a better graduate degree than I did, she was bisexual, and she was into Colombian poetry. Best of all, her dating profile said she liked strong boundaries. Music to my divorced bisexual ears.
Marie banished all thoughts of the Wicked Witch of Logan Square as I came up to the table. Her eyes were a shining crystal blue, and she smiled with her entire body. When our hands touched over drinks, she bit her lip ever so slightly.
I could listen to her forever.
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