It Feels So Good When I Stop by Joe Pernice Read Free Book Online Page B

much like Pamela,” I said.
    “Everybody says that. I don’t see it.”
    “He looks like you, too. But he looks a lot like her.”
    “He’s the spitting image of my old man,” James said. He was still admiring Roy when he shot me a look out of the corner of his eye. “Hey, I need to ask you a favor.”
    “What is it?” I couldn’t imagine what someone in my position could do for anyone short of maybe elevate their head until the ambulance arrived.
    “This big emergency repair’s getting towed in from P-town.” James checked his watch again. “Fuck, it’s probably there already. Some rich fruits who want it done yesterday and are willing to pay through the ass.” He let the concept of big-money-to-be-made spin in the air.
    “And?”
    “I was wondering if you could watch Roy for a few hours.”
    Giving my undivided care and attention to a leaky need machine was among the least appealing of my options. “For real?”
    “Honest to God.” He pulled a silver crucifix from under his shirt and kissed it.
    “Can’t Pamela?”
    “I don’t know. I didn’t ask her.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because.” He was reluctant to show his hand.
    Roy and I were basically strangers to each other. “Wouldn’t he be better off with her?”
    “Of course he would, but if I ask her, it’ll look like I can’t hold up my end of the bargain.” He hardened like a quick-set epoxy. “And I don’t want to give her any friggin’ reason not to let me have my time with him.”
    “I don’t think she’d do something like that.”
    “Oh, no?” He was dying for me to dare him.
    “You know what? I don’t want to know.”
    “No, you don’t. Believe me. There’s a lot of shit you wouldn’t think she’d do.” He lightened up when it dawned on him I wasn’t Dogshit. “Seriously, the kid’s a breeze. And what the fuck, it’s only for a couple hours.”
    I looked at Roy. He was trying to convince a lime green Nerf football bigger than his face that it could fit in his mouth. When I didn’t jump at the chance to be his mother for the day, James pulled out the guilt gun.
    “Plus, one hand washes the other, right?” He forced my eyes with his own toward the ranch house I was staying in free of charge. He was right about one hand washing the other, but I still thought he was a prick for saying it and cashing in so soon.
    “Sure. I’ll take him for a while.”
    “See, kid? I told you he’d do it.” James clapped his hands, then reached back and tickled Roy’s stomach. He laughed so hard he got the hiccups.

    I WAS SITTING on the back porch in the cool early-September night. The phone was stretched as far as it would go through the back door. Jocelyn’s call was already over an hour and a half late. It was the fourth week into our long-distance relationship. I missed her a lot. When she’d called me from work earlier in the day, she still wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get away from New York for the weekend. I pressed her hard to come up to Amherst. She said she really wanted to, but she was trying to make a good impression at Redbook . She was told on the q.t. by her internship supervisor there that a junior associate editor position might be opening up in the next few months. I would have made the trip to see her, but it was back-to-school weekend, and Lello’s directive to the entire waitstaff had come down weeks earlier: Don’t even ask for the time off. Richie said he was going to put in for the weekend off anyway, just to fuck with Lello.
    A couple guys were moving into the apartment below ours. One was named Bri, the other Kev. They hadn’t seen each other all summer. I could tell they were students, and this was their first off-campus place, because moving apartments is like putting your fucking life on trial. Bri and Kev sounded too happy.
    “Kev, check out this sweet lamp I scored.” Bri couldn’t wait. He dug into a box right there in the driveway.
    “Awesome,” Kev said. “ ‘My goodness, my