Page 20 of Game Changer

“I’ve always had money, Pim. You know my dad’s parents came from money and dad was crazy into investing. They set me up for success and after they died, I’m eternally grateful to them for all they’d done to make sure I never had to worry about it. Money sucks. I’ve seen some of my friends struggle and I’m so glad I haven’t had that battle ‘cause I know I’d be terrible with it.”

AJ laughed.

“What?”

“I’m going to go ahead here and put your shiny new boat out there as exhibit A.”

“Tru dat! I’m not in a long-term relationship, and to be honest, Chels is the first girl I’ve met who doesn’t give a crap about my above-average bank balance. Usually, as soon as girls find out about it, it changes things. I’ve stopped telling them. Chels has known from the get-go and she doesn’t seem to give a damn. I haven’t found a solution, though. Maybe talk to Lisa about it. Otherwise, when you eventually meet her and try and pay for every meal and cup of tea you guys have together – ‘cause I know you, that’s what you’ll do - she’s gonna get pissed. Get the discussion over with early and hope it doesn’t come up time and again. She’s a strong woman, though. She’s not gonna be happy. Chels says Lisa’s family isn’t well off. Low-income, government-sponsored housing and she’s had to work hard for everything she has. She got her first job at seventeen washing dishes in the kitchen at a restaurant. It’s going to be weird for her having someone with so much expendable income as you – even if you’re not as rich as me.”

AJ threw a cushion at his grinning friend and scratched his head. “I really dunno how to handle it. It’s never been an issue before.”

“We’re used to having women who are all-too-willing to spend their trophy boyfriends’ money. It means we dunno how the hell to behave when we find someone who actually likes us for who we are, I guess?”

“Are you listening to the words coming out of your mouth? What has Chelsea done to you? Are you in love with this girl? ‘Cause you forsuresound fucked up. Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”

“She’s… different,” was all Jeremy had to offer in reply.

“You’re different with her.”

“And you’re different with Lisa.”

Silence hung between them for a few moments as they both sat absorbed in their own thoughts. AJ took a sip of his beer and braced himself for Jeremy’s walls going back up at the mention of the anniversary of his parents’ death.

“We still on for the graveyard this weekend?”

Despite being Canadian and the fact that his parents’ ashes were interred up north, Jeremy made a point of going to church and visiting a local graveyard on his parents’ anniversary. Something about the melancholy silence of a graveyard gave him solace.

“Yeah. That ok?”

“You know I’m here for you man,” he paused and decided to push his luck a little. “I know you miss them.”

Jeremy sighed, took a drink and picked at the label on his beer bottle. “I really do miss them. Another mass shooting yesterday in Virginia.”

Jeremy’s parents had been victims of a mass shooting. He’d gotten them tickets to their favorite band as an anniversary present and had subsequently spent the last couple years in therapy working on his guilt at having ‘sent’ them to the place where they’d been murdered.

“I saw. You need to call Dr. Bob?”

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks though.” He unmuted the TV and went back to drinking his beer and watching the game.

Guess that’s the end of that conversation.

“You can talk about them, you know,” AJ told him over the sound of the buzzer signifying the end of the third period.

“I know. I just dunno what to say. They’re gone and it sucks. I just have to hope that wherever they are that I’m doing them proud and they know I love them.”

AJ swallowed down the lump in his throat and nodded. “They’re proud of you all right. Well, other than the boat thing. You know your mom’s losing her shit over that one, wherever she is.”

Chapter 6

AJ: Are you alive?

Lisa: Everything hurts and I’m dying.

AJ: Do you have Gatorade there?

Lisa: No. We have Lucozade, though it’s not quite the same thing.

AJ: What the hell kinda backwards country are you living in? Rehydration salts?

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