Friday night and my phone rang, it was the custom ring-tone for my baby girl. My baby girl was nearly thirty but that's what I called her, what I had always called her. I picked up my phone and tapped the screen to answer.
"Hey, baby girl, to what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your voice? Usually, you just text."
I heard an exasperated sigh on the other end.
"I need help, well, not me but Chelsea."
My daughter lived a couple of hours away but I knew that Chelsea, one of her high school friends still lived here, just across town. She and my daughter were still close but I hadn't seen Chelsea in years.
"What does Chelsea need?" I asked, figuring there was some issue at her apartment, her car, or some other such minor emergency. Lord knows Chelsea's husband couldn't take care of anything of significance.
"She and Brady have split, she caught him in bed with that slut Phoebe."
Ah yes, Phoebe. She had gone off the rails after high school and had become known around town as "the porcupine" because everyone said that if she had as many things sticking out of her as she'd had stuck in her that she'd look like a porcupine. Yes, Phoebe got around. After high school, she never amounted to much, working as a receptionist at the local optometrist and living in a trailer on the wrong side of the tracks.
My daughter had gone off to college and never looked back. She had a great job and a great life in the city. She came home for visits whenever she could, which wasn't often enough to please her daddy. Chelsea had gone to school for accounting at the community college and worked for a CPA here in town. She'd married a local boy that bounced from one job to another. What she saw in him I was never sure of. And now, it seems, he'd dipped his wick in the local trash.
"Dad, I've been on the phone with her for hours and she's inconsolable. I can't get home for another two weeks and she needs someplace to stay until she can figure out a long-term solution. Can you put her up in my old room?"
A broken-hearted, crying, woman was not my idea of a good time but she was my daughter's friend and she needed help. Besides, I'd always liked Chelsea. She had been giggly and full of life back when they graduated high school. Now that she'd been given a dose of real life it was hard to say what she'd be like.
I hesitated.
"Dad? Please. Your baby girl needs this."
There it was, her magic words. She knew I wouldn't say no if she phrased it that way. She still had her daddy wrapped around her pinkie. Thankfully, she knew not to abuse the privilege.
"Ok, she can stay here, but only short-term. I'm not running a boarding house for scorned women."
"You're the best, daddio!" she squealed, "One more thing, can you go get her? She's at the Pie House, sitting in the corner crying and scarfing down pieces of pie. I'm sure it's not a pretty sight and once they close she won't have anywhere to go."
"Sure," I replied. And why not? In for a penny in for a pound, wasn't that the old saying?
"I love you, dad, you are the absolute best!" she giggled, "I'll let her know you're coming." She ended the call.
I was not looking forward to rescuing some damsel in distress, particularly if she was coming to live with me. I had a great life and didn't look forward to the disturbance this young woman was going to bring to my house. I had recently retired and was enjoying the freedom it granted me. But I slipped on my shoes anyway and headed across town to the Pie House.
My daughter had been right, it was not a pretty sight. When I entered I paused to look around and I spied Chelsea in the corner. Her blonde hair was a mess, and she ate pie with her fingers. Traces of what she'd already eaten were all around her on the table, and on her face. There were even bits of pie crust in her hair. I glanced at the waitress behind the counter and she rolled her eyes toward Chelsea. "Please take her away," she said.
I made my way to the booth where Chelsea sat and slid in opposite her.
"Hey Chelsea," I said.
She raised her head and looked at me through her tousled hair, "Mr. Brown?"
"Yeah, I hear you need a friend."
She broke down and her voice went up to a register that I think only dogs can hear. I'm not sure exactly what she said but the tears began flowing anew and she picked up more pie in her fingers.
