Free Better Not Love Me by Dan Kolbet Page A

look Marcus in the eye.
    "I do not hate your mother," he said. "Far from it."
    "She said you threw a tire at her. Did you?" Marcus asked.
    "No, I did not; but she's free to say and do whatever she wants. Always has been. We didn't quite see eye to eye on the tire incident."
    The two worked in silence for a bit longer, laying down additional boards and cutting them to size as needed to fit the structure.
    "Do you like my mom?" Marcus asked tentatively.
    "I think I already answered that," Nate replied evenly.
    "No, you said you didn't hate her. That's different."
    "I guess you're right," Nate said, but took a minute to gather his thoughts before continuing. "You know how your Mom said that she didn't really know me?"
    "Yes."
    "Well, I feel the same about her in many ways."
    "I still don't think you answered the question," Marcus said. "How can she dislike you so much and you don't feel the same about her?"
    "Fair enough," Nate said. "It's because the few parts about your mom I do know, are good, so my feelings about her are generally positive."
    "Then why'd she quit?"
    "Again, you'll have to ask her that."
    "I did," Marcus said.
    "Well, then why'd you ask me?"
    "I don't know, just something to talk about I guess," Marcus said.
    "What did she tell you about why she quit?" Nate asked. He asked this wondering if it was invading Amelia's privacy, but he truly wanted to know what she had said.
    "She said she wanted to spend more time with me and Susanna, which is why we're locked up in this cabin all summer," Marcus said. "She said her contract had expired. And she said her boss was a jerk and she couldn't stand it anymore."
    "That sounds about right," Nate said.
    "So you are a jerk," Marcus said bluntly.
    Nate didn't reply immediately because he knew what the answer was, but he didn't want to say it.
    "Sometimes, yes," he said. "I probably am."
    Marcus seemed to mull over Nate's reply.
    "Well, I don't think you're a jerk. And you've been my boss all day."
     
    * * *
     
    When Chloe returned from the supermarket, Nate knew it would be impossible to keep Marcus focused on the deck work, so Nate asked if Marcus would help Chloe bring in the groceries. The smile on his face was a mile wide as he hurried toward the driveway. It was about time to knock off for lunch anyway and Nate's knees were aching and his back was sore. He needed to take some Tylenol, eat and relax a bit before beginning the project again in the afternoon.
    While it was true that Nate had all summer to do the project, it meant that he couldn't use the deck during construction, which seriously limited the best feature of the place. The angle of the cabin meant the deck was the only good way to see the view of the water. From inside the living room he could see the side of Amelia's rental cabin, but that was about it.
    He sat down on the sofa and popped open a Sprite. The carbonated fizz filled his mouth and made his nose tingle. He sipped his soda and thought back to four years ago when the nurses brought him a Sprite and a stack of crackers after his first surgery. He'd never tasted anything as good.
     

Chapter 12
    Four years ago, Dallas
One day before Amelia and Nate first met
     
    Nate sat in the private office of his physician, Dr. Clinton Munson. The receptionist had ushered him into the office and asked him to take a seat across from the doctor's desk. A light drizzle of rain licked at the window outside the office and despite his nerves or possibly because of them, he focused his attention on the droplets of rain streaking down the panes of glass. He was alone in the room. His leg bounced up and down without any thought put into it by Nate himself. He sat and waited, and watched the rain.
    The doctor had made room on his schedule after giving Nate the ominous phone call the previous day while Nate was preparing to board a plane to Spokane. The doctor hadn't told him why he needed to see him so urgently, only that he needed to make an appointment as soon as