Free Never Been Ready by J.L. Berg

down.
    The little girl immediately turned to me as I sat on the sofa with Leah. "My name is Maddie. Who are you?"
    She smiled, and I couldn't help but return the gesture. She really was cute —for a kid. With strawberry-blonde curls and dark brown eyes, she was like a little angel, minus the talking.
    "I'm Declan."
    "Are you my auntie's boyfriend?"
    Wow, this kid is abrupt. Are all kids like this?
    "Uh...well..." I stammered.
    "He's my friend, Maddie. Don't you have friends who are boys at preschool?"
    Maddie thought about this momentarily. "Oh, yes! I have a friend named Tommy. He likes to make sandcastles with me, and he's fun to play with on the monkey bars!"
    "Well, Declan is just like that!" Leah said, giving me a wry smile.
    Mmhmm, I would do a round with Leah on the monkey bars any day.
    "Oh! Okay! Hey, Declan, want to watch Dora with me?"
    And just like that, we were buddies.
    She took me over to the TV area where all the movies were stored, and we started to sort through them as she showed me her favorite ones. There was quite the collection. They also had a great selection of grown-up movies that I'd definitely have to check out later.
    "Hey, Leah!" I heard someone shout from the top of the stairs. "Next time you see that good-for-nothing friend of my husband's, ask him if he suddenly forgot how to use a phone!"
    I looked at Leah as she suddenly looked at me. Her hand flew to her mouth, trying to contain the laughter threatening to spill out.
    "Oh my God, she's going to be so embarrassed when she gets down here," she whispered.
    I hadn't really thought about this aspect of the evening —the fact that I hadn't seen or spoken to my friend in months. He'd been diagnosed with cancer, gotten married, and become a stepfather, and I hadn't called to check-in. He was in a different world now, and I didn't know how to relate. The cancer thing...I was honestly just scared shitless. It had been a dick move, but I just hadn't known what to say. People my age didn't get cancer. That was something we had to worry about when we got older, right? Apparently not. It had been a reality check that I wasn't prepared for, so I'd bailed on him, and now, I had to find the words to say I was sorry. And I had to find them fast because he was coming downstairs.
    "Did you hear what I said, Leah?" Clare asked, entering the room.
    She didn't see me sitting there, but Logan did. He looked surprised and then a bit of humor peeked through, knowing his wife was digging herself a bigger hole.
    "I'm seriously sick of people treating him like —oh shit!" she said, finally noticing my presence.
    Logan snorted, and Leah doubled over, laughing, while Clare began to turn a deep shade of red.
    "Mommy said a bad word!" Maddie scolded, causing Leah to laugh harder.
    "Hey, man," Logan greeted me, "long time, no see."
    I arose from the couch, and we did the guy version of a hug with a quick pat on the back before I stepped away quickly. I stood there nervously, unsure what to say to my sick friend. I could see the difference. The loss of hair was obvious, but he'd also dropped some weight, and he just looked tired. He was still Logan though, I realized, so I went with what I knew best.
    "So, cancer, huh? That blows."
    A huge grin spread across his face along with a bit of relief.
    "You're just jealous that I'm still hotter than you," he taunted.
    And we instantly fell back into a comfortable place. The water was under the bridge. Men didn't need long, drawn-out conversations for these types of things. A few inappropriate jokes with a good laugh, and we were solid again. Easy.
    "Not according to People magazine. Top one hundred, baby," I countered.
    Leah started making gagging noises in the background, and Clare immediately began laughing.
    Logan grinned. "You've got your hands full with that one."
    "So I've noticed."
     

     
    After what seemed like hours of directions, instructions, and lessons, we were finally handed over the responsibility of watching the