Free Been In Love Before: A Novel by Bryan Mooney

and genuine offers of help had poured in.
    “Good morning, Mac,” said Madge, his eighty-one-year-old front-desk person, who had worked for him for the last twelve years. “I was so sorry to hear about the fire at your place. Were you able to salvage anything, anything at all?”
    “No, nothing . . . other than my wedding album. That’s the only thing left. Fate, I guess, had a hand in that. Tess had put it in a steel container under the bed, and it wasn’t incinerated like everything else. Quirky, if you ask me. But thanks for asking,” he said, managing a weak smile.
    “You let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Do you need a place to stay? Some clothes? How about a good meal? Join us for dinner tonight?”
    “Thanks, but I’m staying at Ryan’s house along with my brother Eian for the time being. I had some of my clothes already at my brother’s place, and they should work until I get back on my feet. I’m going to look through our clothes rack we have here and see if we have anything I can use. I’m sure that . . .”
    “Ahh . . . umm . . . ,” Madge started to object.
    He looked at her, looking at his clothes. She never approved of the clothes he wore, so he changed the subject. “I may take you up on the meal offer, though. My brother mainly eats out at restaurants, and I’ll be either broke or fatter than a pig ready for butchering if I do that every night.”
    Her face brightened. “Sure, anytime, Mac. Just let me know.”
    “Thanks, Madge, I really appreciate it.”
    He spent the entire morning on the phone with the insurance company and the insurance adjustors, trying to sort things out, when the phone rang. It was Bobby.
    “Hey, Bobby, how are you? How’s Patti?”
    “We’re okay, Dad; we’re just worried about you. Howya doing?”
    “Okay, I guess. The insurance company is going to give me some money for clothes and a hotel, but it’s not a lot of money since I didn’t have it insured for a lot. That old place had a lot of sentimental value. Ryan wants me to stay with him until I find a new place. He wouldn’t hear of it any other way. Shouldn’t take long for me to find a place.”
    “Hey, Dad, he’s your brother. Want to come over tonight for dinner? Patti said she would take you clothes shopping, if you like.”
    “Thanks, Bobby, I may just do that. Let me get back to you.” I have plenty of clothes here at the store. Why go shopping and spend hard-earned money for new clothes? Then he remembered what Ryan had said to him as he left for work that morning: “Stay here as long as you want, but just buy some new clothes.”
    “Okay, Dad. I’ll talk to you later.”
    “Oh, Bobby, I called that lady at the counseling program and left her a message. Her secretary called me back, and I scheduled a meeting with her tomorrow.”
    “You did? With everything else you have going on in your life? You’re something else. Love ya. Gotta go, Dad.”
    Customers began to dribble into Robert’s eclectic secondhand store just off West Atlantic Avenue, in downtown Delray Beach. Whatever you needed, you could find it at the Frugal Scotsman. The store was jammed full of items, including stoves, tools, books, barbecue grills, guitars, pots, pans, and racks of clothing for men, women, and children. Three kayaks hung from the rafters, along with tents and bicycles. The aisles were so full you could walk down them only sideways. Around two o’clock the crowd began to thin.
    “Mr. Macgregor,” a voice rang out over the store’s loudspeaker, “you have a phone call, line one.”
    He walked past his secretary with an inquisitive look on his face and asked, “Who is it?”
    “Coleen Callahan, line one,” she said with a smirk, since the company had only one phone line. “We only need one line. I can only talk on one phone at a time,” Robert would always say.
    He picked up the phone as he settled into his desk chair. “Ms. Callahan? Hi, this is Robert