Silence stretched between us, a time-out to regroup.

“Whew,” I said. “One more child support payment. How much fun would that be. Especially since I’ve heard that you have a slight tendency to be late on the multiple payments you’re already making.”

“Ha,” he said. “Like she needs it. She did tell you about her trust fund, didn’t she?”

Galen got all sincere again. “I hope she’s paying you rent. The truth is our Polly has a slight tendency to play the victim, in case you haven’t caught on to that.”

I felt so greasy that I wanted to excuse myself and go take a quick shower.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said instead. “The law’s the law. And I’ve got four more siblings like the one you just finished wrestling with on the kitchen floor, but stronger and meaner, and they’re all Team Polly. They’d have a blast tracking you down and making sure you paid up. And Ethan, the surfer boy with the limp? He’s got some serious rage issues—you should see the other guy.”

Galen glared at me. Even if those turquoise eyes were real, he was a total fake.

His look changed to one of total boredom. “What do you want?”

“I want you to leave Polly alone. I want you to pretend you never met her, unless you hear from her telling you otherwise.”

He considered this, nodded.

“And I want you to be there for the kids you do have. It’s a lifetime commitment, and it really messes them up when you don’t stick to it. I’m a preschool teacher, I know. I see it.”

Galen checked his watch, which looked to me like a fake Rolex. “Do you think that dinner invitation is still on?”

I was just debating whether or not to invite him to stay for dinner so I could spit in his casserole when my father strolled into the living room.

“So this is where the slither meets the slime,” my father said.

My dad’s bushy white eyebrows were sticking out all over the place, like Santa gone wild. He had a Band-Aid over one of his knuckles and a long rip in the knee of his chinos. Other than that, he looked pretty good.

“Everything okay out there?” I said.

“Fine and dandy,” my father said, “just fine and dandy. We make up fast in the Hurlihy clan. First one to throw a punch buys a round of subs at Maria’s, so that’s where I’m taking them in the ice cream trunk now. The plan is to see if we can burp the entire alphabet between here and the sub shop, like the boys and I used to do back in the day. Care to come along, flutter bum?”

“I’m going to take a hard pass on that,” Polly’s ex said.