Chapter Ten

 

Neal

 

While the kids are hogging the bathrooms, taking their showers, I watch Veronica through the window. She paces back and forth around the pool while she talks, her face reflecting her annoyance. Finally, she hangs up, sits down on the chair, and flops back, rubbing her forehead. I hope she didn’t get bad news.

By the time I’ve ordered our dinner and made sure Aiden is dressed, I hear her come back into the suite. Aiden curls up on the bed to watch cartoons, and Bailey stretches out on the other bed to read, so I head over to the suite to wait for the pizza.

“Hey,” she says, a smile pushing across her face. “Do you want the next shower?”

“Nah, go ahead. I don’t have sunblock to shower off. When you have the golden skin of a god, you don’t need it.”

She snorts and shakes her head, grabbing a change of clothes.

“Is everything okay?”

I don’t want to push her if she doesn’t want to talk, but she’s also not the type to just volunteer information, especially if it’s negative.

“Yeah, just my mom and her bullshit. I’ll tell you about it later, okay?”

She heads into the bathroom, and I hear the shower start up. The urge to join her is only slightly less than the fear of one of the kids wandering over, plus I have to wait for our food. It’s killing me that she’s all naked and soapy on the other side of the wall.

With a sigh, I sit at the table by the window and prop my feet up on the opposite chair. I wonder what her mother said that riled her up. She doesn’t really talk about her parents. I mean, I know she never knew her father, that he bailed before she was born, but her mother lives nearby. It’s a little odd in all the time we’ve spent together that I’ve never seen her. She’s never come by, not even to pick up her grandkid. There must be some kind of family drama.

“Neal! Grab me a towel from the drawer. The kids took them all,” Veronica calls out.

“Come on out and get one. The kids are in the other room,” I tease.

“Don’t be an ass!”

“Okay. Hang on.”

I get to my feet just as there’s a knock at the door. Assuming it’s the pizza guy, I call out while I’m opening the drawers, trying to find a towel, “Come on in!”

The door opens, spilling the late afternoon light across the floor. “The money is on the table,” I tell him, absently. It takes a second before I realize the room is dead silent, but it doesn’t stay that way. A squeal echoes through the room, and I look up to see Veronica streak back toward the bathroom, her naked ass glistening and jiggling, while a young guy stands frozen in the doorway, his eyebrows touching his hairline.

“Uh—yeah, sorry,” he mumbles. “I thought I heard you tell me to come in.” He snatches the money off of the table and puts the boxes in its place.

“I did,” I reply, trying not to laugh as a string of curses spills from the bathroom. Most include shoving something into one of my orifices not designed for such use. The kid can’t be more than seventeen and his face is growing redder by the second. “I’m sorry. Keep the change.”

As soon as the door shuts behind him, I step into the bathroom and hold out a towel. Veronica sits on the edge of the tub, glaring at me. “You told me the kids weren’t there and to come on in!”

“No, I told the pizza guy to come in and you to hang on a second.” A laugh jumps from my throat. “It was a misunderstanding.”

“Stop laughing at me!” She throws a wet washcloth at me and it slaps against my chest before hitting the floor. “I probably scarred the kid for life.”

“I’m not laughing.” My guts are about to burst from holding it in, though. “And you made his day.” My eyes are pulled down to the bare patch between her legs. “When did you start shaving?”

“I’m going to shave your balls in your sleep if you don’t wipe that smile off your face. Get out of here before the kids see us.”

The twitch of her lips assures me she’s not really mad, but I can’t wait to tease her about this later.

The kids eat at the table in their room where they can watch cartoons, which gives Veronica and I a little time alone. I’m trying to find a way to ask her about the call from her mother in a way that won’t sound nosy when she asks, “Do you think you could keep Aiden for a few hours tomorrow? I need to help my mom with something. Max will be here overseeing the work crew until around six, and I’ll be back before then, so you wouldn’t need to do anything other than entertain the kids.”

“I don’t mind watching Aiden. What’s going on with your mom?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” she grumbles, taking a bite of her bread stick.

“You never talk about her. She lives locally, right?”

“Out in the county, about thirty minutes from here. We aren’t close or anything, but I’m her first call if something goes wrong.” She pauses long enough for me to think that’s all the information she’s willing to share, but then continues. “The board of health is threatening her with fines if she doesn’t clean up the property a little and cut the grass. It hasn’t been cut at all this year so it’s probably waist high in some areas. I just need to go out and cut the area around her house and down to the road. They’ll leave her alone.”

“Does she live alone?”

“Her ex lives in another trailer on the property and he was keeping up with it, at least enough to keep the board of health off her back, but he broke his leg and can’t do it right now.”

I have a ton of questions, but I’ll save them because her clipped tone tells me she isn’t thrilled about this conversation. “I’ll go with you. You can hang out with your mom and the kids while I cut the grass.”

“No.” The word flies from her mouth whip fast. A second later she says, “Sorry, I don’t mean to snap at you, but you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s going to be a damn jungle.”

“I’ll borrow George’s field and brush mower. It goes through anything.”

Sighing, she sits back and wipes her mouth with a paper napkin. “It’s not just grass. I don’t take anyone out there, Neal. It’s disgusting. Her and her ex are both hoarders. Her house is stuffed full and trust me, you wouldn’t want Bailey in there. It isn’t safe.”

Her face flushes, and I reach across to grab her hand. “V, you don’t have to be embarrassed. I swear I won’t judge. We can’t control what our parents do.”

She’s quiet for a moment, and I give her time to think. “The field and brush mower would probably make the job quick. There’s a nice little creek on the property. I could take them there to play, I suppose.”

“Good.”

Her gaze meets mine. “It wasn’t that bad when I lived at home. I mean, it was bad, and I couldn’t wait to get out, but not like it is now. I’m not…dirty like that.”

I get up and pull her to her feet and into a hug she really looks like she needs. Veronica is always so happy, peppy, and quick witted. She doesn’t display this vulnerable side very often and I want her to know she can. “I would never think that. Your place is always spotless. If anything, you’re a bit of a clean freak.”

And now I understand why.

“It’ll be fine. Let me help. This is what we do, remember? We help each other. I cut your mom’s grass, you have the sex talk with my daughter, quid pro quo.” Yeah, I threw that in there. I’ve been trying to find a way to bring it up.

Laughing, she steps back. “You want me to tell Bailey about sex? I hate to break it to you, buddy, but she probably already knows. By her age, her friends have spread the word.”

Groaning, I sit back down. “Maybe, but she needs to know everything. I’m sure she has questions. I was hoping my sister would step in, but Bailey doesn’t trust her the way she does you.”

“Of course I’ll talk to her. So, should I start with blow jobs or lube or—”

“Stop!” I cover my ears and put my head down. Her laughter makes me smile, and when I look up again, Bailey is walking toward us.

“Why were you covering your ears?”

“Because he’s a big baby who can’t stand hearing about woman things like epithelial linings,” Veronica says, and they both break into laughter.

“Very funny. Is Aiden finished eating?” Definitely time to change the subject.

“Yeah, but he’s falling asleep. I thought you might not want him to.”

Veronica is on her feet. “Oh hell no. If he takes a nap this late, he’ll never sleep tonight.”

Bailey grins at me. “Can I go outside and ride my bike in the parking lot? I’m bored.”

“Sure, no need to get salty, brah, I’ll sit out with you.” I get the usual eye roll from Bailey, but I hear Veronica giggle from the next room.

By the time Veronica has dragged a whiny Aiden outside, I’ve pulled the kids bikes off the rear rack of my car and Bailey is happily circling the lot. Aiden perks up when he sees his, and Veronica barely has time to strap the helmet on his head before he’s off, following Bailey.

Veronica grabs two folding chairs from her trunk and we sit down under the tree to watch them. “He’s ready for the training wheels to come off,” I observe, watching the way he controls the bike.

“Yeah, I just haven’t made the time to teach him yet.”

“I can show him this week.”

Veronica smiles, watching the kids play. “That’d be great. He won’t whine as much when he gets hurt if you teach him. He has to keep up the tough guy act, you know.”

“It’s not an act. Males are tougher. It’s just a fact,” I tease.

“Says the man who was going to take his daughter to the emergency room for a period.”

Grinning at her, I shake my head. “Touche.”

“We should take a cooler with some drinks and sandwiches with us tomorrow. We need to keep the kids out of her house. I have a bag cooler that will work.”

“Does she have running water? A working bathroom?”

“Yeah, but they’d be better off pissing in the woods.”

Christ. “That bad, huh?”

“You’ll see,” she sighs.

It’s not that I don’t believe her, but everyone is a bit embarrassed of their parents and where they come from. It’s probably not as bad as she makes it sound.

 

# # #

 

It’s worse.

Oh god, so much worse.

As soon as we pull into the driveway of Veronica’s mother’s house, I know this isn’t going to be any quick job. It’s a good thing George loaned me his mower because no normal riding mower would have made it through this.

Not to mention, I’d have to keep getting off to move stuff, like the two toilets sitting in the field, surrounded by rotting wooden pallets.

“Listen, guys,” Veronica says to the kids, before they can climb out of the back seat. “I know I already explained once, but I want to make sure you remember. If she asks if you’d like something to drink or eat, the answer is no. I have food in the cooler.  I don’t care what it is, it could make you sick. She never checks expiration dates. We’re just going to say hi, and let Neal get started, then I’ll take you into the woods to play in the creek.”

“I want to try to build a dam,” Bailey says, helping Aiden out of the car.

“You can’t say that!” His mouth drops open. “Neal! She’s cursing!”

“Ade, don’t be a tattletale. And she’s talking about a big wall that holds back water. That kind of dam isn’t cursing,” Veronica admonishes.

Aiden stops in his tracks. “So, I can say it?” A grin spreads across his face and he whispers. “Dam.”

Bailey giggles as he continues.

“We can build a dam. Dam dam, we’ll build a dam dam.” He dances around, singing his dam song, and Veronica turns away to hide a grin.

“I think that’s enough,” she says, as a woman opens the front door of the house and steps onto the porch. Well, she walks through the narrow path carved out between piles of junk and down the steps. Veronica must take after her absent father, because there’s not much resemblance, other than the red hair.

“I didn’t know you were bringing company,” she says, watching us like we might make off with some of the crap piled around us. Are those toasters? Who needs four toasters and why are they on the edge of the porch in a rusting heap?

“Mom, this is my friend, Neal, and his daughter, Bailey. Neal is going to cut the grass while I take the kids back to play in the creek.” She turns to us. “This is my mother, Patty.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Patty,” Neal says.

“I’m going to build a dam!” Aiden announces. “It’ll be the best damn dam that ever…dammed!”

“Aiden!” Veronica snaps. “Enough!”

“Well, come on in and cool down before you get started. It’s hot out here.”

“Thanks, but Neal needs to get started. We have some other stuff to do this evening,” she lies. “I have a picnic lunch packed if you’d like to join us at the creek.”

“In this heat? You must be soft headed. You guys go on and do your thing. I’m going to check on Marvin. Let him know what’s going on.”

With that said, she hurries down the steps and across the drive toward the dilapidated trailer on the far side of the driveway. She must go back and forth a lot, because there’s a path between them.

“Nice seeing you,” Veronica mumbles. She forces a smile and turns to the kids. “Okay, let me show Neal where the shed is, and we’ll go play. Stay on the path. With the grass this high, there could be a snake and you don’t want to step on it.”

As we make our way behind the house to a surprisingly new and shiny shed, Bailey starts teaching Aiden about snakes. “There are a lot of species who live in our area and most are harmless, but we do have copperheads and if we’re close to water, probably cottonmouths.”

“They have cotton in their mouths?” I look behind us to see he’s taken her hand.

“No, they’re called that because the inside of their mouths are white, like cotton.”

“Oh.” It’s cute and funny the way he responds to her. Anything out of Bailey’s mouth is gospel.

Veronica pulls open the shed to reveal a riding mower, weed eater, and an assortment of tools and trimmers. “Whatever you need, I’m sure they have five of them,” she says. “And there’s gasoline in those cans.” She points to a few gas cans in the corner.

The air in the shed is too hot to breathe for more than a minute or two. This is crazy. “You can’t store gas like that! It could explode and set the whole place on fire.”

She lets out a humorless laugh. “They have set the woods on fire twice…in the last year. This is a compromise because the last time I visited, there were gas and kerosene cans in the house. Better to blow up the shed.”

That is insane.

She turns to me. “It’s not too late to change your mind. I told you it’d be terrible.”

And let her do it? Yeah, that’ll happen. “No way. I’ve got this.”

“Okay, well, only do the front yard and along the edge of the road. That’s what the county is complaining about. The fields are so full of trash you’d tear up any mower you tried to use anyway.”

“How much land do they have?”

Veronica gestures to the tree line. “Almost two hundred acres. This place was a working farm back in it’s day, and the back field was an apple orchard. The trees still bear occasionally, but it’s so trashed and overgrown, they just fall and rot with the other garbage.” She points to a narrow path in the woods. “That path leads down to the creek. It’s only about a quarter of a mile. If you come looking for us.”

The kids start down the path, and Bailey stops by a tree where we can still see them.

Veronica hesitates and shifts the backpack cooler she’s wearing. “I hate this. This isn’t your job. I should at least be helping.”

“Psh. This is one of those manly jobs. You need my masculine muscles and strength. Now, you go make sure the kids don’t drown, and I’ll get all nice and sweaty for you.”

“Yeah, man stink really turns me on. You know me so well.”

“It’s a gift.”

“Uh-huh.” She smiles up at me. “Trust me, swamp ass will not make up for your stellar pelvic acumen.”

“Come on, Mom!” Aiden yells. “Dam!”

We both break into laughter, and she shakes her head. “Okay, call me when you’re done or come find us.”

What the hell have I gotten myself into? I intended to cut the yard and at least the front field, but a quick walk through it shows me Veronica was right. I can’t go five steps without running into a hunk of rusted metal, or an old garden hose, or…is that a vehicle transmission? It’s like the saying, everything but the kitchen sink. No, there’s a sink, lying on its side, full of stagnant water, a cloud of bugs swarming above it. I’m glad we thought to spray ourselves down with bug repellent before we came.

I settle for running the massive field and brush mower through the front yard, along the edges of the road, and making a clear path to the mailbox, shed, and driveway. Even with the super powered mower, it takes me nearly three hours. My sweat slickened skin is covered with bits of cut grass, pollen, and god knows what else.

By the time I’m finished, that creek sounds pretty good.

The hike is easy, and I can hear the kids before I see them. As I step through the trees, Veronica comes into view. She’s reclining on a large boulder at the edge of the creek, leaning back on her hands, her feet dangling in the fast running water. The sun slants through the trees, turning her hair to fire and making her pale skin glisten.

“Hey!” she calls, finally noticing that I’m staring at her like a lovestruck idiot. “Are you done?”

“Yeah, it’s the best I can do under the circumstances.” I think we need to get out here and try to clean some of this up for her mother. She obviously isn’t able and a few weekends with the right equipment, and a couple of dumpsters would make a world of difference.

I wade into the creek, find a spot deep enough to submerge myself completely, and wash off the sweat and grit. Her gaze is locked on me when I look up and the hungry look in her eyes makes me want to strip her right here.

Damn kids.

“Hungry?” she asks, offering me a sandwich from the cooler bag.

“Starving.” She scoots over a bit, and as I sit beside her, taking the sandwich. “How long has the property been like this?”

“As long as I can remember. It gets steadily worse as they buy more and more crap just to eventually add it to the pile.”

“We should help. I could get a couple of guys out here, and it wouldn’t take too long.”

Sighing, she shakes her head, kicking her feet in the cool water. “She’d never let you. She’s a hoarder. You haven’t seen the worst of it.”

“If we just removed the trash in the yard and fields, they could be cut—”

She puts a hand on my arm. “You don’t understand. To her and Marvin, none of it is trash. Nothing is trash. If you brought a dumpster out here, she’d call the police and have you removed.”

She can’t be serious.

“Even the toilets? The pile of rotting pallets? There’s an old vacuum cleaner lying in the field.”

“Believe me, Neal, I’ve tried. About five years ago, she spent a few days visiting relatives, and I took the opportunity to try to clean up. When she got home, she lost her shit, screaming and cursing, because I threw away her ‘stuff’. Trash service wasn’t scheduled to pick up until the next day so she spent the night digging through the cans, returning everything to where it was. And adding to her collections.”

Aiden screeches, and Bailey giggles as they try to catch a frog, and we get hit with a mist of water from their splashing around.

“Collections?”

“Her house and every outbuilding on this property are stuffed full. Of trash. She has one whole building full of empty potato chip cans and tissue boxes. And trust me, if the place was on fire, she’d save those before any of us. I appreciate that you want to help, but you’ve done what you can do.”

Her voice is getting tense, and I get it. I’d be embarrassed too, if this is how I grew up. “Okay, then.” I polish off the sandwich. “Ready to go?”

The kids complain about leaving, but it’s clear on the hike back that they’re getting tired. Veronica’s mother sticks her head out the door and shouts a thank you as we get ready to leave, then retreats back inside.

My heart goes out to Veronica and Aiden. Anytime I visit my parents, they can’t get enough of Bailey, and I feel bad that they don’t see her enough. Yet, here is one of Aiden’s grandparents who lives so close and has no interest. Doesn’t even come out to give him a hug or anything. It pisses me off.

Considering Aiden’s father has nothing to do with him, Veronica and Aiden only have each other.

After we get back to the hotel, the kids get cleaned up and rest for a bit in their room. Veronica comes up behind me and snakes her arms around my waist. “Mike keeps a grill out back. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if we used it.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“I’ll run over to the grocery store while you fire it up.” She steps back and turns to call for Aiden, but I plant a quick kiss on her lips. “Leave him here. He’s fine.”

“Okay.”

The grill is in pretty good shape, and there’s charcoal handy as well, so I drag the setup around to the front and light the coals. While it burns down, I take a seat in one of the two chairs under the tree and Aiden wanders over to join me.

“Hey, buddy. Where is Bailey?”

“Watching some stupid girly cartoon with ponies.” He plops down in the dirt and starts digging around with a stick. “Why is the dirt in little piles?”

“Because groundhogs have been here. They build tunnels underground.”

“Oh, cool.” He’s quiet for a moment before asking the last question I expected and one I’m not equipped to deal with. “Neal? Where do women get babies from? Bailey won’t tell me. She said to ask you.”

Thank you, Bailey. I just asked Veronica to have this talk with her, and there’s no way I’m explaining this to a five year old. I don’t know what to tell a kid this age. The stork? Birds and bees? Panicking, I blurt. “From underground.”

He looks up at me, his eyes wide and his nose crinkled up. “Underground? Like the groundhogs?”

Sure. Why not. Sounds as plausible as a stork. “Yeah, you have to catch a baby groundhog, bring it inside to live with you, and feed it people food.”

“And it turns into a baby,” he says, nodding with a grin.

Something tells me I’m going to be in trouble for this one. “A, do you want to learn to ride your bike without the training wheels?” I ask.

The distraction works, and he jumps to his feet. “Yes! Mom won’t let me take them off.”

“She won’t mind. Bring your bike over here.”

When Veronica returns, she and Bailey sit under the tree, watching as Aiden tries, falls, and gets back on, so determined. Finally, he makes it a few wobbly yards before crashing into the grassy embankment. “I did it!” he cries, running to me. I grab him and swing him up into a hug. “Yes, you did!” He peeks over my shoulder. “Mom! Did you see?”

Veronica beams at him, but I swear she looks like she could cry. “I saw. You did awesome!” He rushes over to get a high five from Bailey.

I return to the grill that’s now ready to use and get dinner started. Veronica sits under the tree, watching the kids run and play.

I save this moment, like a snapshot in time, because for some reason, it feels so right. I realize what I’m feeling isn’t just happiness, but contentment. I’m right where I want to be with the people I want to be with.

It doesn’t get better than this.

My thoughts are interrupted when Veronica walks up, a smirk on her face. “Neal, why is my kid trying to find a baby groundhog to feed?”

Shrugging, I hand her the plate of chicken. “He wants a brother.”