Chapter Thirty-Six

Grayson

 

The whoosh of water in the pipes was my usual morning wakeup call, but this morning I was up even earlier than usual.

Just because I had to check my phone. For like the fiftieth time this week.

It was Thursday the 13th of February and we'd see Harper in two more days. I had run to the IGA and grabbed her a silly box of chocolates and a stuffed pink bear already, but Cal was probably going to send me back to get her a card. I wonder if Hallmark even made a card for our specific...thing. "Dear Girlfriend, Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Your Two Boyfriends."

The whooshing pipes stopped with a squeak and a slightly worrisome crunching noise, which meant that Cal was out of the shower and on his way to the tour he'd booked last minute for today. I felt a twinge of guilt tighten my throat. He'd been working overtime to make up for the weekends we'd miss with Harper, and I could tell the stress was getting to him. I resolved to spend all of today applying for as many jobs as I could find. It would suck, but nothing could suck too badly when I knew I'd see Harper again in two more days.

I rolled over and looked at my phone, just to see the calendar again and reassure myself, when my phone gave a sudden buzz that startled me so badly I almost fell on the floor.

I looked at the screen and my heart splashed down into my stomach. I took a deep breath and then answered. "Hey man."

"Well at least you're alive," Rett said, by way of greeting. "Where the fuck have you guys been? Is it my deodorant?"

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers. "Yeah, sorry," I said, smoothing my hand down over my face. "I guess I kind of suck."

"Admitting it is the first step towards recovery," Rett intoned pompously. "Glad you realize it. What's been going on?"

Oh nothing, just busy double-teaming your sister. I bit my tongue as guilt twisted around my stomach. How the fuck could we even start to explain what was happening here? "Not much," I lied. "Same old same old. What's going on with you?"

"Work," Rett sighed. He did something complicated for the county hospital system with their internal operating system, where he was like half-a-doctor, half-a-hacker. Something I was way too dumb to understand. "We're upgrading the equipment in the OR which is good because that shit's like from the last century..."

He spiraled down into one of those things we used to call McCabe-moments, where he'd start trying to explain — in minute detail — things no one but him had any interest in. Which was fucking fine because even just sitting here listening to him had me squirming like when I was a little kid and Great Aunt Hilda would drag me to confession. Even though Rett was talking about upgrading servers and shit, I swore I could hear an undercurrent in his voice. Did you really think you could hide what you're up to?

"So you'll be there?"

"Huh?" I shook my head. Rett actually had been asking me a question... apparently. "What was that?"

"Why are you being such a space cadet, Gray?" Rett sighed. "I'm talking about a job here."

I sat up straighter. "Sorry man," I said, trying like hell to get my heart rate back down to normal. "I just woke up. Haven't had my coffee yet."

Rett chuckled. "You'd better not be getting used to these late mornings. Cole's gonna need you there at like seven in the morning."

"He is?" I tried to mentally backtrack. What the hell was he talking about? Job? Cole? "Hey man," I said, feeling about two inches tall. "I totally missed what you said about the job. Sorry. Can you say it again?"

I swear I could hear Rett's eyes rolling through the phone. " Cole Granger," he said condescendingly. "You know the guy."

"Yeah, yeah, I know him."

"You know about how he bought Melton's land to make the town park?"

I bristled a little. It wasn't exactly Cole's fault that I'd lost my job, since Mr. Melton was gonna sell to somebody anyway, but there was still that prickle of resentment at the name. "Yeah, I know all about that," I said sarcastically.

"Well the permits finally went through this week. I ran into him at the gym yesterday, and he was saying he's having trouble putting together a crew to tear down that big-ass metal shed."

That big-ass metal shed was where I'd worked since I was sixteen. "You make it sound like that thing's an eyesore. The Marina is part of the town's history," I bristled. "And mine."

Rett's voice softened a little. "Hey, man, I know it's hard for you."

"Fuck off."

"You get attached to things. You're fucking loyal as hell, that's why you're a good friend."

I felt that guilt twist in my belly again. "Sure," I muttered.

"But you can't stay stuck in the past. Life moves on man. Melton sold. You lost your job. I thought it would be kind of poetic in a way for you to start a new job by tearing down the old."

"Me? Tear it down?" I repeated.

"I told Cole you had experience in demolition," Rett chuckled. "I didn't mention that said demolition was usually accidental."

"Fuck off." I grinned.

"But he said cool, he'd take you on."

I jumped to my feet. "No shit, really?"

"Yeah really." I could hear Rett grinning proudly. "It's going to be seven days a week too, because they're behind schedule, so you can make some bank with overtime."

I sat back down on the bed. "Overtime."

"Weekends and holidays, baby."

"I..." I caught myself, just in time, before the words fell out of my mouth. So they had nowhere to go except stay there, banging around in my brain. I can't work weekends. That's the only time I can be with Harper. "Cool man," I recovered, lamely.

"So you'll call him?"

"What? Oh yeah, of course."

"That's good. You'll make bank and you can finally get your own place. I bet you're dying to stop sharing everything with Cal."

I made a noise that was a cross between a yelp and a retch. "Yeah," I squeaked into the phone, sounding exactly like a middle schooler whose balls just dropped. "Okay thanks!" Then I hung up the phone before I told him exactly what — no, who —  I was sharing with Cal.