THIRTY

Mia

A knock at my door has me scramble to my feet, almost tripping over the quilt tangled around my legs.

-

I haven’t slept well. Not last night and not the night before. The porch couch might be good for a nap, here or there, but spending entire nights on there has my body aching. It doesn’t help that I missed Jared yesterday. I haven’t seen him at all. When I went over yesterday, Jordy and Ole had been outside. Apparently Jared had left early to sign the contract with the Colts.

Brian had stayed in Barrie Sunday night, but Jared had wanted to come home according to Jordy. Well, if that didn’t make me feel all kinds of guilty. He drove all the way home, knowing he had to be back there in the morning anyway, and I basically walked right out of the door when he got there.

When John popped over in the early afternoon, I came back here and spent the rest of the day stripping my bedroom. Pulled down the curtains, took off my bedding and stuffed it all in garbage bags. Too big to wash by hand, so I’d either have to take them to the laundromat, or see if I could wash them at Jared’s. If those rust coloured stains could even be washed out. Maybe throwing them out would be the best option. I managed to wash down the walls, and any blood I could see on the furniture, but the carpet had been beyond salvaging. So I started pulling that up.

A fucking mess. I spent four hours last night cursing the idiot who thought it was a good idea to glue carpet straight to the floorboards. And not just in a few places, every-damn-where. I was barely able to get one corner up, resorting to cutting away at it strip by strip, with an old box cutter I found in the kitchen drawer. The metal spatula I’d tried to use to scrape the glue off the boards was still laying in the bathroom where I’d tossed it. In two pieces.

That’s when I’d given up. Frustrated I’d plopped down on the couch, only to see Jared’s car parked in his driveway. No idea how long he’d been home, I tried not to feel hurt he hadn’t shown himself.

-

I manage to wrap the quilt around me and shuffle to the front door, where Griffin is already waiting at attention. Despite my efforts not to get too hopeful, I can’t help the nugget of hope that Jared might be on the other side, but when I pull open the door it’s clearly not him. An older man, maybe late fifties, shuffles his feet a little as he clamps his baseball cap in his hands.

“Morning?”

“Yes, morning, Ms. Thompson?”

“That’s me,” I prompt the man, who looks to be a little nervous. I peek over his shoulder to check if he’s alone, but all I see is an old beat up pickup truck with Contractor painted on the side. “Can I help you?”

“Ah...I’m here to fix window?” This time it’s his turn to check behind him.

“Oh.” I must look as puzzled as I feel, because he hurries to explain.

“Mr. Kesla not here? He call.”

“He did? I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand. Mr. Kesla is my neighbour. Perhaps you took the wrong turn?” As soon as the words leave my mouth I realize this man knew my name, so maybe he is in the right place. Pulling the quilt a little tighter around me, I probe a little. “Why don’t you tell me what brought you here?”

He straightens his shoulders visibly before he answers. “I was at daughter house yesterday. I miss the call. Check message this morning, Mr. Kesla say window need fixing at Thompson cottage, first thing. So I come right after breakfast. My name is Joe Manusco. I not live far; down road in Gravenhurst. The wife and me move here when daughter leave home. That’s where I was last night. Julia, my daughter, she and husband have house in Orillia.” I bite down a chuckle at his tendency to over-share in his thickly accented English. When he notices he suddenly snaps his mouth shut.

“Well, Joe,” I jump ahead. “I wasn’t aware a call had been made, but let me show you the problem. And it’s not the window, it’s actually the screen.” I step aside to let him in as Griffin cautiously sniffs.

“Holy sh...oot!” Joe says grabbing for his nose when we walk down the hall to the bedroom. Right. I probably should’ve warned him about the smell. “What died?”

“Bobcat.” I explain the state I found my place in, while he pokes around my bedroom, hissing disapprovingly when he sees my handiwork on the floor.

“Need tools,” he grumbles, squeezing past me, and leaving me standing in the middle of the stinky room.

I look longingly in the direction of the bathroom, where I’d hoped to have a shower at some point, but it looks like that might have to wait. I’m not getting naked with a strange man in the house. I snatch some clean clothes, and still wrapped in the quilt, shuffle back to my spot on the porch, where I quickly get dressed underneath the cover.

-

“How did he know?”

I finally called Jordy, after spending the better part of my morning trying to get a hold of Jared. He either has his phone off, or is ignoring my calls, because I ended up in voicemail every time.

I’m due at Rueben’s for my weekly appointment in an hour and would like some reassurances before I leave Joe alone in my house. The screen is fixed, but last time I checked, he was chipping glue off my floor boards. I have a feeling he won’t leave until my carpet is up.

“Jake told him about the bobcat, and I may have mentioned you were busy trying to clean the place,” she says carefully.

“He asked about me?” Crap. Now I sound, and don’t just feel, like a teenage girl gagging for attention. Jordy’s chuckle proves my self-assessment is right on the money.

“Chill, chicklet,” she teases. “He may have been a bit pissy at first, but it’s not like you broke up with him. He gets that, and I promise he’s not purposely ignoring you, he’s just busy in all-day meetings, putting together the team for the coming season.”

Don’t I feel like a fool? Of course he’s busy in his new job, which makes taking the time to contact a contractor for me a pretty sweet gesture. I’m starting to wonder if it wouldn’t have just been easier to stay over there.

“Okay, but do you know anything about this guy he sent over? I have to go into town.”

“Ms. Thompson?” The guy in question pokes his head outside. I hope I didn’t say anything offensive, but he just smiles when I pull the phone away.

“Yes?”

“Sorry for interruption. I have to go. I’ll come back tomorrow. Eight o’clock.”

Before I even have a chance to open my mouth, he’s disappeared back inside, and a few seconds later I hear the front door slam behind him.

“Problem solved,” I announce to Jordy sheepishly.

“I heard. Look, I’ve gotta run; my boy is demanding attention.” I can hear Ole exercise his lungs in the background.

“Talk to you later. And, Jordy? Thanks.” There is a lot said with that single syllable, but somehow I think she hears every last bit of it.

A quick glance at the clock shows I’m going to have to hustle to make my appointment in time. The temperature’s dropped a little the last few days, so I shrug on a zippered hoodie and grab my purse.

“You stay here,” I say to Griffin. “I won’t be long.” Pulling the door shut, I make my way over to my RAV, my fingers crossed it’ll start without a problem.

I’m halfway there when I see it; a slip of paper wedged under my windshield wiper. Immediately, I scan my surroundings. Jared kept Jake on, at the gate, for a bit longer, until he is sure the press has lost interest, but maybe someone slipped by. I’m a little jittery when I snatch the folded note from the windshield and can’t hold back blowing out a deep breath when I open it.

I don’t bother hiding the smile as I slip behind the wheel and start up the car. And the smile stays, all the way into town.

Jared

“Home opening game, September twenty-first, folks. Two more weeks to go. We’ve got a good group of boys, some new blood on the bench as well as behind it.” The Colts’ head coach gives a nod in my direction, before addressing the team again. I let his words flow over me as I look down at the phone in my hand.

That was probably too sappy. I’d had this grand idea of sending her little messages, but I’m clearly running out of material.

Yesterday, Joe started at her place. When I first heard what happened, I’d been halfway out the door before Jordy stopped me.

“Let her,” she said. Those two simple words enough to stop me in my tracks. Let her. Jake had just chuckled and walked past me out the door, and I was tempted to wipe the smirk off his face. I was pissed that everyone seemed to understand Mia better than me. Even the fucking security guy. It had taken everything out of me to turn around, head into my office, and get in touch with the contractor who’d built my deck. My ability to let her handle things only went so far.

Practice and meetings kept me busy well into the evening yesterday, and I ended up spending the night in Barrie. An empty bed is just that, wherever it’s located. Tonight I have plans, which is why I’ve been sending her texts, every now and then, after leaving that note on her windshield yesterday morning on my way out.

She hasn’t responded to any of them.

“Alright people,” coach says, breaking into my thoughts. “As promised, an early day today, a day off tomorrow, but I expect everyone back here Friday morning, bright and early. Three hour practice to start, and then we hop on the bus to Sudbury. Our first pre-season game against the Wolves.” Cheers and whistles go up from the team. These kids are hungry to get on the ice. Coach claps me on the shoulder when he passes me. “Nice haircut, Kesla.”

I follow the crowd outside, where my car is in its assigned slot. The only sedan here, everyone else drives utility vehicles. I guess the rugged SUVs are more suited to living in the snowbelt. On a whim, I drive straight to the Toyota dealership by the highway. What can I say, sometimes money is handy. It gets things done.

When an hour later, I’m about to drive a decked out floor model 4Runner off the lot, a text notification dings on my phone.

-

“Can I drive it?” Jordy is pushing every damn button and opening all the compartments in the new Toyota. She had the passenger door already open, before I’d even turned the engine off.

“Fuck no,” I react. “Get your own new car.”

“Maybe I will,” she says, sticking her tongue out. Suddenly I feel sixteen again, when I came home with my driver’s license, and Jordy pestered me until I took her to the Dairy Freeze in the old pickup Dad saved for me. It makes me smile and I turn around in my seat.

“How about when the season gets underway, before winter hits, we go see what else they’ve got at the dealer’s? That cookie tin you’re driving probably won’t make it up the hill after the first snowfall.”

“Red,” she blurts out.

“Sorry?”

“It’s gotta be red. I don’t care what it is, as long as it’s red.”

“I was thinking along the lines of all-wheel drive to get you up the hill. Something with a little higher wheel base, so you wouldn’t get stuck in the snow that easily, and you’re worried about the colour?” I throw her an incredulous look as she shrugs her shoulders at me.

“Those things are fine...as long as it come in red.” The big grin on her face is contagious as she slips from the passenger side.

I hadn’t noticed what she’s wearing, but with her hair curling down her back and the skirt of the pretty, floral dress bouncing around her legs, it’s clear she’s dressed to go out. I track behind her inside.

“Where are you off to?” I want to know as she starts moving toward the nursery, not stopping as she answers.

“John is picking us up soon.” I follow her into Ole’s room, where she’s just picking him up from the crib. “Will you grab his diaper bag for me?”

“Us? You’re taking Ole out?” I can hear myself and I wince at the whine in my questions. She turns to me with a little smile teasing her lips.

“We’re not going out,” she says, burying her face in the baby’s neck. “He’s cooking me dinner at his house.” She walks into her bedroom, the baby on her arm, and snatches an overnight bag from the bed. “He’s dropping us off before his shift tomorrow. Today’s his only day off.”

She’s fucking staying the night. There are so many things I want to say right now, but I bite my lip when I see the plea in her eyes. Swallowing down the bile crawling up my throat at the thought of my sister getting it on with the cop, I turn back into the nursery to grab Ole’s bag.

“Be happy for me?” she asks softly, when I join her in the living room where she’s strapping Ole in his car seat. “He’s a good man, Jared. And he doesn’t care I’m a used-up single mom.” Her voice wavers and I realize how low her self-confidence has fallen at the hands of that cocksucker, Nick. When she straightens up, I’m there to wrap her in my arms. She presses her face in my shirt.

“Far from used-up, Pipsqueak. Any man’s lucky to have you. I just worry,” I mumble in her hair.

There’s a light knock, right before the door opens, and the man in question steps inside. I’m about to say something about him barging into my house, when I notice the concern on his face when he spots Jordy clinging to me.

“What did you do?” is the first thing from his mouth, as he takes two long strides and plucks my sister away from me, pressing her face into his own chest. “What’s going on?” This time his eyes burn when he looks at me, one of his large hands soothing over Jordy’s hair.

“It’s okay.” Her voice is muffled and she pushes back a little, looking up in his face. “Jared was being nice.” LeBlanc’s face softens instantly as his gaze drops down to her.

“Okay,” he says simply, and I can feel some of my reservations slide. There’s no denying he’s gone over my sister if he’s willing to take me on in her defense, and then at her urging just as quickly lets it go. He listens to her. “I’ve got her,” he says to me before turning to Jordy. “Are you ready?” She nods, freeing herself from his hold, and lifting up on tiptoes in front of me.

“Love you,” she says, before she presses a kiss to my cheek.

“Love you more,” I tell my sister before turning to Leblanc. “And you, keep in mind she just had a baby.”

“Jared!” Jordy yells, shocked, as she lands a well-aimed punch on my shoulder.

“What? Did you forget I had a front row seat on that one?” I wince at the memory of seeing more than I was comfortable seeing of my sister.

The guy just chuckles, and I try not to scowl, when he tosses both bags over his shoulder, grabs Ole’s seat, and throws a proprietary arm around Jordy. As I watch them walk out the door, I can’t help the sting of apprehension, but I believe him—he’s got her.