“What the fuck is going on?” I say to myself and the universe. While I wait for an answer, all I get is a text from Brody.
Tomorrow, the white house. I bought the paint.
I don’t bother to answer, while I walk out of the backyard to the front. Instead, I pick up the phone and make some calls. Even if I have to muck and clean out the town sewer system, someone else will be taking my place.
When I look back inside the house and don’t see anyone walking outside from the backyard, I look up at the house and my eyes land on the room in the corner. The room where I pulled myself together for my daughter, the room where I dealt with her colic, and the room that made me realize I could get through this. I see the curtains move as I look down and get in my car. Driving away, I never once look back.
Chapter Eight
Hailey
“I can’t believe you guys did all this in twenty-four hours,” I say as I look around the house, which has a new paint job and working lights. I look over at Brody who stands there with his big arms crossed over his chest and his legs spread apart. “Even the outside looks brand new.”
“I’m glad we could make it right,” he says as I hear footsteps upstairs. “They are just finishing up the final touches. Miguel should be done in about five minutes, and then we will be out of your hair.”
I walk into the kitchen, taking in the new stainless steel appliances, and open the fridge to find it fully stocked. “You guys didn’t have to stock the fridge,” I say. Crystal walks in with her mouth hanging open in shock.
“Holy shit,” she says as she takes in the room. “You guys did all this in twenty-four hours?” she asks as she goes upstairs to her room. I hear her yelling, “Holy shit,” and I look over at Brody who smiles. I hear her coming back downstairs. “You see what happens when you threaten to poison cattle?” she says, putting her arms to the side of her. “Boom. Mic drop.” Her outstretched fist opens.
Miguel comes downstairs, nodding at Brody as he makes his way outside with his tool box. “See you tomorrow, boss,” he says, turning to nod at us also. He walks out the new door as the new screen door slams shut behind him.
“Look at these appliances,” Crystal says, opening the fridge and seeing it fully stocked. She grabs a bottle of beer and hands it to Brody, who takes it from her with a nod. She pulls out another two, one for each of us, and twists the tops off. “To the adventure finally beginning.” We click the bottles then we bring them to our lips. I look out the window and see a big white truck backing up. “What is that?” she asks. Pushing off from the counter, she goes to the door, and I follow her. I see four SUVs pulling up alongside the white truck.
The only ones I recognize are Delores and Heidi, who introduced herself as Jensen’s mother when we had the tea party. Delores gets out of her truck, and I see another tiny woman with bleached blond hair get out of her own SUV. She smiles at us and waves as she walks up the steps. “Hey,” she says, her voice coming out soft. “Look at this house, it’s almost brand new.” She admires the swing that has been either painted or washed down.
“Hey, gorgeous.” We hear Brody from behind us move us to the side and grab the woman by her waist, lifting her up. “Give me some sugar,” he says. The blonde just smiles at him and sighs, leaning in to kiss him. He puts her down as he drapes his hand around her shoulder, and she wraps her arms around his waist, her head reaching the middle of his chest. “Ladies, this is my wife, Darla.” He looks down, smiling again as we both say hello at the same time.
Delores walks up the steps, dressed in jeans and a white dress shirt rolled up at the wrists. “Okay, enough of that lovey-dovey; we have a job here,” she says as she takes off her sunglasses and smiles at us. “Now this,” she says as she takes in the room once she walks into the house, “this is what I’m talking about.” She walks to the kitchen and turns on the water, then goes to the fridge and opens it, nodding in approval that it is stocked. She turns on every burner on the gas stove until they all light up. She turns them off, then makes her way around the whole house, testing everything from the light switches to the sockets to make sure everything is in working order. “Okay, boys, let’s get it done,” she yells, and Crystal and I just stand there shell-shocked as three men jump out of the truck and move to the back and open it up.
I take in the back and see that it is filled to the brim. “What is all that?” I ask, looking around. Heidi just smiles at me as she approaches.
“This is everything you guys ordered.” She points at the truck and tears escape me. “And stuff we also picked out as a thank you for not suing us.” She comes to hug me. How did such a wonderful woman make the biggest jerk face on earth?
“So while the big, strong men bring in the stuff, us womenfolk will put it away,” Delores says as she starts giving out orders. Brody meets the three other men by the truck.
“Ladies,” he yells out, and we all turn around, “this is my best friend, Doug.” He points at the biggest guy there. If I thought Brody was big, this guy is almost double his size. Doug just nods at us as Brody continues the introductions. “This is Kingston,” he says of the middle one who is almost the same build as he is, and then he points at the last guy standing there with a blue baseball cap, black beard, and brown eyes. “Now this one is Gabe.” He looks at Crystal. “And her boss.” He points as I see Crystal’s throat swallow down.
His hands go to his hips. “Can we finish this today, please? I have a shit load of stuff to do this afternoon.” His voice comes out a little harsh as he jumps into the back of the truck and hands down a box.
“Holy shit,” I whisper to Crystal. “Your boss is fucking hot.” I look around, making sure no one heard us as I see Delores and Heidi open the cabinets and start placing plates inside.
“Why is he so angry?” Crystal asks in a soft voice, and I shrug my shoulders, but Darla adds in her opinion.
“There is not enough tequila in the world for me to get through that story,” she says and then goes back to the kitchen as we watch two men bring in a loveseat.
For the next four hours, our little quiet home comes together. “Where are the car keys?” I ask Crystal, looking through her purse and then finally finding them. “I’m going to go get the boys pizza,” I tell them, and they all cheer. Well, almost all. Gabe just glares.
I park in the back of D’Amore and walk to the front. The aroma of tomatoes hits me right away when I walk in. I look at the front counter and the man behind it pounding away at the dough in front of him. Another man adds wood to the big brick oven behind him. “Can I help you?” asks the lady standing at the hostess stand on the left.
“Yes.” I smile as I walk over. “I’d like to order five pizzas,” I say, counting off to make sure it’s enough in my head. She hands me the menu so I can look at the different options except there are only three—cheese, pepperoni and cheese, and meat lovers. “Well, this is a hard choice. I’ll take one cheese, two pepperoni, and two meat lovers.” She smiles at me, then yells the order across the room, startling me.
“It will be about ten minutes. You can have a seat here.” She points at the two chairs beside her. “Or you can sit at the bar in the back.” She motions to the small rounded bar in the back corner of the restaurant. Wine glasses hang from the racks above the bar as the guy works quickly to keep up with the orders that come in. The restaurant is almost full. Where most restaurants have individual tables, D’Amore only has long tables with stools, and you sit where you want. Bags of flour line the walls as well as boxes of what look like tomatoes stacked halfway up the wall. I’m looking around when I see Mila stand on a stool and wave at me, calling my name. “Hailey.” Pizza sauce all around her mouth. I smile at the her, then she looks down at her father and he turns his head to look at me. I wave to the her and then turn my head to look outside, forcing myself not to see if she got off the stool. I feel someone poke my leg, and I turn to see the little girl in question. I squat down in front of her. “Well, hello there, Princess Mila,�
�� I say to her as she smiles and giggles at the nickname I gave her. “You came out of your castle?”
“Yes.” She nods. “Poppa just picked me up, and we get pizza when he picks me up at Grandma Norma’s house,” she informs me as her father now approaches. “Ready to go?” he asks Mila, not even giving me a glance. Mila looks up. “Can we go walk on the beach and find shells?” she asks her father, who just nods. She grabs her father’s hand as I hear the man behind the counter call my name. “Have fun, Princess Mila.” I tap her nose with my finger as I stand and go to grab the boxes.
The young man behind the counter smiles at me. His white baseball cap on backward makes his green eyes pop. The white t-shirt he is wearing is smeared with tomato sauce. The apron he has on just as dirty. “You’re new?” he asks, and I nod. “I’m Luigi.”
“Nice to meet you, Luigi. I’m Hailey.” I introduce myself as I reach out and grab the five boxes of pizza, not expecting them to be so heavy. Who knew. “Wow. That’s heavy.” I laugh as he reaches back to grab them from me.
“I’ll help you carry them to your car.” He is about to turn around, stopping only when he hears a gruff voice.
“I got it.” I turn to see Jensen reaching past me to grab the boxes. “Mila, hold on to my leg, okay?” He looks down, giving his daughter the instruction, and then waits until she nods.
“It really isn’t necessary. I can carry them; I was just surprised they were so heavy,” I say to them, but Jensen is already outside. “Thank you so much, Luigi.” I walk to the back and find him standing next to my car, waiting for me to unlock the doors. I take the key from my pocket and unlock the door. He opens the trunk and places them inside, then closes it. Grabbing Mila’s hand, he walks away. “Thank you,” I say, but he doesn’t turn back around. Instead, he opens his truck door and buckles Mila in, then turns to get in and takes off, leaving me standing in the middle of the parking lot. “Asshole.”
I shake my head as I get into my car and make my way back home, popping the trunk open and carrying the pizza inside. I walk in, taking in the room, and smile to myself.
The loveseats are perfect, the added throw pillows completing the look. A cream-colored quilt hangs over the back of the loveseat. The wooden box side tables hold two lamps I didn’t buy, and there is a white coffee table in the middle with a wooden tray in the center containing the remotes and several candles.
A picture-perfect room with the now working fireplace and a television hanging just above it.
I walk to the antique white dining room table, which I knew would be perfect, and place the pizza on it. Heidi comes into the room from my bedroom. “I might never leave,” I tell her, and she throws her head back and laughs.
“Food,” Brody yells from behind me, and everyone gathers in the living room from wherever they were in the house. I look around and see Gabe and Crystal missing. “Where are the other two?” I ask as I grab a piece of pizza, folding it and taking a bite, the sweetness of the sauce hitting my tongue first. “This is so good.”
“The other two are upstairs having a standoff,” Delores says as she grabs a piece of pizza. “Apparently, there is a correct way to have the bed against the wall. One said straight, and the other wants it at an angle.”
“Um,” I say as Gabe comes storming downstairs. Walking straight out of the house, the screen door slamming behind him, he gets in Darla’s car and leaves. We all watch as Crystal comes down the stairs wearing a smile.
She doesn’t say anything. Instead, she grabs a piece of pizza, groaning, “This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”
“What did you do to Gabe?” Darla asks from her husband’s lap.
“I didn’t say anything,” she says, “He was ranting and raving and apparently me not saying anything pushed him over the edge. He fired me. I laughed at him.” She laughs as she takes another bite of her pizza. “Then I took the phone out and called his father and quit.” She shrugs her shoulders.
“You quit?” I shriek out while the other people in the room just laugh.
“Well, I tried, but Nathan, Gabe’s father, didn’t accept it and called his son.” She shrugs. “I have no idea what was said. I mean, I saw the vein in his forehead start throbbing. Then I asked him if he needed medical attention because he looked pale.”
Brody throws his head back and lets out a big belly laugh while Delores looks down and snickers. “Then he stormed out of here.”
“This is going to be fun,” Brody says, and Darla cuddles in his arms, laying her head on his shoulder. “Okay,” he says, kissing Darla’s head, “we are almost done. Let’s get the last things out.” Darla gets off his lap so he can head out to the truck with the other two guys and finish unloading.
Heidi cleans up as I walk to the back where my bedroom is, stopping at the entrance. “This isn’t what I ordered,” I tell Darla as I walk inside, my feet landing on a huge shaggy brown rug in the middle of the room. The king-size bed sits in the middle of the room between two windows. A wooden off-white bedframe holds the mattress, and the champagne-colored duvet covering it looks like a plush cotton ball. The side tables bring a bit of style with mirrored glass tops. A small plant decorates one of the side tables, and a big clock hangs on the wall next to one of the windows. A cream-covered bench sits at the foot of the bed with a plush cover. “It’s a dream.”
“I’m happy to hear you say that.” I hear Delores say from behind me as she leans on the doorframe. “You need somewhere that is your sanctuary, and I want this to be it,” she says as I wrap my arms around my waist, the tears coming now.
“It’s not what you went through; it’s what you do after it that defines you,” she says, and I nod my head. “The boys just finished bringing in the last of it. We are going to let you two get settled.”
“Thank you,” I say to her as she looks at me. “Thank you for making me finally feel at home; it’s been a while.” She turns and walks away. I make it outside to the glass-enclosed porch, sitting in the wooden swing that someone sanded down, repainted, and added new cushions to, and look out the window. Seeing Mila run after the dog who turns and runs back to her, I watch her father walk with his head down, lost in his own thoughts.
Chapter Nine
Jensen
“Mila, be careful,” I tell her as she runs down the beach. I know we are passing the white house, and I also know they finished everything last night. No one knows I went there last night after I knew everyone was gone. I went to take one last walk-through. I said goodbye to the memories, goodbye to the ghost. I also dropped off the papers to my grandmother, selling her the house for a penny. I don’t want it. I don’t want anything to do with it, so it’s now hers.
I sat in that living room, looking into the fireplace as I burned all the pictures Julia and I had ever taken. Alone with a bottle of scotch.
Norma, Julia’s mother, gets to spend one weekend a month with Mila. After Julia left me, her mother pleaded and begged for her to come back home, but Julia was not going to do that. Plus, Julia had just found out she was pregnant, and this time, it really couldn’t have been mine. Besides, they were building their empire. Scott was setting up his own construction company, and Julia took care of the paperwork.
Two months after Julia left, I received the divorce papers as well as the papers relinquishing her parental right to Mila. My attorney got her name taken off the birth certificate to make sure she could never come back for custody. I knew she wouldn’t, but I covered my bases anyway. Norma begged me to let her be a part of Mila’s life, and I agreed, with the condition that she is not to discuss Julia. There was no reason to talk to my girl about a mother who deserted us. Who deserted her own daughter. No daughter should grow up with the knowledge that not even her own mother wanted her. It was my one rule, and until she broke it, she could be in her life.
Now, I watch as my little girl smiles every single day; she is surrounded by so much love that she doesn’t miss anything. I know she will have questions when she gets older, so
I kept one picture of Julia. The one right after she gave birth with tears running down her face. I brought it home with me and slipped it in the bottom of my dresser drawer. One day, I’m going to have to answer where her mom is, and I hope this makes her feel loved even though she left her.
“Poppa, look, a bottle,” she says as she points at an empty bottle of beer that has washed up on the shore. She picks up the branch lying next to it and throws it into the shallow water. Flounder jumps into the water and catches it, carrying it back out.
We walk a bit more until we circle around to head home. I make Mila her Sunday night special of fish sticks and tater tots. I’m taking the pan out of the oven when my front door slams shut. “Uncle Gabe,” Mila says from her spot on the couch as she watches The Boss Baby. Gabe is my cousin; our fathers are brothers. We grew up together, and he’s like a brother to me, which is why Mila calls him Uncle. “Hi.” He smiles at her and kisses her head.
I watch him walk into the kitchen from the huge family room. The open concept was the perfect decision. “What’s got into you?” I ask him as I flip the fish sticks over and put them back in the oven. I watch Gabe go to the liquor cabinet and pour himself two fingers of scotch. Downing it, he then pours himself another two fingers. Once he finishes the second one, he stands there with his head hung. “So are we discussing this, or are you just going to sulk in the corner?” I ask him.
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