Fix My Fall

by Carey Heywood

  “Would you like to join us?”

  Earth’s atmosphere is twenty-one percent oxygen which makes my current level of breathlessness confusing. “Excuse me?”

  She gives me a half smile. “Do you have plans tonight?”

  Whatever neurological pathways control speech fail me, so I shake my head.

  “Good, you’re having dinner with us. I hope you like Mexican food because Gideon picked the restaurant and he’ll get pissy if we try and change it.”

  “I like Mexican.” It’s true, I do. Though, even if I hated it there’s a high probability I would have lied and pretended otherwise for an excuse to spend more time with Abby.

  “Awesome. It’s not far from here. Want to ride with me? I can drop you back off at your car afterward.”

  “Are you sure Gideon won’t mind?”

  Her nose crinkles with her smile. “Are you kidding? He flipped when I mentioned your name. He was going to call you on his own to see if you wanted to hang out.”

  “He did?” I make no attempt to mask the shock in my voice.

  Her smile softens into something sweeter. “He said you were really cool with him when you tutored him. It meant a lot to him.”

  Gideon was a sophomore and I was a senior when I tutored him. With good looks, amazing athletic ability, and his charismatic personality, he was a legend even in his freshman year.

  I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t want to tutor him in the beginning. My history of interacting with people like him had conditioned me to assume the worst about him. I figured he’d get me to do his homework by threatening me in some way.

  Gideon Thompson was a complete surprise. Instead of being the stereotypical dumb jock, he was smarter than most people ever gave him credit for.

  Yes, when I first started helping him, he was struggling. That turned out to have nothing to do with his capabilities and more to do with the teaching style of his science teachers. They tried to put him in a box and force the knowledge onto him in a way that didn’t work for him.

  For as grateful as he is to me, I am to him as well. He opened up my eyes to judgments I wasn’t aware I was making of people. Telescopes use mirrors to absorb more light than the human eye can. Working with Gideon was like looking into a different mirror and I was ashamed of what it reflected.

  “You don’t mind?”

  She starts walking. “I wouldn’t have offered if I did.”

  Her SUV is impeccably clean. Before climbing into it, I thought my car was clean.

  “I keep it this clean because I drive around clients all the time.”

  “How did you know I was thinking that?”

  She pulls out onto the street. “Your expression.”

  “You are very observant.”

  Reaching down, she presses a button, switching on the seat heaters. “It’s helpful in real estate. I can walk into a house with a buyer and know within ten minutes if they’ve fallen in love with a place. Also, I try to keep track of the things that light them up in every house we look at so I can recommend houses they may not have thought would work for them.”

  Even I can admit, she’s better at this than I thought she’d be.

  5

  Abby

  After I park, I check my phone. I’m not surprised to see a text from Gideon letting me know he’s already here. Hopefully it won’t be too hard to drag him away from whatever girl he’s probably chatting up.

  “The food here is amazing.”

  God, I’m trying to small talk him. What sucks is I’m not sure if I want to ask him about his work. How embarrassing would it be if I couldn’t understand it? Side by side, we walk up to the restaurant.

  “Do you eat here often?”

  More stupid polite small talk.

  “I sure do. Hey, do you believe in aliens?”

  He pulls open the door for me. “I do.”

  That stops me short and he bumps into me.

  “Oh sorry.”

  I ignore his apology. “You really think there are aliens out there?”

  He frowns. “I’m not saying I think there are little green men but I do believe there is life on another planet in another galaxy. What that life looks like? I don’t know.”

  Interesting.

  Moving farther into the space, I see Gideon right away.

  The hostess picks up two menus when she sees us. “Table for two?”

  I shake my head. “We’re meeting someone. He’s over there.”

  I motion to where Gideon is, leaning over the bar, flirting with a pretty red-headed bartender.

  Our hostess sighs. Honest to God sighs.

  I want to, but I stop myself from rolling my eyes.

  “Did he get a table, or has he been at the bar the whole time?”

  I’m not surprised she knows. “He went right to the bar when he came in.”

  Figures.

  “Could we have a table for three?”

  She nods, and then notices Spencer. When her motions slow and she bites her lip, I internally groan.

  You’d think I’d be used to women falling all over my brothers that I wouldn’t even notice one doing it to Spencer. You’d be wrong.

  We follow her to a table and I poke Gideon in the ribs when we pass him. He jumps, making me snort. He’s ticklish which cracks me up more than it should.

  Growing up, I could always win at wrestling, even though I’m smaller than him, just by tickling him.

  “Abby. Quit fucking poking me,” he grumbles.

  “We’re being seated.”

  I don’t miss the bartender slipping him her number before he moves to follow us. When I paused to poke him, Spencer moved around me. Gideon doesn’t realize he’s with us, until we all end up at the same table.

  He puffs out his chest, and folds his arms, one over the other. “Who’s your friend Abby?”

  “You don’t recognize Spencer Hill?”

  My question is unfair since I didn’t recognize him either. Still, it’s fun to watch Gideon’s face morph into shock.

  His arms drop and he offers Spencer his hand. “Jesus. Abby said you looked different but I didn’t believe her. You get bit by some radioactive spider in your lab man? ‘Cuz, holy shit, you’ve grown.”

  Spencer grins as they shake hands. “In my line of work, it’d be more likely gamma rays.”

  Gideon pulls out his chair. “You work with gamma rays?”

  Okay, that sounds like something out of a movie. Are gamma rays even real?

  “Indirectly. I’m mainly tracking new supernovas.”

  “That’s cool man and it’s good to see you again.”

  I’m ashamed at myself for not believing Gideon and Spencer could be friends because they are so different. Watching their easy conversation proves how wrong I was.

  “We need to exchange numbers so we can hang out sometime without this one.” Gideon motions to me with his thumb.

  This one?

  “For that comment, you’re treating tonight.”

  He ignores me. “You have a girlfriend?”

  My mouth falls open.

  I quickly close it to say, “You can’t just ask him that?” My eyes move to Spencer, my cheeks getting warm. “I’m sorry he has no manners.”

  Gideon makes a face at me before looking back at Spencer. “Don’t listen to her.”

  “I’m single?”

  I force myself not to laugh at the fact that the way Spencer said it made it sound like a question.

  “I’ll take you out and be your wingman. The ladies will love you.”

  Wait, what? I choke on my water.

  Now Gideon wants to take him out on the town? For some inexplicable reason, this bothers me.

  “Gideon.”

  “Did you see the hostess when we walked in?”

  Spencer sets down his menu. “Now isn’t a good time for me to date. I’m spending most of my free time at the university.”

  Gideon spreads his arms. “It’s the holidays. You need to be celebrating
.”

  If Spencer weren’t sitting here, I’d remind Gideon that sleeping with anything that breathes is not how most people celebrate Christmas.

  Our waitress brings us chips and salsa. Before we can dive into them, she takes our drink orders and since we all know what we want, takes our food orders as well.

  “My parents are going on a cruise. When they booked it I was still in California. They offered to cancel it but I told them not to. We’ve never made a big production out of the holidays. I had planned to put in some extra hours.”

  Both Gideon and I stare at him. “On Christmas?”

  When he nods, Gideon says, “You can’t work on Christmas. That’s just sad. Since you’re all alone, why don’t you hang out with us?”

  It’s Spencer’s turn to stare. “With your family?”

  Gideon shoves a chip loaded with salsa into his mouth and speaks around it. “Yeah. Our mom is all the more the merrier.”

  “He’s not lying,” I add.

  “I couldn’t.”

  Gideon shakes his head. “It’s too late to say no now that we both know you’re going to be by yourself. If you do, one of us will mention it to our mom. She’s got ninja skills when it comes to finding people around the holidays.”

  Spencer blinks at me. “Your mother will find me?”

  I shrug. “It’s been known to happen.”

  He stares at the both of us while we casually munch on chips. To a lot of people, our family might seem crazy, our parents in particular.

  When I was younger, it even embarrassed me the way they would parent my friends and people we went to school with. Now that they’re getting older, I realize how blessed I’ve been to grow up with parents and siblings who all cared about me and the people around me.

  Earlier this year, my mom had a health scare. That really put things into perspective for me. She might drive me crazy trying to find me a boyfriend. I’ll gripe at her but nothing more than that. She’s my mom, I wouldn’t trade her for anything.

  “Should I bring something?”

  I have to hold back my laugh at how quickly Spencer caved and derailed my train of thought. “Wine is always appreciated at family functions.”

  Gideon nods in agreement. “Did you guys look at a place earlier?”

  “We did, a condo off of South Street,” I reply.

  “Since you’re not talking contracts, I take it this place wasn’t the one.” Gideon makes air quotes with his fingers on the words the one.

  Spencer leans back in his chair. “Great space, thin walls.”

  Our server returns with our food and Gideon helps her pass out our plates. “You’ll get that with all of the condos around here, even the newer ones.”

  “He’s decided to focus on single-family homes going forward.”

  “There are a lot of great places around here. Come spring, you’ll have so many to choose from you won’t know which one to pick.”

  “That’s what Abby’s said. It appears I’ve picked a bad time of year to begin my search.”

  “Gotta love the snow if you’re going to stay here. Hey, do you board?”

  “Board?”

  Gideon leans forward. “Snowboard.”

  Spencer shakes his head. “I’ve never tried it.”

  “You ever want to give it a shot, there’re some okay hills around here. Not as big as Killington or Sunday River but the perfect place to learn if you want to.”

  It’s cool to see them together. Gideon has that effect on people, he’s never met a stranger.

  Even though Spencer offers, Gideon picks up the tab when we’re all done. Normally, I’d fight it, but ever since the sinkhole happened, I’ve stopped trying to stop my brothers from taking care of me. Being Miss Independent has been put on hold.

  “See you tomorrow.”

  Gideon’s goodbye is halfhearted. His attention is already on the pretty bartender from earlier.

  I stop myself from reminding him to wear a condom. “Bye.”

  Spencer watches him as well. “Thanks again for dinner.”

  It’s not until we’re near my car that he says, “He doesn’t seem to need a wingman.”

  I laugh but stop when Spencer doesn’t return it.

  “Was he only saying that out of pity?”

  Oh man, I can see why Spencer might think that. “No way. He doesn’t pity you, he likes you and it was his way of saying you guys should hang out.”

  “Why wouldn’t he just say that?”

  I climb into my SUV and crank the heat up. “You’re being too literal about this.”

  That shuts him up.

  “What I’m saying is there’s no reason for you to pick apart or overthink what he said.”

  There’s a faint click over the blast of the heater as he fastens his seatbelt. “Are you looking for another house?”

  His change of subject must mean he’s finished talking about Gideon. Everyone I know is curious about what my plans are house-wise. Sinkholes aren’t that prevalent around here so it’s made me somewhat of a pitiable celebrity.

  “Yes, and no. I didn’t own my home outright. Even though I bought it at a decent price, there’s no point trying to get another mortgage.”

  “You’re still paying a mortgage on a house you can’t live in?”

  “Sounds insane, right?”

  I’d laugh but there’s nothing funny about my current situation.

  “What are you going to do?”

  I pull out onto the street. “Right now I’m trying to cut down my expenses so I can throw every spare dollar I have at the loan. Do you remember Samantha Abernathy from high school?”

  “She was one of your friends, right?”

  The cab starts to feel a bit too warm, so I turn it down a notch. “She still is and is helping me out big time by letting me stay with her rent-free.”

  “That’s a good friend.”

  I glance over at him and grin. “She’s the best. If it wasn’t for her, I might be living with Gideon right now. As much as I love him, I think we’d kill each other if we lived together.”

  “What about one of your other brothers?”

  “I’d love to stay at Asher’s place. If he lived closer to town, I probably would. He has a great place right on a lake. Best part, is he has a guest cabin so it’s not like I’d be in his or his fiancée’s way. Noah and his fiancée, Finley, offered to let me stay with them. Their place rocks, but they’re all lovey-dovey and I would feel like I was intruding.”

  “What about your parents?”

  This makes me laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, I love them, I really do, but I will hopefully never live with them again.”

  Then I remember he’s living with his parents. “No offense. I don’t know how obsessed your mom is with your love life, but mine is. If I moved in with them, I’d be subjected to surprise dinners with any nearby man of what she considers to be a marriageable age.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  Familiar streets and buildings flow past us as I take my time to answer him. “It comes from a good place. For her, happiness came from marrying my dad and having us kids. I think she worries about me and thinks finding someone will solve all my problems. What happened with my house did not help.”

  “Ahh, because your boyfriend, or husband, would have swooped in to save you.”

  “Exactly. What she’s completely overlooked is even though I’m not romantically involved with anyone, I have no shortage of people ready to help me.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, how much do you have left on your loan?”

  “Oh, you know, seventy-five thousand, three hundred eighty-six dollars and twelve cents.”

  “Wow, you know it to the penny.”

  “I do. Hopefully, I’ll be able to knock it down by ten grand soon. Noah has been helping me sell fixtures from it. He has a lot of building contacts around town and they’ve been offering stuff from my house to their clients, with their knowledge at a discount. He might even have som
eone buy my shingles.”

  “You can reuse shingles?”

  I park in front of the coffee house. “Apparently, if you’re careful removing them.”

  “For someone who has lost so much, you’re handling it remarkably well.”

  It’s not every day a genius tells me I’m remarkable. “When it first happened, I didn’t handle it well at all. I still have woe is me moments where I feel like cursing out the universe. None of that helps anything so I’ve decided to focus on a plan.”

  “Under the circumstances, couldn’t you make a deal with your lender?”

  “It would hurt my credit score so it’s not something I’ve considered, but don’t worry about me. This is a setback, not the end of the world.”

  Before he gets out of my car, I give him my parents’ address and let him know what time to get there. Then, I watch as he makes his way to his car and wait for him to leave before I do.

  It’s been a long day. All I want to do is cuddle Emo and sleep for a hundred hours when I get back to Sam’s.

  Given the time, I’m surprised her car isn’t here when I park. We’re both adults so it’s not like she has to clear her schedule with me first. Still, especially since I’ve moved in with her, we’ve been keeping each other in the loop schedule-wise.

  Unlocking the door, I push it open. “Emo. Here kitty, kitty.”

  The floors in Sam’s place are a dark wood so Emo blends in.

  Meow

  Dropping my purse on the entryway table, I head for the kitchen. “Are you hungry?”

  Meow

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  I’m filling up her bowl when Sam walks in.

  “Hey chica,” I say turning to greet her. “I was expecting you to be home when I got back. Where were you?”

  She sets her purse down next to mine and gives me her back as she shuts and locks the door behind her. “I had to work late.”

  We work in the same office. My having a condo to show Spencer at all was nothing short of a Christmas miracle. There’s no work and we both know it. I decide against calling her out on the lie, praying whatever she’s up to, has nothing to do with me. She can have her secrets, once she’s ready to tell me, she will.