by Dave Conifer
“I wouldn’t want nobody in my house either,” he said. “I got plenty to do out here anyway. So long as you’re okay with this.”
Ninety minutes later the three of them were in the house. Allie and Jane settled into the kitchen for lunch while Manteo lugged tools through the front door into the foyer. After she finished eating Allie wanted videos but Jane talked her into staying in the kitchen. It didn’t take long for them to get used to the staccato, metallic rhythm of Manteo’s work. Jane peeked into the foyer and saw that he was removing the baseboard and stacking it neatly near the bottom of the stairs.
“What’s Uncle Rob doing?” Allie asked as she dumped multi-colored mounds of play-doh from their cardboard canisters.
“Who? Why did you call him that?”
“He told me to.”
“He did? When?” Allie shrugged without looking up from the snowman she was building. Jane shuddered, wondering when the two of them had gotten together without her being aware of it. “Allie, don’t call him that. His name is Mr. Manteo.”
Manteo poked his head through the kitchen doorway before Allie answered. “Miss Hav’lock?” he asked, ignoring her marital status and dropping the middle syllable of her last name.
Jane jumped to her feet and stepped toward him. “Yes?” she blurted.
“I was wonderin’ if you’d picked out the new tile yet. It won’t be but a couple days before I have the old floor out and I’ll be ready to start layin’ it.”
Jane winced. “I’ve been after Steve to go look at tile for a week. He just can’t be bothered.” She hoped the hand that Manteo draped across the door frame was cleaner than it looked from where she stood.
“Okay,” Manteo said. “Just askin’ about it.”
“I’d pick it out myself but I don’t know the first thing about it.” She smirked. “Of course, Steve doesn’t either. Do you just go to the flooring aisle and pick one that looks good?”
“Yeah, but I need to know the tile size. And we gotta’ make sure they have it in stock and I gotta’ get some grout that matches.”
“Oh dear.”
He walked over to the table. “Are you making a snowman, honey?” A beaming Allie picked it up and waved it at him.
“I’ll talk to Steve about it. We’ll go out tonight and pick something,” she promised.
“Bye Mr. Manteo,” Allie called as he retreated to the foyer. He shot a look at Jane but said nothing.
~~~
“Can’t you just pick it?” Steve said later when Jane brought it up. “I got so much shit going down at work that I don’t have time. You know best.”
“I think there’s more to it than just what looks good,” she protested. “What if I pick the wrong kind?”
“There are different kinds? Just tell them what you need it for. They’ll help you.”
“At least somebody will,” she muttered, but he was already checking messages on his phone.
“Damn,” he hissed after turning away. “Damn! I have to call Cindy.”
Jane walked through the foyer, the floor of which was now nothing but rough plywood. Manteo had already mentioned that he’d need a day to clean it up and take measurements but then the new tile could go in. I guess I’m on my own, she told herself as she listened to her husband cursing into the phone. He stomped in and sat down on the stairs with his forehead in his hands after jamming the phone in his pocket. “That was Cindy, from work,” he said when he looked up. “Trouble on the Napagliptin project. A program I wrote is fucking up. A bunch of them, actually. Maybe all of them.”
“I thought you didn’t write programs anymore.”
“I shouldn’t have to. I don’t have time for it now that I’m running the shop. But this is something I wrote last year. Somebody found some bugs. I have to fix them fast. By the end of the week. That’s when we’re locking this study up and sending it out. Everything has to be right. Damn it. See? This is why you have to take care of the tile yourself.”
“What about the deck? He’s already working on it. I didn’t have the heart to tell him we weren’t interested.”
“Who says we’re not interested?” Steve asked. “Like I always say, at his prices we should hire him for anything he’s willing to do.”
“He wants to stain it when he’s done cleaning it up.”
“Tell him to go for it. Just so long as I never have to hear about it again until he wants his money.”
~~~
“I guess I have to go buy some tile,” she told Manteo the next day. “I’ll go when I’m picking up Allie, I guess. I’m pretty nervous about it,” she admitted. “I don’t know anything about it.”
She thought she saw him smile but it didn’t last. “I can start layin’ it tomorrow if I have it. Nothin’ to be nervous about.”
“For you, maybe. I don’t know what to get. I don’t even know what color would look best.”
He put down his tool, which he had told her was a belt sander, and stood up from where he’d been crouching on the deck. ”I could go with you if you want. We could go right now. The sooner I have it the faster I’ll get it down.”
She almost laughed, without knowing why. “Really? That would solve everything. But what about Allie?” she heard herself asking. “I have to pick her up at school.”
He shrugged. “It’s up to you.”
“Maybe we can pick up Allie and then go look at tile. Is that too much?” she asked, reminding herself not to tell Steve about this. “Her school isn’t far from here.”
“Good for me. Gotta’ get that tile.”
She already regretted it even before she was inside the house. She can’t be riding around with this guy in her car, especially if Allie would be there. But it was too late. Not only that, she reminded herself. It solves a huge problem. Like he said, he needs the tile. The moms at the daycare would get a kick out of who she was hanging out with, at least.
“Better take the truck,” he said when she was back outside. “We might be haulin’ a whole lot of tile.”
“Sorry we have to pick up Allie,” Jane said. “Otherwise this wouldn’t take so long.”
“It’s okay,” he said. That was the end of their conversation. Jane watched with curiosity as Manteo eased the truck across Route 9, waited for the light at the next intersection and turned onto Jersey Avenue, where the day-care was, without asking for directions.
~~~
She still hadn’t gotten used to the throaty rumble of the truck when they reached Kiddie Academy, and she knew by their stares that the other moms in their SUVs were equally uncomfortable with it. “If you can just park I’ll go in and get her.” Instead of pulling into a parking space he butted up along the curb near the front door, stopping just short of the crosswalk where mothers were walking past to their own cars with children in tow. Jane waited until nobody was around before hopping down from the truck and scurrying inside.
A minute later she was back with Allie. Now she had a dilemma. She didn’t want to squeeze in next to Manteo but she wanted Allie next to him even less. There wasn’t much choice. She climbed up first, held a hand down to help Allie in and then slid up against him to make room for her daughter. His legs, encased in dirty work pants, looked even longer from that angle as she followed them down to the pedals with her eyes.
“Uncle Rob!” Allie yodeled as she settled into her seat. “We made starecrows!” she said as she held up a shapeless but colorful hunk of construction paper still shiny with wet glue. Jane looked for the seatbelt she couldn’t find on the ride over and came up empty again. At least it’ll be a short ride, she told herself. We’ll probably survive.
“You mean scarecrows?” he answered. “That looks good!”
“I cutted it myself and glued it!”
“You did this? All by yourself?” he asked. “Beautiful!”
“I guess we need to find a tile store,” Jane interrupted. “Do you have a place in mind?”
“I know a good place,” he answered as the truck roared to life. “But it ain
’t even one o’clock. It ain’t open yet.”
“Chipper’s!” Allie yelled. “Time for Chipper’s!”
Jane didn’t like it. This wasn’t supposed to be an outing. They were supposed to be out buying tile so he could install it and then go away. “Maybe Mr. Manteo doesn’t want to go to Chipper’s,” she told Allie.
“Come on, Uncle Rob,” Allie implored.
“Fine by me,” Manteo said. He peered past Jane over at Allie, who was holding her scarecrow aloft with one hand. “Is Chipper’s your favorite?”
Five minutes later the unlikely trio was in line, Jane and Manteo squinting at the menus above the counters. “Allie always gets the Chipper Pack. That’s easy,” Jane said. “By the way, lunch is on me. It’s the least I can do since you’re helping me pick out the tile.” After she ordered the chicken nugget meal with a toy for her daughter and a double cheeseburger for herself she was shocked when her dusty, bearded lunch date ordered a salad and a cup of water. He even remembered to ask for the lite dressing.
“I got a Chipper car!” Allie shrieked after they were at a table and the toy had been freed from its cardboard and paper confines. She pushed it along the table top, turning her head sideways to change her view in a way that puzzled Jane. Wrappers flew as she struggled to make the car do what she’d seen in the commercials.
“You can make it go,” Manteo said. “I think I know how it works. Can I try it?” She handed it over and watched him pull it backwards on the table surface. When he released the car it lurched forward, stopping just before it dropped off the side and onto the floor.
“Yay! Can I try?” shouted an excited Allie.
“Of course,” Manteo told her. “It’s your car.” She dragged the car roughly on the table but nothing happened when she let go, except for more wrappers disappearing over the edge. Manteo reached across and placed his hand atop hers. “Like this,” he said. “Pull it straight back, not sideways. Put all the wheels flat on the table.” She let go just after his hand was gone and squealed with delight as the car shot away and clattered onto the floor.
“I never pictured you as a salad eater,” Jane said as Allie retrieved the car. “You’re supposed to be the one who gets the cheeseburger.”
“I don’t put junk like that into my body,” he said. “No offense.”
“I guess that’s why you’re in such good shape. I never thought about it,” she said, which was a lie. “I thought it was just from working outside.”
“That’s part of it,” he said as he popped the plastic top from the salad tray and pushed it aside.
“What’s the rest of it?” she found herself asking. “Sorry, I’m prying.”
“I eat clean and I work out a lot. Guess that’s all of it.”
“I know lots of people who eat clean and work out a lot,” she challenged. “They don’t look like you.”
“That ain’t my problem,” he said.
“My husband thinks—“ she said before stopping herself. “Never mind. I never know when to shut up.”
“I know what your husband thinks,” Manteo said. “Same thing every other guy like him thinks.”
~~~
They spent two hours in the flooring shop selecting tile, grout and some new woodwork. Manteo also picked out a few plastic jugs of adhesive that looked to her like they weighed a hundred pounds each. By the time the supplies were loaded into the back of the truck it was nearly three o’clock. Steve was already home from work when they arrived back at the house. Manteo busied himself unloading the materials and carrying them inside as Jane rushed to explain to her husband where they’d been. She’d only just started when his cell phone rang and he turned away from her to take the call. It would remain in his ear for the next two hours.
~~~
“I finished fixing that one this morning!” Steve bellowed into his phone a few hours later as he walked through the still tile-less foyer from the kitchen into his study. “I’m still logged on. I’m looking at it right now. It works and it handles everything they complained about. We should be in good shape now. What’s the problem?” Dinner had already been served and eaten. Usually Manteo had finished his work by then, but not this time. Jane guessed that he wanted to make up for the time he’d lost buying the tiles and supplies. Steve had been barking into his phone for hours, including most of dinner, as he worked on solving the crisis at work. He’d wandered through the foyer so many times while on the phone that he’d left trails of dusty footprints everywhere else he’d been.
“Don’t feel like you need to work all night or anything,” Jane told Manteo after creeping up behind him. He finished cutting a piece of subfloor before standing up to tower over her. “Sorry Steve’s so grouchy,” she continued. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“That don’t matter to me,” he answered. “The little girl don’t look too happy though.”
“He doesn’t have much use for her most of the time.”
“That’s a damn shame,” he said.
“On a night like this she’s just a distraction for him. He’s pushed her out of the way at least twice. I don’t blame her for crying. Makes me want to cry too.” She winced. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m unloading this on you.”
“Why don’t the both of you take her out for ice cream or somethin’? And tell him to leave his phone here.”
She thought it over. “You know, that’s not a bad idea at all. Allie’s practically in tears and Steve needs to get out. He definitely needs to get away from that phone.” She tracked her husband down right where she expected him to be, in front of the computer in his study.
When she suggested it between phone calls Steve had initially said no. “We can’t leave the caveman here by himself. We talked about this.” But when she dug her heels in, something she rarely did with him anymore, he relented. “I’ll have to get right back to this when we get home,” he warned, gesturing at the program. That was okay with her. He even agreed to leave the cell phone home.
Chapter 4
“He took you to lunch?” Kristie asked Jane as they walked down a hospital corridor. “Are you crazy?”
“You’re not listening. The three of us were already out so we stopped for lunch. Me, Rob, and Allie. So no, he didn’t take me to lunch.”
“We’re talking about the same guy, right? Rob is the caveman?”
“That’s him. But don’t call him that. He’s not the Neanderthal I thought he was. But he’s one strange man, that’s for sure.”
“How did you even find this guy?” Kristie asked. “He must have been living under a rock. What a character.”
“Steve hooked up with him, not me,” Jane reminded her. “Remember? Somebody told him about Rob at the Home Depot? They both just happened to be there at the same time. One thing led to another.”
“It sure did. I can’t believe you let him get anywhere near Allie.”
“He and Allie are like this,” holding up two intertwined fingers. “He’s been in the house every day for over a week working on the foyer and Allie treats him like she’s known him all her life. He’s really good to her. Sometimes he lets her help. It’s cute.”
“And that doesn’t worry you? It’s like he charmed her. Or hypnotized her. Why would he do that when he doesn’t have two words to say to anybody else?”
“I’d think the same thing if I was in your shoes, but it’s not like that. And he’s opening up more to me, too. I don’t think it’s any big deal.”
“Boy, things have really changed, then,” Kristie observed as they turned a corner and walked into the break room. “It wasn’t long ago that you didn’t want this guy around at all. Now he’s babysitting for Allie?”
“He’s a nice person once you get past the grunting,” Jane said with a smile. “He doesn’t like to talk. You have to drag it out of him. And he’s not babysitting. I’m always there.”
Kristie slid coins into a vending machine until she heard a beep and then hit a button. A bottle of orange ju
ice tumbled into a slot at the bottom. She repeated the process and brought the two bottles over to the table where Jane was already seated. “I’m just surprised you’re trying so hard to drag anything out of him. I thought he gave you the willies.”
“I’m there with him all day. I may as well be friendly. He’s so hard to figure out. It’s weird. I can’t pin it down exactly. Like, the way he talks. With Steve, and me, mostly, he’s almost speaking broken English. But when he talks to Allie he sounds completely different. Almost like a parent, or an uncle. He knows just how to reach her. But then he’ll look up from Allie and talk to me like English is his second language just like before. I feel like he’s schizophrenic or something. There’s at least two personalities floating around in his head. I’ve heard of that. I think.”
“Did you say ‘at least’ two?” Kristie laughed. “That sounds serious. I hope he doesn’t go all Carrie on you.”
“For a while there I was thinking he was a foreigner and was learning English by watching TV. Perfect grammar one sentence and then grunt-speak the next. When we were eating lunch I was trying to imagine how he’d look with a shave and a manicure. I think he’d clean up pretty good.”
“Oh. My. God.”
“If he trimmed his beard he’d look like a muscular Michael Stipe,” Jane said, stifling a laugh.
“Who?” Kristie asked.
“You know, the singer from REM,” Jane explained.
“I didn’t watch MTV last night.”
“They haven’t been on for about ten years,” Jane said with a laugh.
“Oh. That explains a lot,” Kristie said.
“His eyes are kind of jaundiced but it doesn’t seem like he’s sick. I wonder if he’s okay,” Jane said.
“Jaundice could be a lot of things. It wouldn’t be that hard to look it up but it would be a long list of possibilities.”
Steve thinks he takes steroids,” Jane told her. “I’m pretty sure that could do it. Oh, guess what he ordered at Chipper’s? A salad. And he drinks diet soda. I can’t figure this guy out.”
Kristie chuckled. “I’ve never seen him but when I picture him in my mind I don’t think salad. What does Steve say about all this?”
