Under The Hood

by Juanita Kees

  “Good game, guys?”

  “We beat their arses!” Marty shook the water from his feet and stood up. “How come you didn’t play?”

  “Uneven numbers.”

  “Yeah but the oldies coulda used your help.”

  “Hey! Enough of the oldies, thanks.” Rob stood up and groaned as he clutched his lower back. “Although I might need a chiropractor tomorrow. Tiny plays a mean defence.”

  “That’s because you play like a girl,” responded TJ with a grin.

  Rob responded by wrestling her to the ground and tickling her until she begged him to stop. Sarge wandered over and sniffed around them before giving a low growl.

  “Sarge says enough, Rob. Get off me, you bully.” She shoved him up.

  Rob grinned as Sarge licked his face. “Well, at least we know he takes his job as guard dog seriously!” He rubbed the dog’s ears and Sarge rolled over for a tummy pat.

  TJ pushed herself up and dusted the grass off her clothes. She looked over at Scott who was leaning back with his head against the tree, his eyes closed.

  “Tiny. Marty. Gather round, boys. Scott and I have something to tell you. No, it’s good news,” she said as the boys looked at each other, resigned. “In fact, it’s great news. Scott?”

  Scott heaved himself up and away from the tree to stand next to TJ. He nodded for her to continue.

  “The mayor has kindly donated funds and labour so that we can get the asbestos removed and begin the renovations on the cabins.”

  “Phwoar! That’s awesome! When do we start?” Marty could hardly suppress his excitement. Out of all the boys, he was the most keen.

  “For real this time, TJ?” asked Tiny.

  “For real this time. I have the cheque and the council approval. Scott had a meeting with the mayor last week. We now have fundraising, and volunteer labour too.”

  The boys high-fived each other with a whoop. “Sweet!” they yelled in unison.

  “There’s more.” Her words stilled them and their grins froze.

  “Good more or bad more?” This from Marty.

  “Well, that depends on you guys. Because we need to plan the renovations schedule and be available all weekend to work on the project, we’ve decided to set up the house as a base to work out of.” She looked from Marty to Tiny. “So Tiny, you and Scott will be moving in here.”

  “For real?” Marty beamed from ear to ear while Tiny looked a little apprehensive.

  “It makes sense to us, guys. The townhouse is way too small for us, and this way you and Marty will have each other for company.” Scott reassured Tiny.

  Tiny shrugged. “I guess.”

  “What about Connor and Luke?” Marty asked.

  Scott looked down at TJ questioningly. She put a hand on his arm and then withdrew it again quickly as heat surged through her.

  “Connor and Luke can come up and stay on the weekends if their parents agree.”

  A look passed between Marty and Tiny that had the hair on the back of TJ’s neck rise in warning. “What?”

  Tiny looked away and Marty scuffed his shoe against the grass as Scott asked, “Who are Connor and Luke?”

  “They’re the other two boys I told you about. They’re not part of the apprenticeship program but they come up here from time to time with the boys to help out around the place. Is there something we need to know, guys?”

  “Nah, it’s all good,” replied Marty.

  TJ let it slide. “Right! Well, we’ll have to get the two spare rooms ready tonight, Marty. Scott and Tiny will be moving stuff over here from tomorrow. We can start planning once they’re here, and get the contractor in as soon as possible.”

  “Sure thing.” Marty agreed, nudging Tiny who nodded his okay. “Thanks, Mr D. It’s cool that you went to the mayor and stuff.”

  “I wouldn’t have committed to this program if I didn’t believe it would work. I need your commitment too.” Scott held out his hand as first Marty and then a more reluctant Tiny, shook it. “And at home, call me Scott.”

  “Now I need a word with Rob and Scott on some accounting stuff, so are you guys okay out here for a while?” At their nod, TJ turned and started up the hill leaving Scott and Rob to follow.

  As soon as they reached the veranda, Rob asked, “What’s up?”

  “I didn’t like that look that passed between the boys at the mention of Connor and Luke. Something’s going on. I had heard a rumour that Connor’s parents had split but I don’t know much about Luke’s parents, except that his dad is a high-profile lawyer.”

  “So these are the other two gang members?” Scott lounged with a hip against the veranda railing.

  “Yes. Connor is a quiet boy. He never says much when he’s here. I don’t think he does the hard stuff that Tiny and Marty do, but he is part of the gang and has been cautioned a few times with regards to graffiti offences. But in his case, I think it’s more that he’s there rather than actually participating in the activities. Luke on the other hand…”

  “…is a dark horse. Often shows up with bruises, black eyes and broken bones,” Rob finished for her.

  “Abuse?” Scott asked as anger surged through him.

  “We don’t have proof. No police or hospital reports that we can find. You’ve met Detectives Jones and Johnson?” At Scott’s nod, he continued, “They did some research but came up blank. If it’s happening like it looks, they’re not reporting it.”

  “And if you ask, I’m guessing he walked into a door, or broke his arm playing sport?”

  TJ folded her arms protectively around herself. “Yes, except we know that Luke doesn’t play any contact sports.”

  “How come they’re not on the apprenticeship program?”

  “Connor wants to stay at school. We can’t pin Luke down to either. They come up here on invitation from the boys when they’re here, and I do what I can for them.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. What does Ethan say?”

  “Because they’re not juvies, they’re not on the apprentice board’s radar. So Ethan can only take a personal interest. He’s tried to talk to the parents without success, apparently.”

  “Judging from the look that passed between Tiny and Marty, then, you suspect they know more than they’re letting on?”

  “Yes. Luke Bennetti is a strange boy. Quiet, dark. Dark clothing, dark hair, always wearing long pants, hoodies and sunnies. Even on the hottest day, he won’t take off his hoodie while all the others are running around with no shirts on.”

  “Sounds like he’s hiding scars for sure. I say let them come as often as possible, and we’ll work it out.”

  TJ shrugged. “I don’t mind them being here. Better here than on the streets … or worse.”

  Rob turned to Scott. “I feel much better with you staying here. TJ might be capable of looking after herself, but I’m glad she has help now.”

  Scott nodded. “I’ll grab Tiny now to go home and pack. There’s a ton of dog food in the ute for Sarge, which I’ll unload quickly. Will he be sleeping inside?”

  “Yes. Unless you want him to sleep in a kennel outside.” TJ looked over to where the dog was making his way up the grassy slope.

  “At the foot of your bed would be the perfect place for him.”

  TJ shivered. There was that dark velvet undertone again that made it sound like an invitation. “Then that’s where he’ll sleep.”

  “Right. Rob, would you like to give me a hand to unload?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  TJ watched as they crossed the veranda and walked down to where Scott’s ute was parked. This is it, she thought, the point of no return.

  Chapter Eleven

  Surprisingly, things ran loudly but relatively smoothly as TJ’s once quiet and peaceful home became infused with testosterone. There were boisterous fights over whose turn it was to watch their sport of choice. They set a bathroom schedule and no one stuck to it, so most mornings, TJ would sail past, ready for work as one of the guys was pounding on the d
oor for the other to come out.

  She settled it by coming to an agreement with Scott that he could use her en suite to get ready for work. This meant that she had to be up at the crack of dawn to be out of her bedroom when Scott stumbled through wearing nothing but a towel.

  They’d all watched from a safe distance as the last load of asbestos was lifted and removed from the property, leaving the bare wooden frames of the cabins standing like skeletons in the dying sunlight. They then celebrated with a barbeque the next day when the first load of hardwood timber cladding was delivered and renovation could begin.

  Thanks to a referral from the mayor, a local carpenter had volunteered to oversee and show the boys how to fix the cladding to the framework, and an inspector came around once a week to inspect and report.

  It was as if the kiss in the kitchen had never happened. Scott kept his distance, as he’d promised, although he couldn’t stop himself from watching her when he thought she wasn’t looking. He told himself he was making sure that she and Tiny were getting along together, although the boy’s attitude towards her had softened somewhat. Only yesterday, they’d been earnestly discussing what they were going to do next when it came to putting Sheila’s engine back together.

  “Happy?” he asked her now as they sat on the veranda and enjoyed the peacefulness of the cool night while the boys played a noisy video war game inside.

  “It’s going well, isn’t it? The boys seem settled.”

  “But?”

  “There’s a part of me that hopes we’ve turned a corner, but in the back of my mind, I know that Tiny’s supplier will come looking for him soon. They won’t give up that easily.”

  Scott sighed. “I have a feeling you’re right. Let’s hope we can get him well and truly back on track before that happens. How do they make contact? Do you know?”

  TJ shook her head. “I wish I did. That way I’d have a hope of stopping it. The only way I know something is up is when they start behaving differently or don’t show up for work.”

  “Well, you’re not alone in this now. Tell me if you suspect something’s up, okay?”

  “Okay. Thanks. It would be sad for it to all go wrong now that Tiny is nominated for Apprentice of the Year.”

  “Speaking of that, are you taking anyone to the awards dinner?”

  TJ shrugged. “If Rob can’t make it, I normally go on my own. Why?”

  “I thought we could go together if you don’t have a date. No point going on our own.”

  “I’m giving the two boys a lift anyway. Don’t you have a date?”

  Scott shook his head and drank deeply from his bottle of beer. He hadn’t been interested in dating anyone since he’d met TJ and become involved in her project. Every morning he passed her crumpled bed and imagined her lying there with that gorgeous hair spread across the pillow. Her bathroom was an eclectic mix of feminine perfumes and caustic hand cleaners to remove the grease and grime of a day’s work under the bonnet. Her steel-capped work boots stood dwarfed next to his on the veranda.

  She was so not his type, yet he could talk to her for hours about anything from spreadsheets to politics. And at night when he lay in his narrow bed in the room next to hers, he listened for her breathing or the sounds of her shuffling about in her bedroom and wished he could be in there with her. Then he’d remember all the reasons he couldn’t and would spend the rest of the night tossing and turning until, finally, sleep claimed him.

  “Well I guess we could go as chaperones for the boys. That way we’ll avoid the gossip.”

  They’d done pretty well so far keeping their arrangement out of the gossip mill. For anyone who asked, it was purely a business arrangement to satisfy the mayor’s requirements for supervision for the project. Mostly it was accepted. Everyone knew TJ had a strict rule about relationships in the workplace and no one dared question it. He’d quelled any murmurs in the lunch room with a stern warning.

  “Perfect. Another problem solved.”

  They lapsed into companionable silence again. That was another thing he liked about her. She didn’t feel the need to chew his ear off. Sarge ambled out, nudging the fly screen aside to get out onto the veranda.

  “Too noisy in there for you?” TJ asked as he laid his head on her knee and stared at her with soppy, pleading eyes.

  “I think my dog’s in love with you.” Scott leaned forward with his arms on his knees and stretched out to tickle the dog’s ears.

  “Well, that’s okay, because I’m in love with him too.” She wrapped her hands on either side the dog’s jowls and kissed the permanent frown between his eyes.

  “Lucky dog!” Scott leaned back again and put his feet up on the railing, crossing them at the ankles. “Do you ever get lonely out here?”

  “Never. I love the peacefulness of the valley. And there’s always someone popping in to say g’day. If I do feel like company, I head on over to talk to Rose.”

  “You and Mum get on well together.”

  “They’re the best neighbours. I love your mum. I never really knew mine. When we came to live with Pop, Nan had already passed on. I guess that explains why I was a tomboy growing up.”

  “How old were you?” Scott was surprised. TJ had never shared stories about her past. In fact, he realised there was very little he did know about her at all.

  “I was seven, Rob was ten, but we’d spent most of our lives in foster care until then.”

  That explained her commitment to the teens, Scott thought. But what had happened to her parents? As if she’d read his mind, TJ stood, walked over to the edge of the veranda and looked out across the moonlit landscape.

  “Mum died from a drug overdose not long after I was born. It took a while for the authorities to track down our immediate family. When they did, Nan was ill and Pop was in no position to take on two young children. So we stayed in foster care and he visited us when he could.”

  “Is that why you’re so committed to this rehabilitation program?”

  “Yes. I’d hate to see them travel that same path. My mother had hopes and dreams, too, until she met the man who introduced her to drugs. The rest, as they say, is history.” She seemed to realise she’d said too much. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bore you with my past.”

  “You’re a lot of things, TJ, but you’re not boring.”

  “Thanks … I think.” She sat back down next to him and put her feet next to his on the railing.

  “So what’s the story with your mum?” he asked.

  “Do you really want to know?”

  Scott was surprised to find that he did. He shrugged. “I guess.”

  She snuggled farther down in the chair and rested her head against the backrest. “Mum ran away from home at sixteen. She worked in a pub in Melbourne, partied hard and got mixed up in the wrong crowd, according to Pop.”

  She wiggled her toes against the breeze that swept through the trees and then died away. “Rob was born a year later. By that time she’d cut all ties with the family, so Nan and Pop had no idea they had a grandson. By the time I came along a few years later, Mum was addicted to cocaine. She’d lost her job in the pub, had no money, and was living in a share house. Apparently one of the neighbours heard her screaming one night.”

  A heavy pause fell like a weight in the silence. “When the cops arrived an hour or so later, they found three-year-old Rob holding me wrapped in a blanket, blue around the lips, and our mother dead beside us. She’d overdosed and gone into premature labour. We were put in foster care. The rest you know.”

  At a loss for words, Scott reached out to stroke her hair where it lay loose over her shoulder, a waterfall of long, silky, titian spun with gold. He twirled the strands around his fingers. “It’s a miracle you survived.”

  “Yes. The police got there just in time.”

  They lapsed into silence again as the noises of night peaked around them. The gentle croak of frogs from the creek … somewhere a dog barked. How normal it all sounded. Scott’s hand slipped fr
om her hair, travelled lightly down her arm and linked with the fingers that gripped the arm of the chair tightly. He squeezed them comfortingly.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” he said. Then he stood up and walked inside, leaving her to her thoughts.

  Friday dawned damp and gloomy as the cold front the weather forecast had predicted finally showed up. The boys grumbled as they piled into the back of the SUV—Scott’s replacement for the ute. It made sense for them all to travel to work together, he’d said. It saved putting mileage on Bruce’s odometer and strain on his engine. TJ wasn’t about to argue. It saved her money on fuel. Bruce, bless his grey motor, was a bit of a fuel guzzler up the hills.

  She yanked her hood up over her head and made a dash for the passenger side as Scott held the door open for her. She wished she could get rid of this feeling of foreboding that had settled in her stomach. The boys argued in the back over who’d beaten whom in their war game the night before. Scott steered the SUV down the slippery, winding road to the foothills with strong, capable hands and perfect concentration.

  “You should’ve let me drive,” she said, pouting a little.

  “I’d like to get to work in one piece thanks.” He softened his words with a smile.

  “I know the road better than you in this weather. The trucks dump oil all over this road. Watch out for the patches.” She pointed to a puddle on the side of the road streaked with a layer of oil that glittered silver and blue under the dense cloud.

  “I’m not driving in the emergency lane. I’m driving in the lane where I’m supposed to.”

  “Just saying.”