I walked back into the shop while Kurt was on the phone and grabbed a pad of paper and pen. My phone dinged with a text message, and I pulled it out of my pocket.
Everything OK? I can come pick him up. I shook my head and had to give Scarlett props for waiting half an hour before she texted.
See, you couldn’t offer to pick him up unless you had a car.
That’s beside the point, Mitch. Is. He. OK?
I smiled at Scarlett’s mama bear tendencies. He’s good. He’s tearing apart Luke’s car right now.
What? Mitch, he’s four!
And he’s fine. We’ll see you when you get off of work. We’re good.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket and headed back to Levi and Leelee.
I fully expected to talk to Scarlett at least five more times before she came to pick up Levi.
______________
Scarlett
I set my phone back under the counter and ran my fingers through my hair. I hoped I hadn’t made the wrong decision letting Mitch watch Levi.
It was dead right now. The eleven to three shift normally was slow, so I had even more, time to worry about Levi and what he was up to.
A glance at the clock told me I had only been at work for half an hour, and it felt like two.
Lord help me.
______________
Chapter 8
Mitch
“When can we go for a ride?” Levi was sitting in the driver’s seat of the ‘Vette and making race car noises.
“That is something we are going to have to run by your Mom, bud.”
“She’ll say no. She doesn’t want me to get hurt like she does.”
I leaned into the window of the car and ruffled Levi’s hair. “She’s just looking out for you.”
“But I won’t get hurt like she did if I’m in a car. My daddy hurt her, not a car.” Whoa. I was entering territory with Levi that I wasn’t sure I should be in. “She told me she fell down the stairs, but I know she didn’t.”
“How old did you say you were?” It was hard to believe that Levi was only four by the way he was talking.
“I’ll be five August 1st. Remember, I get a Transformer party.”
“Ah, now I remember. I guess I just needed a reminder.”
“When Mama gets here, I going to ask her if we can go for a ride. This thing is like a Transformer. I just wish it was yellow like Bumblebee.”
“Then you’ll have to talk to Kurt. He’s got his car in the garage out back. Yellow just like Bumblebee.”
“No way!” Levi jumped up on the seat, pushing me back from the window and leaned out. “Mama! Kurt has Bumblebee!” I turned around and saw Scarlett and Kurt standing in the doorway. “Kurt! Can I go see Bumblebee?”
“Sure, come on,” Kurt said.
“I don’t think-” Scarlett and I stated at the same time.
“Please, mama. Just for an hour?” Levi pleaded.
Scarlett shook her head, laughing while Kurt put his hand over his mouth smothering his smirk. “How about five minutes?” She said holding up five fingers.
“Yes!” He dove into my arms and climbed down my body before I had a good hold of him. Levi took off like a shot out the door with Kurt following close behind.
“He really likes cars, huh?”
Scarlett stood in the doorway, her hands in her pockets looking like she was ready to run. “Yeah. I remember when he wasn’t even walking. He was crawling around making racecar noises as he drove his cars all over the house.”
“You can come in if you want.”
She looked around the garage acting like I had just asked her to step through the gates of hell. She took two steps forward and slowly made her way over. She stood in front of the car and crossed her arms over her chest. “Is this yours?”
“Yeah.”
“Fancy.”
“Fast.”
“That too,” she said as she brushed her hair out of her face. “Was Levi OK?”
“Yeah. It was touch and go that thirty minutes when you didn’t call, but we managed to make it,” I smirked. I wasn’t wrong when I had thought that Scarlett would call five times. She had called five times and texted three.”
“I’m sorry. This was just the first time I’ve left Levi with anyone.”
“Really?” Levi was four years old, and Scarlett had never left him with a babysitter?
“Um, yeah. I guess I was what you call a stay at home mom before moving here. Wherever I went, he came.”
“I guess I can understand the phone calls and texts. Next time you could maybe cut that in half, though.”
“Next time?”
“Yeah. I figure if you ever need someone to watch him I can or Frankie always can.”
“I’ll have to think about it.”
“What are you volunteering me for now?” Scarlett spun around, and I saw Frankie standing in the doorway with Violet and Luke behind her.
“Just a little babysitting now and then.”
“Come on now, Kurt maybe a bit immature, but he doesn’t need a babysitter anymore,” Luke laughed.
“He at least needs to be potty trained yet,” Leelee joked. She was still working on Luke’s car, checking over all the electrical.
Scarlett took a step back, bumping into the ‘Vette. She seemed a bit scared, but she had no reason to be. It was only Frankie, Luke, and Violet. “Hey guys, this is Scarlett. I met her a couple of weeks ago when her car broke down in front of the shop.”
“Hey,” they all said at the same time. Scarlett gave a shy wave but didn’t say anything.
“I watched Levi for her today, and I was saying if Scarlett ever needed a babysitter, you could.”
“No, you don’t have to. I don’t need a babysitter,” Scarlett insisted. “You barely know me.” She clasped her hands in front of her, wringing them.
“I wouldn’t mind. I’ve been thinking about getting a job anyway,” Frankie shrugged.
Shit. I knew exactly why Scarlett didn’t want Frankie to watch Levi. She couldn’t afford it. Taking Levi to work with her cost nothing. “We’ll let you know, Frank.” Scarlett looked relieved but also a bit pissed as she looked at me.
“Frank!” Levi came streaking through the front door, barreling straight into the shop and didn’t stop until he leaped into the air, launching himself into my arms. I managed to catch him and then he twisted around to look at Frankie, Luke and Violet. “Mitch said you were a girl, but I didn’t believe him.”
Violet and Frankie laughed while Luke busted out laughing, tossing his head back. “Well, I’m very much a girl,” Frankie giggled. She walked over to Levi and held her hand out to him. “I’m technically Francesca, but only my mama called me that.”
“My mama,” Levi said, hitching a thumb over his shoulder at Scarlett, “calls me Levi.”
“I like it. I think it would be kind of hard to shorten up Levi. Maybe Lee?” Levi scrunched up his nose and shook his head. Frankie couldn’t help but laugh again. Levi certainly was a card.
“Just Levi,” he insisted.
“How old are you, bud?” Luke asked as he put his arm around Violet’s shoulders. She cuddled into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. It was hard to believe that two months ago Luke and Violet hated each other.
“I’ll be five in two months. Mama said if I’m good I’ll get a Transformers birthday party.” Levi twisted in my arms again to look at Scarlett. “I’ve been good, right, Mama?”
Scarlett reached up and ruffled his hair. “So far so good.”
“Yes,” Levi shouted, pumping his fist into the air. “Are you going to come to my party, Mitch?”
“I’ll try to. As long as it’s not on a race night, I’ll be there.”
“You race?” He said in awe.
“Yup, this right here is my race car.” I nodded my head at the ‘Vette and Levi’s jaw dropped.
“I was in a race car, mama! Mitch le
t me pretend that I was driving it.”
“Kurt and Luke race, too. You helped tear apart Luke’s race car today.”
“I was a mechanic today, mama. Leelee and I took apart the car and told Mitch what to write down. Luke crashed his race car,” Levi said, shaking his head.
“More like someone smashed into my car,” Luke put in.
“I see that. How about you run and get your bag so we can head home, big man.” Scarlett pulled her keys out of her pocket and nervously tossed them back and forth.
“I thought maybe you two could stay for dinner.” I was actually hoping to take Levi and Scarlett to the Mexican place in town.
“No, I’m pretty tired from work and I’m sure you exhausted Levi helping with the car and running around today.”
“Mama, please,” Levi begged.
“Not tonight. Grab your bag and we’ll head home.”
“Mama…”
“One more mama and there won’t be a Transformers party,” Scarlett threatened.
“Aw, shoot.” Levi stomped his foot but headed into the office to grab his bag.
“You really don’t need to go, Scarlett.”
“Yes, we do. I have some things I needed to take care of tonight, it’s Levi’s bath night, and I really am just tired. Thank you for watching him today.” She brushed her hair out of her face and held her hand out to me.
“Um, you’re welcome,” I mumbled as I shook her hand. “Do you need me to watch Levi tomorrow?”
“No,” she said shaking her head, “I have the day off.”
“Oh, well just let me know when you want me to watch him again. We’re pretty laid back around here, so he’s always welcome to come hang out with me while you work.”
“OK, sounds good.” She dropped my hand and hightailed it out the door. Levi yelled his goodbyes to everyone and then they were gone.
Luke, Violet, and Frankie just stood in the doorway looking at me. “What?” I asked as I leaned against the ‘Vette and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Nothing, other than the fact that you babysat that woman’s kid today, and you're acting like you do it every day,” Frankie replied.
“She needed help, and I helped her.”
“Sounds like you’re not done helping her although she doesn’t seem too eager to take you up on your offer.” Leelee slammed the hood down on Luke’s car and wiped her hands on her overalls. “I have to pick up Jay from school. OK if I cut out early?”
Luke nodded his head, “You’re good. Vi and I are heading out for the night. See you later, Mitch?”
“Yeah. See you in the morning.” I had no idea where Luke and Violet were going, but I knew that Luke wouldn’t be back until the morning.
“Make sure you do your homework,” he shouted before the office door slammed shut.
“See you guys tomorrow,” Leelee called as she slipped out the back door of the shop to where she parked her car.
“I’m gonna start dinner. You gonna be down here for a little bit?” Frankie asked as she took her backpack off.
“Yeah, at least for an hour. Kurt and I had a car we need to finish up before tomorrow.” It was fine having Levi in the shop, but we did manage to get a bit behind today. Nothing that Kurt and I couldn’t finish up, though.
“Hey, Mitch,” Frankie called.
“Yeah.”
“I like her,” she whispered then disappeared up the stairs.
Yeah, I liked her too. Now, I just had to figure out how to get her to actually want to spend time with me.
_____________
Chapter 9
Scarlett
“Can I have hot dogs tomorrow, Mama?” Levi was tucked into bed, his eyes heavy with sleep and he was going through his usual ritual of talking about what he was going to eat tomorrow. Strange, I know, but it seemed to calm him and help him to fall asleep.
“I plan on running to the grocery store tomorrow, so yeah, we can pick up some hot dogs.”
“Buns too?” His eyes fluttered shut, and I knew he was close to sleeping.
“Buns too, big man,” I chuckled. Normally we had hot dogs on bread and Levi always begged for buns. I figured it had been a good week, and we deserved our hot dogs on buns.
I brushed his too-long hair out of his face, thinking I should try and get him a haircut tomorrow, too. I had gotten my first paycheck today, and it seemed like I had a never-ending list of things I wanted to buy, but I knew my check wasn’t going to be able to cover all of them.
I slowly slid off of the air mattress, careful not to wake Levi and tiptoed out of his room. After the first night of sleeping in the living room, Levi and I both decided that we needed to move the mattress into a bedroom. Seeing as Levi spent the most time in his room, we decided to stick it in there.
It was nice to have him tucked away in his room instead of the living room, so I could stay up and putter around the apartment while he slept. I headed straight for the fridge where I had stashed my cheapo bottle of wine earlier. Levi had asked me what it was, and I had told him it was mommy juice. Thankfully he bought it and didn’t ask any more questions. I usually didn’t drink, but tonight seemed like a good night to start.
Dealing with Mitch had completely drained me and right now, all I wanted to do was drink my cheap wine, turn on some music, and just sit on my butt. I grabbed my phone, pulling up my music app and set my playlists to random. I grabbed my tiny Bluetooth speaker off the top of the fridge and paired it to my phone. After a quick beep from the speaker, the raspy voice of Alessia Cara poured out.
I grabbed the only glass I could find, a glass juice tumbler, and filled it to the top with wine. Just as I was about to take my first sip, there was a light knock on my door. I glanced at the clock seeing it was after nine and wondered who the hell would be at my door. I stayed where I was, not moving, hoping who was on the other side of the door would move on.
“Scarlett?” My eyes bugged out at the sound of my name, and I was shocked to recognize that voice as Mitch’s. “Scarlett, are you awake?” He knocked harder, and I gave out a squeak and hightailed it to the door and threw it open.
“Are you crazy?” I asked. My wine had sloshed over the side of my cup onto the floor, “Shit.” I bent over, using the sleeve of my worn out sweatshirt to mop up the wine and looked up at Mitch. His eyes were on me, and his mouth was hanging open. “Did you need something or just felt like knocking on my door in the middle of the night.” I was a bit harsh, but I was surprised as hell to see Mitch on my doorstep for the second time today.
“I came over to make sure you were OK. And, it’s only nine, not the middle of the night.”
“Well, it might as well be the middle of the night. Levi wakes up at the butt crack of dawn.”
“Can I come in?”
What? Why the hell did Mitch want to come in? All I wanted was to get a bit tipsy and fall into bed. Mitch being here was messing with my plans. I stood up, pushing my sleeve back and took a sip from my cup. I winced, realizing cheap wine really wasn’t that good. At least the five dollar bottle I had bought wasn’t. I stepped back, opening the door wide and waited for Mitch to walk in. He walked past me, and I caught a whiff of his cologne and secretly wanted to know what he wore because he smelled manly yet clean.
“Levi sleeping?” Mitch standing in the middle of my apartment made it feel even tinier than I knew it was. He stood there with his hands in the pockets of his ripped jeans, zip-up sweatshirt halfway zipped with a red shirt underneath. He had tan boots on, like the Timberlands I had always wanted growing up but could never afford.
“Yeah. He finally fell asleep after talking about hot dog buns.” And now I sounded crazy.
Mitch smothered his laugh with the back of his hand and grabbed the bottle of wine I had sitting on the counter. “And it looks like mommy got into the Boones Farm.”
Yes, I was guilty of drinking Boone's Farm. I’m sure it didn’t even qualify as wine, but it was hope
fully doing the job of getting me tipsy. I took a huge gulp, downing half of the glass and leaned against the front door. “Did you just come here to make fun of my wine choice? I could be trying to relive my high school years right now.”
“Didn’t those years include a raging house party, four bottles of Boone's Farm and a raging headache the next morning.”
He was exactly right. Except I really didn’t want to relive those years. That was when I had met Manny, and my hell had begun. “Sounds like you’ve had your fair share of Boones Nights.”
“Eh, my high school years was more ragers and PBR.”
“Ah, a beer man.”
“Guilty as charged,” he mumbled setting the bottle back down.
“Did you want a glass?” I offered.
“No,” he shook his head and looked around. “Um, do you have anywhere to sit?”
Hmm, now I remember why I didn’t want Mitch coming in. He could see how pathetic my life was. I downed the last of my glass and set it on the counter. “Furniture is on the top of my list. Right after groceries and fifty million other things.” I grabbed the bottle, filling my glass full and screwed the cap back on. I could already feel the effects of my first glass kicking in. “So, back to why you’re here.”
“Changed my mind, I’ll take a glass,” he said nodding at the bottle.
Hmm, pouring Mitch a drink would mean that he intended to stay for a bit. “You sure Boone’s Farm isn’t below you?”
“Sparky, you have no idea what I’ve been through. I’m not better than anything. Pour me a glass and I’m going to pull up a piece of carpet to sit on.” He wandered into the living room and sat down under the window.
I had two choices here. Pour him a glass or tell him to get the hell out. As much as I would love to tell him the latter, I knew I couldn’t do that to him after all he had done for me. Only one thing left to do. I grabbed another tumbler that Levi used for juice down from the cabinet and filled it halfway. The less he had to drink, the sooner he would leave.
I grabbed Mitch’s glass and headed over to him and held out his glass. “Thanks, Sparky,” he mumbled.
PowerShift: Skid Row Kings Series, #2 Page 5
