by A. E. Wasp
“Really? Were the moms hot? Were the dads?”
“You’re so predictable. I only went a few times before I noticed the dads giving me eye every time I talked to a mom. I don’t if it’s because I was young or black, or single.”
“Or maybe they were worried because you were like a hundred times as hot as they were.” Even as he joked, Benny’s heart hurt when he realized how lonely Mikey must have been since Julia died. He felt weak in the face of Mikey’s courage, and he vowed again to stay clean and sober. He would be there for his friend now in a way he hadn’t been before. “Go ahead, bro. Tell me everything. I’m here for you.”
Benny fell asleep again with Mikey’s voice in his ear saying something about Jasmine and Julia and construction-paper hearts.
chapter six
Mikey heard the big Harley before he saw it turning the corner. Trish Cottam, the property manager, rolled her bike to a stop just in front of Benny’s car.
“Hey, Mikey, I was hoping I could catch you.” She pulled her helmet off and let her long gray hair hang down.
Mikey braced himself; it couldn’t be good news. If it had been something simple, she would’ve texted him. Her bike looked as out of place in the storybook suburban neighborhood as he did. He’d picked the neighborhood because the schools were supposed to be the best in Red Deer. The rent was in truth a little higher than he could comfortably afford, but he figured it was worth the sacrifice.
Across the street, a neighbor he had seen every morning since moving in but whose name he still didn’t know walked her labradoodle and waved to him.
“What’s up Trish?” He opened the door for Jasmine to climb in the back seat. She sat down in a booster seat and buckled herself in.
Trish looked reluctant to deliver the news she had for him. She sighed, bent her head to look in the car. “Hey, Jasmine. How are you doing?”
“Fine, thank you.”
“Love your hair. It’s looking great.” Trish reached an arm out as if to pat Jasmine on the hair, and Mikey subtly positioned himself between them.
Mikey settled his jacket better on his shoulder, straightened his tie, and looked right at Trish. To tell the truth, the old biker woman kind of frightened him. She was gruff and usually got straight to the point. If she was hemming and hawing around it, it definitely couldn’t be good news. “I can tell it’s not good news. I have to get Jasmine to daycare and get to work. Just tell me. Are the Laxars raising the rent again?”
“Oh, man, I hate to tell you this, kid. I tried to talk them out of it, but this house is in the best neighborhood of all the houses they own.”
“Trish. Just tell me.”
“The Laxars want to move their son and his family into this house. His kid didn’t get into the school that she wanted, and it’s the neighborhood school for this house. If they live here, they have to take her.”
Mikey could feel his eyelids blinking quicker as he struggled to incorporate this information. “So they need us to move out.”
“Yes.”
“When?” If they wanted it for the school year, it was going to be soon. It was already June and the school year started mid-August in this town. But maybe he would have until August first. It wasn’t much more time, but he might be able to save up some money. Moving into a new place, assuming he could find one, meant having the cash on hand for first and last month’s rent and sometimes a security deposit on top of that. And rents weren’t cheap in this town.
She ran her fingers through her hair and exhaled heavily. She shook her head and stared at the ground. “Thirty days.”
“So mid-month? How am I supposed to find a place in the middle of the month?” Blood pounded in his ears, and he breathed deeply, trying to keep the anger in control. It wasn’t Trish’s fault, wasn’t her decision.
She ran her hand over the handlebars; Mikey could tell she was thinking of how much she should or could tell him. “They said they wouldn’t charge you for the first two weeks of July. So that should help a little.”
Mikey didn’t know what to say. Some more neighbors, another young white couple he only knew by sight, pushed their stroller past the house. Tricia stepped out of the way, and Mikey waved reflexively.
“Yeah, well, I guess that’s all there is to say.”
“They did have one more thing to say. I don’t think I was supposed both to hear it.”
Now Mikey was curious. He crossed his arms and stared at her.
Trish looked around as if the Laxars might be hiding behind a bush. “They said it would be better for you anyway if you moved. Find a neighborhood that’s better suited for you, maybe ‘artsier.’” She looked apologetic. “For what it’s worth, kid, I quit. I leave when you leave. They aren’t big fans of dykes either, and sometimes you gotta put your money where your mouth is.”
She swung back onto her bike and started up the engine. The rumbles echoed down the quiet street. “In my opinion, you were the best tenant we’ve ever had here. If you need a recommendation, or some help finding a new place, let me know. My girlfriend’s a realtor; I’m sure we can find something for you.”
“Thanks, Trish, for telling me in person. Don’t feel like you have to quit on my account,” Mikey replied.
Trish waved his concerns away. “Life is too short to work for racist, homophobic assholes. Don’t worry about me; I’ll be fine. You just take care that little girl, and I’ll see you around town, okay?”
Mikey nodded, not sure he could trust his voice and waved as she drove away. Fuck. Now, what was he supposed to do?
Jasmine called from the backseat. “Daddy, we gotta go!”
“Yeah, baby. I’m coming.” He opened the front door, threw his briefcase on the seat, and slid behind the wheel. The neighborhood looked just as bright and shiny as it had the day he had moved in. His 13-year-old Altima still stuck out like a sore thumb among all the Priuses, Subarus, and SUVs.
Mikey tried to hide his foul mood as he walked into the office. No point in taking it out on the people who worked next to him. He greeted Teresa the office manager, with a short hello and walked into his office shutting the door behind him. He hung his jacket on the back of the door and loosened his tie.
He logged into his computer and opened up his email. First, he read through the work emails. There were some updates on a couple of the cases he was working on with Kevin. He made notes of which ones he needed to go over with Kevin, and which things he could handle on his own. In the middle of all the legal back and forth was an email address he recognized but couldn’t quite place at first. He opened it.
Dear Michael, he read. This is George Young. Oh, God. It was Julia’s father. Mikey had given him his work email address when he’d gotten the job. He’d been diligent about keeping her parents in touch with Jasmine, as much as one could be with a two-year-old. He’d sent them photos and copies of her reports from daycare. But they lived in New York, and he couldn’t afford to fly out there, could barely afford to take time off work, let alone pay for the airfare.
It had only been two years since Julia died. That first Christmas had been hell for all of them. And they each huddled separately in their own misery. Vanessa had taken care of Mikey and Jasmine. Bringing them into her house, feeding them, taking care of Jasmine when Mikey couldn’t get out of bed.
Each month had been a little easier, and by the time the second Christmas had rolled around, her parents had started reaching out to Mikey asking if they could come visit Jasmine, or if he could bring her to New York. When they’d offered to pay for the tickets, he really couldn’t say no. And they had spent an awkward, quiet Christmas in the big empty expensive house.
Now, according to the email, it looked as if they were looking to set up a more permanent, structured arrangement. The email wasn’t directly from a lawyer, but Mikey could see legal fingerprints all over the wording.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. The day had started out shitty and had veered sharply downhill from there.
Someone knocked on t
he door and then pushed it open without waiting for an answer. Kevin popped his head around the doorframe, took one look at Mikey’s face, and stepped into the room pulling it shut behind him.
“What’s wrong, son?”
Mikey shoved the laptop across the desk, so his boss could read the email.
Kevin rested a hip on the edge of his desk as he read. He sighed heavily. “You had to know this day was coming.”
Mikey reached behind him lifting his heavy hair off his neck letting it run through his fingers back down. He stared at the ceiling as much to keep the tears from sliding out the corner of his eyes as to not have to look Kevin in the face. “Yeah, I knew. I just assumed she would be a little older. This day just keeps getting better and better.”
“What else happened today?”
Mikey blinked and sat up straight in his chair. None of this was his boss’s problem. He shouldn’t be bringing his personal problems into work anyway. “Nothing. Nothing work-related. Don’t worry about it.”
Kevin stood up and shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his dress pants. He was a stocky man, with wide shoulders, broad chest, and thick muscular legs. The seams of his jacket strained across the shoulders. “Look, Mikey, I don’t want you to think I’m overstepping my bounds here. I know you haven’t been with us very long, but I’m very particular about who I hire. This firm was set up to help people. You may or may not know this, but I don’t particularly need the income from it. Some of the people that I want to help are the people that I hire.”
He paced around the small office. “I know you have no family in the country, and it’s just been you, Jasmine, and your sister for these last few years. I want to help you. I hired you so I could help you. I want to help you get back into law school if that’s what you want to do. I want you to finish law school, and I want to help you get set up on your own two feet. That is if you’ll let me.”
He stopped in front of Mikey’s desk and smiled at him.
To Mikey’s surprise, he looked a little apprehensive. “I don’t know what to say, Mr. Seaton. That’s… That’s so incredible that you would do that. For Jasmine and me.”
“So you’ll let me help you, even though I’m an old man with boundary issues? Some people, such as my husband, may call me a busy body. I prefer to think of it as selective philanthropy. And I happen to be a very well-connected old man.” Kevin smiled at him.
“Yeah. Yes. Please. Absolutely, I would love your help. Your advice. Anything.”
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Forward me that email, and I’ll take a look at it a little more closely and try to feel out exactly what they’re looking for here. I don’t know about you, but I smell a lawyer behind this.”
Mikey nodded enthusiastically. “That’s exactly what I thought.”
Kevin picked up a picture of Jasmine as a baby and smiled down at it. “Vincent and I never did figure out a way to have kids. I think he would’ve liked a house full of them, but times are different now than when we were your age. No one would have let two gay men near children. You’re very lucky man.”
“Yes, sir, I certainly am.” He was an unbelievably lucky man. The ground that had just seconds ago felt like quicksand beneath his feet started to firm up, and he felt for the first time in a long time a little less alone in the world. He wanted to call Benny, he needed to call Benny, and talk about this all with him.
Despite all the crap that had hit him already this morning, thinking about Benny started the butterflies in his stomach fluttering in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever.
Kevin put the photo down. “So tell me what else happened this morning.”
Mikey’s anger and helplessness rushed back. “My landlord gave me thirty days to move out. Says he’s moving his son into the house. Now I have to move in the middle of the month on short notice, in the middle of the summer. Can he do that?” He had a feeling he knew the answer already, but he had to ask.
“I haven’t seen your lease but in all likelihood, he absolutely can. Even if you have signed a year lease, there are exceptions for family members to moving in. See if you can get me a copy of the lease, and I’ll look at it for you.”
Mikey stood up from his desk and held out his hand for Kevin to shake. “Thank you, Mr. Seaton. Thank you so much, I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
Kevin shook his hand, clasping it between his. “You can start by calling me, Kevin.”
“I’ll try. I promise.”
“Good. Now meet me in my office in about one hour. We can talk about the Benson and Gomez cases. I’ll put Teresa on researching New York custody laws.”
Mikey’s blood froze. He hadn’t even thought that far ahead. “Do you think Julia’s parents would fight me for custody?”
Kevin shrugged. “I can’t say for sure. I don’t know them at all. But they’re wealthy, and they’ve lost their only daughter. I’ve seen people fight hard for less.” He put his hand on Mikey’s shoulder. “I always like to say don’t worry, but be prepared. So I’m not worried right now, but I do want us to be prepared.”
Mikey watched him go. Too many emotions were vying for attention in his brain to say anything more. He pulled his laptop back in front of him and started to work on his cases. Those, at least he could do something about right now.
The sun pounded down on Benny’s head, and sweat poured down his back and his temples as he and Chris unloaded the heavy bags of clay from the back of the truck. “Hey, Chris, man, remind me of this day when I’m bitching about the snow in the middle of February. Remind me how much I hate the heat.”
Chris’s chuckle was strained as he maneuvered the hand truck carefully down the ramp of the truck. “No problem, but you’ll still probably complain. You’re kind of a little bitch that way.”
“Bite me,” Benny said with no heat.
The inside of the studio was darker and therefore marginally cooler. Jay-Cee was getting ready to create a whole new line of statues. He’d been working on the designs for the past few months. He’d gone past the drawing and sketchbook stage, past the miniature models, and now was getting ready to build the armatures and sculpt the clay on the life-size pieces that would become the basis of the molds.
That meant a whole lot of unloading and unpacking for Chris and Benny. Benny’s phone rang, and he took it as an excuse to stop working for a second. He figured it was either a telemarketer or bill collector. No one ever called him, but it was worth checking just to get the three-minute break. He answered without checking the number. “Hello.”
“Hey, it’s Mikey.”
Now that was a happy surprise. “Hold on.” He turned to Chris. “It’s Mikey. I’m going to get a drink of water and take this call. You’re okay for a few minutes?”
Chris waved him away. “No problem. Go talk to your new hot hunk of man meat. I’ll just go browse Tinder and swiped left on some poor guys to boost my self-esteem.”
“Aw, baby, you know you’re the hottest tamale in all of Southwestern Red Deer.” In all honesty, Chris truly was good looking. His quick wit and good heart only made his tight body and sparkling blue eyes that much more appealing.
“You say the sweetest things.” Chris batted his long eyelashes at Benny.
Benny walked under the shade of a tree and put the phone to his ear. “Hey, what’s up?”
“It’s been a shitty day,” Mikey sighed. “I was hoping you were free for lunch today to try and make it less shitty.”
“Aww, man. I wish I could, but we’re in the middle of unloading this big fucking truck. It will take us all afternoon to get it unloaded, and everything set up the way Jay-Cee likes it.” Not to mention it would take Benny a half-hour to bike up to Vincent’s and another half hour to get back.
“That’s too bad. Sounds like you’re busy.”
“Yeah. I can’t talk too long either. Sorry.”
He listened to Mikey breathe and enjoyed the way the sun shone through the thick green leaves while he tr
ied to figure out some way to get to Vincent’s for lunch that wouldn’t have him behind in his work and covered in sweat by the time he got there. He really needed to find out how to get his license reinstated. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure it had been long enough since his DUI that he could. He’d been too scared and embarrassed to find out.
Finally, Mikey spoke. “How about later tonight, after Jasmine’s in bed? Can you come over to my house then?”
“Yeah, of course. Sure. Where do you live?” For some reason, Mikey inviting him to his house felt like a big deal.
“I live over in Fossil Ridge, by the park. Do you know where that is?”
“Isn’t that that douchey suburban part of town?”
Mikey laughed. “Yeah, that’s a pretty good way to describe it.”
“I have a hard time picturing you living there.” Though, when he updated his mental picture of Mikey and replaced teenaged Mikey with hot dad in his suit Mikey, it made more sense.
“Funnily enough, so does my landlord. That’s one of the things I’m dealing with today.”
“Oh, man, that bites. I’ll come over tonight. Text me your address. What time?”
“She supposed to be asleep by eight. But that doesn’t always work out so well, so how about we say eight thirty?”
“It’s a date.” Benny wanted to take the words back as soon as they left his mouth. This sounded like a time Mikey needed a friend. He didn’t want to come across as creepy.
“It’s a date,” Mikey repeated. He didn’t sound creeped out; he sounded happy.
“Awesome. See you then.”
“Later.”
Benny walked back to Chris, a huge smile on his face. “Hey, Chris. Darling, love of my life, the best friend I’ve ever had” (since high school, he amended in his head).
Chris had been unloading the truck while Benny talked. He pushed the hand truck upright, crossed his arms over his chest, and stared at Benny. “What do you need now?”
