by Cora Brent
Eli started to speak but Conway stepped in front of him. “Stone, I’m the one who told Eli he could stay here. He ran into some trouble and needed a place to crash.”
“Funny, I saw the Tempe Motel flashing a vacancy sign.”
Conway looked miserable. “You’re right to be pissed. I made a shitty call and I kept it from you.”
“Yeah, what about that? Your phone broken or is there another reason you couldn’t have called last night to clue me in?”
Guilt flashed across his face. I’d known that look since Conway was five years old and denied knocking over a prized crystal flower vase in the kitchen. Of course he’d done it. He was trying to climb up on the counter and get to a bag of chocolate bars our mother used to keep hidden in an upper cabinet.
“What else do you need to tell me, Con?” I asked in a quiet voice.
He let out a shaky sigh and raked his hand through his hair. “Eli actually stayed here the last two nights.”
Things were starting to click together in my head. “Is that why you were here so early yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“And so what about this mess?”
“A couple of vagrants followed Eli here and they got into it before he managed to chase them off.” He hung his head. “They were just looking for a quick target. I doubt they’ll be back.”
“If you don’t mind I think I’ll draw my own conclusions instead of relying on yours.”
Eli cleared his throat. “Con, I’m gonna step outside so you two can talk.” He paused and looked at me. The wounds of his face were superficial but ugly, like he’d gotten into a bar brawl. “I’m really sorry about all this, Stone. It’s my fault for coming here and dragging Con into it. I hope you don’t blame him for being a good friend.”
Conway and I faced each other in a long moment of silence once Eli was gone.
“A good friend, huh?” I said. I bent down to gather up a pile of papers. I recognized them as being among the invoices I’d carefully categorized and left on the front desk yesterday. “I’m so glad you’re a good friend, Conway. Too bad you didn’t prioritize being a good brother, a good husband.”
The words were meant to bite and they did. I saw it in Conway’s stricken face.
“Stone,” he choked out, “you know Roslyn’s always number one with me. And I swear to god I’d never do anything to jeopardize what we’re trying to build here.”
I pushed the papers in this face. “Then what the hell do you call this?”
He dropped to the floor and started collecting more fallen invoices. “A mistake. It was an error in judgment and I’m so damn sorry I can hardly look you in the eye.”
One of the invoices had a streak of blood across the top. I threw it down in disgust. “You promised,” I hissed. “You promised you were done with all this shit. You fucking promised, Conway! And you didn’t just promise me.”
His face crumbled. He wasn’t crying but he was shaken up. Even after so many years one thing I hated most to see was the sight of my brother in pain. Any other time I would have gone right to him but I couldn’t do that now. There were still too many things to sort out.
“The drugs?” I asked, dreading the answer.
His eyes narrowed. “You know me better than that, Stone.”
“Thought I did. Are you dealing?”
“No!” he shouted. “They were Eli’s. I swear. I was going to get rid of them.”
“So your friend brings violence and drugs into our lives and you even lie to me to protect him.” I took a step in his direction. My anger was getting the better of me and I grabbed his shirt in my fist. “What if this shitty business had gotten you hauled off in handcuffs? What would that do your wife, Con? To your family? Yeah, that guy out there is your buddy but so fucking what? Goddammit, you can’t be everything to everyone.”
Con didn’t try to shove me away. He held his chin up and spoke in a clear voice even though I saw the heartbreak in his eyes. “Stone, please listen to me. I was just trying to help him out for a few nights. That’s all. Now I was dead fucking wrong to keep it from you but I didn’t do anything even slightly illegal. I’m not using, I’m not dealing and I’m sure as shit not in a downward spiral to my old ways. I’m sorry and I’ll do whatever it takes to make this up to you.”
We stayed eye to eye for a few seconds until he finally twisted out of my grip.
I walked a few steps over to the broken window, hearing some small pieces of glass crunch beneath my shoes. Something dawned on me. “We can’t even call the cops, can we? Because whatever bullshit that friend of yours in involved with might come back to bite us in some way.”
For a few seconds he looked around miserably and then shook his head. “It’s better if we don’t. From what Eli told me I don’t expect those two bums will be back. They had a fake knife and were probably just grateful to escape with all their parts still attached. Look, I’ll get the window replaced, the wall fixed and everything cleaned up.”
“Right,” I muttered.
Conway spread his hands, a pleading gesture. “I’ll apologize six times a day and I’ll make sure you don’t lose anything out of this.”
I coughed. “But you might have lost something, brother. Something important.”
“What’s that?”
“My trust.”
He flinched. “You’re angry, I get it. But you don’t mean that.”
I spotted something on the floor and leaned over to pick it up. Then I searched around for its twin and was glad when I found it. I started for the door without looking back.
“Where are you going?” Conway called.
“To keep a promise. Then I’m going to the hardware store to get some tools and materials for a temporary fix to that window.”
“I told you I’d take care of that.”
“Yeah, you did.”
“Stone, I-”
I cut him off sharply. “Eli’s out there waiting. You should make sure you take care of him. So go on, Conway. Go be a friend.”
Then I left before he had a chance to reply. Eli was in the parking lot, standing beside Conway’s car. The look he gave me was rather sorrowful but he said nothing. As I drove away I was going back and forth between feelings of acute anger and regret over the confrontation with Conway. Even if he did believe he was doing the right thing he had to know that there was potential for very frightening fallout that could impact all of us. He understood what was at stake. Still, maybe I should have taken some time to calm down before lashing out and saying things that couldn’t be unsaid. In my life I’d had the misfortune to see what awful consequences can come from anger and misunderstanding.
Muttering a curse under my breath, I made a U-turn a few miles down the road. I was still pretty sore at Conway but at the same time I’d seen honesty in his eyes. In spite of what I’d said about him losing my trust, I knew him well enough to tell when he was being truthful.
Con’s car was already gone. I parked and went inside, just to check and make sure he wasn’t here. Other than a hastily nailed piece of plywood over the broken window everything looked just as it had a few minutes ago. I reached for my phone, not really knowing what I was going to say. Somehow I figured that I ought to tell him that no matter what had happened today we were still brothers.
Unfortunately, my phone wasn’t in my pocket. It was right where I’d left it, on the edge of the kitchen counter.
I let out a sigh and leaned against the nearest wall, the one that didn’t have an ugly hole in it.
Maybe this was a sign that I needed to just have a little faith. Faith in Conway. Faith that his intentions were good and that he knew better than to risk any further trouble. We’d both come too far to be divided so easily. The name on the sign outside was a testament to that. Brothers Gentry.
Impulsively I grabbed an item off the wall by the desk. We’d hung it there with proud optimism the week of our grand opening. It was stark, block lettered and not terribly aesthetic, but it was us,
our slogan. One look at those words and anyone could tell who we were and who we hoped to be. It was what made us and whenever I caught sight of it I would pause and smile, remembering.
After holding the thing by its framed corners for a moment I decided to take it with me. Before I left I added a few more nails to the plywood strip that covered the broken window and locked the door. The letters I’d retrieved earlier were still sitting on my dashboard. The post office would still be open. It was time to get them mailed, just like I’d promised those two little kids I would. Each one was addressed simply to ‘Santa Claus, The North Pole’. I didn’t stop to wonder what the United States Post Office does with the wishes of children. I liked to think that the universe had a special destination for things like letters to Santa. In any case, I felt satisfied once the envelopes left my hand and dropped into the big blue mailbox. A promise is still a promise, no matter how small.
CHAPTER NINE
CONWAY
All it took to get Eli’s car out of a Phoenix impound lot was a phone call, a sympathetic lot attendant wearing a Santa hat, and two hundred dollars. I wished I’d managed to get this taken care of yesterday and avoided a whole mess of trouble. I didn’t say that to Eli. He already felt shitty enough and I couldn’t blame him for everything. The look of pained doubt I saw in Stone’s face was all my doing.
Eli shook my hand and thanked me profusely. “I’ll pay you back for everything,” he said, awkwardly pocketing some cash. I’d given him enough to serve as gas money to California.
I shrugged. “It’s okay.” I almost added something paternal like ‘Make good choices,’ but I changed my mind and just said, “Take care, Eli.”
“You too, man. Congrats on the wife and kid. Nothing’s more precious, Con.”
“You’re right,” I said. “And thanks.”
I waited until he got behind the wheel of his sputtering Malibu and drove away. I hoped things would work out for him. I really did. Maybe this whole terrible episode would serve as a harsh lesson, a wakeup call. In California he’d have the chance to start over with the people he loved best. If that wasn’t enough incentive to stay on the right track then I didn’t know what would be.
Once Eli was out of sight I embarked immediately on my next mission. I had to make a series of phone calls in order to get the number that I needed. When I finally tracked down the man in question he was surprised to hear from me. I didn’t waste time explaining in detail. I just put the offer on the table and was glad when he jumped on it. I told him to meet me at the garage in an hour.
When I was stopped at a red light, Roslyn texted me a picture of herself wearing a holiday maternity shirt. A cartoonish baby hovered over her belly with the caption: Is it Christmas yet? She wanted to know what was keeping me out and about but I was vague when I answered. She’d be distressed to hear that Stone and I had argued.
Love you. Take care of Tadpole. I’ll be home soon.
Stone wasn’t around when I got back to the garage. I could tell he’d been here though because the papers had been swept form the floor and a sturdier slab of wood covered the broken window. I expected we’d have to order a custom replacement. In the meantime the effect was ugly and regrettably unprofessional. There was also the hole in the wall to worry about but that would be easier to patch up, at least on the surface. I picked up the busted remains of the lobby chairs and set them against the wall. All these broken things seemed to mock me with their symbolism. I kept hearing Stone’s angry words.
“But you might have lost something, brother. My trust.”
Adam Morgan arrived right on time. We weren’t really friends but we shook hands when he climbed out of his BMW. He wasn’t really a bad guy, a local stockbroker who dabbled in the street race scene. His passion was classic car restoration though and he’d once asked me to promise that if I ever wanted to unload the old Chevy he’d be the first one I’d call.
Adam and his associate, some barrel-chested silent dude in a suit, surveyed the car appreciatively.
“How come you’re getting rid of her, Con?” Adam asked as he held the hood up and squinted at the engine.
I shrugged and tried to sound casual. “It’s just time. Call it a new year’s resolution.”
“It’s not the new year yet.”
“Well, I didn’t see the point in postponing the inevitable. Besides, I’ve got a kid on the way and a garage to get off the ground so I don’t think I’ll have the time for hobbies.”
“A kid?” Adam grinned. “Congrats. I’d heard you were off the scene but I wouldn’t have figured you for a family man.”
“Life’s full of surprises.”
Adam closed the hood and let out a low whistle. “Almost feel bad taking this off your hands. This project is every grease monkey’s dream.”
“Dreams change,” I said soberly. I ran my hand over the rusted roof, thinking about all the plans I had for this thing, how I was going to nurse it back to life until it reclaimed its days of lost glory and turned every head on the avenue as it drove past. But now it just looked like an old car that was destined to take up too much of my time and money. Someday, when things were calmer, I could think about taking on a project like this. For now I had other priorities.
Adam gladly handed over the check for the asking price, pleased that he’d be able to drive it out of here while his friend followed him in the other car. Once they were gone I took a deep breath and called Stone but there was no answer and I’ve never been a voicemail kind of guy. Then I tried to think of a text but the most profound thing I could come up with was ‘Hey there’ so I gave it up. Anyway it was better if we talked face to face. Stone wouldn’t be able to avoid me at Cord’s party tonight so I’d make it my business to pull him aside and give him whatever kind of reassurance he wanted. If he needed to be pissed at me for a little while then I’d have to live with that.
In the meantime I wanted to visit the bank before they closed down for the day so I spent a little more time cleaning up and then left. I stood in the parking lot for a moment, staring up at the Brothers Gentry sign. My chest felt tight when I thought about everything that sign represented. This check in my pocket was going to be divided up; half would go to the business account. I would see to the interior repairs and then we would sit down with Deck and draft an advertising plan. We were the only garage around for a three mile radius and the surrounding communities were thick with neat suburban neighborhoods. That translated into a lot of opportunity.
The other half of this money would be set aside in a college fund for my son. There was no better investment than a child’s future.
Once I was done at the bank I was planning on heading home. Instead I made a quick stop at a neighboring department store and filled a shopping basket.
“Merry Christmas, sir,” chirped the pink-haired cashier. She crossed her arms and shivered. “You stay warm out there. My phone keeps buzzing with weather alerts about extreme weather. Can you imagine Phoenix covered with snow? I remember last Christmas it was eighty degrees out. We went swimming for crying out loud.” She shook her impossibly bright head in disbelief. “I dunno, I’ll believe it when I see it.”
I peered out the glass door at the dark gray sky. “You and me both,” I said. “Hey, you mind if I grab one of those empty boxes sitting over there?”
“Be my guest.”
It was only mid afternoon but it felt later. Traffic was already thickening as people got off work early and headed home to commence the holiday festivities. I texted Roslyn to let her know I’d be home real soon. I just had one final stop to make.
The blankets, hats, gloves and assortment of dried goods I’d picked up at the department store fit nicely in the big square box. Back at Brothers Gentry I took a few minutes to think about where I ought to put it and finally decided to just set it on the ground about ten feet beyond the door. I didn’t expect that the two vagrants Eli tussled with would return but someone might happen past here, someone who was down on his luck and cou
ld use a little help, especially on a night that promised to be historically cold. And there was no better time to offer it.
Once I was back on the road I started feeling real eager about getting home. I wanted to hold my wife. If I could do that then I could have faith that everything was going to be okay. Whenever I stopped at a light I looked at my neighboring drivers. Some faces were smiling, some looked anxious, some merely distracted. Whoever we were and wherever we were headed there were individual struggles and triumphs to face. Something about that seemed touching to me.
Roslyn was napping on the couch when I got home. Her eyelids fluttered when I brushed a soft curl from her face. She broke into the smile that possessed my heart and said, “There you are,” as she held out her arms.
I sank down beside her and held her as close as I could, reveling in the warm feel of her body and the soft flutter that greeted my hands when they roamed over her stomach. Soon we would need to head to Cord’s house with a pile of presents and greet the rest of the raucous, devoted Gentry family. But for this short little while I just wanted to bury my face in her hair and believe in the things that mattered the most.
CHAPTER TEN
STONE
“You’re doing it wrong.”
I held my hands up. “How could I be doing it wrong? I haven’t done anything yet.”
Derek, Chase’s oldest son, paused and scrunched up his face in a manner that seemed laughably Chase-like. “I don’t know,” he finally shrugged. “But you’re still doing it wrong.”
I handed him the tiny toy back. “Well, you show me how it’s done, buddy and I’ll try to keep up.”
Derek set the wooden dreidel on the coffee table, stared it for a few seconds, then attempted to set it spinning on its pointed end. There was a bit too much momentum in his effort though and it spun right off the table and onto the carpet.
“Uh-oh,” said Thomas, the youngest of Chase’s three sons. He’d been watching with rapt fascination while picking his nose. The middle son, Kellan, laughed out loud over his brother’s apparent failure.
