A Clean Sweep

by Tymber Dalton

  Essie swallowed as Purson turned around and focused the camera on her. “When did you leave home?”

  “When I graduated high school.” He asked her several more questions about how and why she left, how she felt about coming back.

  It was with great relief that he shut the camera off at that point and gave her a kindly smile. “Okay, that was really good. I’m sure we’ll get some shots of you while you’re talking with Ted in a family session. Right now, I’m going to walk around the house and film it. You don’t have to stay in here with me if you don’t want to, but I might have some questions once I’m finished.”

  “You film whatever you need,” her mom told him.

  Essie pushed past the brothers and Ross and Loren and bolted for the side door. She didn’t stop running until she hit the yard, where she stood, hands on her knees and gulping in fresh air.

  “Are you all right?” Mark asked from behind her.

  She was aware Josh, and likely Ted, too, had all followed her.

  “No,” she whispered. “I won’t be all right until this is over. Even then I don’t know if I will. It can’t bring Dad back and fix him before this happened, can it?”

  She was aware of Loren slipping her arm around her. “It’s okay to be upset,” she softly said. “No one expects you to hold it in.”

  “That’s a good thing, because I don’t think I can.”

  Ross spoke up. “While we’re all over here, I’m going to get my mower out and do that once Purson shoots the backyard.”

  “Good idea,” Mark said.

  Once Purson finished with the shots he needed, he called Essie in to the kitchen, alone, to film her again.

  “What do you hope will happen with this process?” he asked.

  She had to think about it. “I want my mom to be happy and not lose her home. I want the house cleaned out and the repairs made so she can live like a normal person and not be held hostage by this stuff or by my dad any longer.”

  “Do you think you and your mom will be able to resume your relationship now?”

  “I hope so. I want to. I didn’t want to lose touch with her. I didn’t want to lose touch with my dad, either. He was the one who used his hoarding to build a wall between us. He didn’t have to act the way he did.”

  “How does that make you feel, what he did?”

  “Angry. Pissed off. Oh, sorry, can I say that?”

  Purson laughed. “Yes, it’s cable.”

  “I wanted a relationship with him. We were close when I was little. Then when the hoarding started, it was like that was more important. And that makes me sad as well as angry.”

  The light went off on the camera and he lowered it. “Do you have a picture of where you live now? Interior shots?”

  “No, but I can have my roommate send me some.”

  “Great. That’d be fine. You can e-mail them to me.”

  “Why?”

  “To show the compare and contrast. As sad as it sounds, to show that you are not your father’s daughter.” The man really did have gorgeous blue eyes. Despite his good looks, he still didn’t do to her insides what Mark, and even Josh and Ted, did to them.

  “Oh. Okay. I’ll ask her to do that.”

  He started to lead the way to the garage and stopped, turning. With his voice lowered, he said, “Just for the record? Mark, Josh, and Ted are nice guys. I’ve seen them do a lot of good for people who let them. You can trust them.”

  She felt her face burning. It was as if he’d sensed her thoughts.

  He smiled. “I can tell they really like you in a different way than I’m used to seeing. Follow your heart and your gut. They won’t steer you wrong.” With that, he turned and headed back toward the garage.

  What the hell?

  She didn’t have time to ponder his statements, because it felt like the world was closing in on her. She had to escape the house again.

  When she emerged into the sunlight once more, Ross was busy mowing the backyard while Mark, Josh, and Ted had moved the pile of branches closer to the gate. Her mom and Loren were standing in the shade next to the driveway.

  “Are you all right, sweetheart?”

  She didn’t want to lie to her mom, but she didn’t want her mom to feel any worse than she knew she already did. “I’m…dealing.”

  Her mom hugged her. “Go have a good meal tonight,” she said. “Don’t worry about me. I’m going to sleep well knowing that tomorrow is the beginning of my freedom.”

  “What about your job?”

  “I told them what happened and what I’m going through right now with the house. They said I could have at least two weeks off, and if I need more to tell them.”

  She hoped two weeks would be enough. “Paid?”

  “Oh, no. Not paid. But I don’t mind.” She walked over to her husband’s truck and kicked one of the front tires. “Seriously, boys. I don’t want this. I found the title in my files. I want it out of here. I’ll give it away. It still runs.”

  “Let me call Tracy at the office,” Josh said. “Maybe she knows if any of our crew needs a vehicle.”

  Purson got their microphones disconnected and put away. Essie needed a break from it all. Other than work, this was the most “together” time she’d spent with a group of people, other than Amy’s family, since college. “I’m going to…” She pointed at Loren and Ross’ house.

  “I’ll stay here with your mom,” Loren said. “Go ahead. It’s okay.”

  It took Essie every ounce of will she possessed not to break into a run as she crossed the street. Once she had herself locked in the guest bedroom, she sat on the bed and texted Amy.

  SOS

  It startled her when her phone rang in her hand less than a minute later.

  “What happened?” Amy demanded, her protective tone sending Essie’s control over the edge.

  Essie flopped back on the bed and tearfully spilled her guts to her friend, leaving out the part about her kissing Mark.

  When she finished, Amy sounded dubious. “What aren’t you telling me, honey? I’m your friend. I won’t judge.”

  Heat filled her face again. She briefly explained about Mark and their all-too-short history in high school. And what happened with him that morning.

  Amy let out what sounded like a snort. “Okay. So you kissed him. He obviously didn’t have a problem with it.”

  “You don’t think this is a problem?”

  “No, I don’t. Girl, I’ve seen your Kindle. Don’t go all uber-prude on me now.”

  “This isn’t a joke. It’s not funny.”

  “Do you hear me laughing? No. If your question is should you still go to their place for dinner? The answer is yes. Unless there’s some sort of underground cannibal torture ring they’re all a member of, I doubt you’ll be in any danger.”

  “I wasn’t worried about that,” Essie mumbled.

  “Okay, then. What’s the problem?”

  “I…” She had to think about it. “My life’s upended.”

  Amy kindly laughed. “Aaaand there she is. There’s my control-freak girl.”

  “Am I really that predictable?”

  “Yes, and it’s one of the reasons we get along so well. Go have dinner with hunky guy and his brothers tonight. Nurse’s orders.”

  After using the bathroom and washing her face, Essie returned to her mom’s driveway where everyone had assembled. It was after five, and Essie’s stomach let out a grumble.

  “These guys grill killer steaks,” Ross said in response. “I hope you worked up an appetite today.”

  “I’m going to text you our address,” Mark said. “They have to run back to the office to pick up Josh’s truck. So meet us at our place at six thirty, if that’s all right?” He started thumbing a message into his phone.

  “Okay.” Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Yep, there was the address. Then guilt hit her again. “Mom, are you sure you don’t want me to—”

  Her mom waved away her objections. “Honey, I’ve got
papers to go through. Ross said he’ll help me figure out the life insurance policy and your father’s pension, all that stuff. We’ll be busy with that tonight. Please, go and have fun.” She looked at the house, where lengthening shadows were cast by the sun dropping in the western sky. “I think we won’t have much fun of any kind until this mess is cleaned up.”

  * * * *

  After grabbing a shower, Essie looked up the men’s address on her phone and timed her trip to arrive right at six thirty. Three trucks sat in the driveway, all bearing Collins Cleaning Management signs on the sides.

  Another case of nerves hit her. Not just because of the brothers.

  They’re bachelors.

  Yeah, but they run a cleaning service.

  But they’re bachelors.

  The last guy she’d gone out with, despite having a tidy car, his apartment had been…Well, okay, nowhere on the scale of her parents’ house, but it had sufficiently grossed her out enough that she didn’t have a second date with him.

  She knew all guys weren’t like that, but it had soured her on dating, she’d have to admit. Amy’s boyfriend, Pete, was wonderful at cleaning up after himself.

  I can do this. Just dinner.

  She grabbed her purse and headed for the front door. Josh answered, looking freshly showered and wearing shorts and a T-shirt. “Hey, glad you found it okay. Come on in.”

  She immediately began to relax. The house felt lived-in and homey, but was also neat and tidy. Especially the kitchen, she was pleased to see, which was as clean, if not cleaner, than her own.

  What a relief.

  Mark, who was standing at the stove and stirring something in a pot, flashed her a smile. “Hey, we were just getting ready to put the steaks on. Ted’s got the grill ready.”

  By the time they were sitting down to eat, she hadn’t been left alone with Mark, and had relaxed as the men talked about what they did for a living and not about her case in particular.

  “How do you three live and work together and not kill each other?”

  “Oh, I don’t live here,” Ted said. “I have my own place.”

  “He might as well live here,” Josh said. “He’s here enough. We keep asking him to move in. We try long enough, hopefully he’ll accept our invitation and move back in with us.”

  “I think Mom worries about him,” Mark offered.

  “Where do your parents live?”

  “They retired to Naples,” Ted said.

  “Oh, Italy?”

  The men laughed. “A few hours from here. South of Fort Myers,” Josh said.

  “Oh.” She felt heat fill her face. “That’s right. Sorry. Been away too long. I don’t remember the geography like I used to.”

  “No worries,” Josh assured her.

  She thought she might feel nervous around the three brothers, but the exact opposite happened. By the time they’d finished with their meal, she’d laughed more than she had in the past several months, and she wished the night would stretch on for another day.

  She also felt more of an attraction for Mark’s older brothers than she realized she would.

  That both unnerved and excited her.

  Maybe I can finally find someone. She’d seriously begun to wonder if maybe she wasn’t one of those people who just didn’t have a sex drive. Despite being lonely for intimate companionship, even of a nonsexual kind, her motor only seemed to rev a little when reading some of the kinkier books on her Kindle.

  And it wasn’t like anything out of those books was ever going to happen to her in real life.

  But the fact that she felt an attraction to more than one man, maybe it was triggered by her father’s death and her mom’s newfound freedom. She didn’t know.

  All she felt certain about was that the new undercurrent of excitement in her own life, despite the circumstances surrounding it, was welcomed. Something she hadn’t felt since leaving home for college, and then again moving from Gainesville with Amy to their apartment in Spokane.

  Like a fresh start was within her grasp if she’d only stretch herself out on that flimsy branch just a little farther.

  The men wouldn’t let her help clean up. Josh and Mark took care of the dishes while Ted led Essie back to the living room and turned on the TV.

  She started to sit on the couch when she spied the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, filled with what looked like thousands of books and DVDs, all neatly arranged and dusted. The movies were arranged alphabetically by title, while the books were arranged alphabetically by author.

  The tidy order to the full shelves soothed her.

  “Holy wow,” she said. “That’s a lot of books.” She looked up at another shelf. “And movies.”

  “Yeah, the books are Mark’s, mostly. The movies are Josh’s, mostly.”

  She turned to him. “What about you?”

  He grinned. “You should see my Amazon and Netflix accounts.”

  “Ah. I have a Kindle.” She turned back to the shelves. “Sometimes I feel bad that I don’t buy paper books. But I’ve got thousands of e-books. Unless it’s something I needed for school, or for work, or for a continuing credits course I’m taking, I try to buy digital. Or I check it out from the library.” She smiled. “Netflix is my friend, too.”

  He shrugged. “I lost a lot in my divorce. All those streaming services were just really getting started then. I opted to go that route. I can access them pretty much anywhere, and when I finally move again, I don’t have to pack them up and haul them around.”

  “Or dust them,” she said, smiling.

  He grinned. “Or sort them, or get rid of any of them. I always hated downsizing my books.”

  “Me, too. That’s why I love e-books. I can always keep them.” She ran her fingers over the spines, everything from classic fiction, to horror, to sci-fi, and even some nonfiction titles.

  The movies were also widely varied, including a copy of Sleepless in Seattle.

  She laughed as she pulled it from the shelf and held it up. “Whose DVD is this?”

  In the kitchen, Mark and Josh looked up, saw what was in her hand, and pointed guilty fingers at each other, making her laugh again.

  “No one’s going to admit it, huh?” she asked.

  “Hell, no,” they echoed.

  Ted sat at one end of the couch, a smile on his face. “I’m not ashamed to admit I enjoyed the movie.”

  “Good for you. I loved it.” She slid it back into its position on the shelf and took the other end of the couch.

  * * * *

  Ted knew there was something about her. The more time he spent with her, the more he grew to realize he was attracted to her.

  That, he knew, could be a very dangerous thing. Especially when he knew Mark was crazy for her.

  Then again…

  He shoved those thoughts out of his mind as he channel surfed, trying to find something he could put on that wouldn’t distract them all too much while they talked.

  Yes, he and his brothers had been poly and it had worked reasonably well for them. But that had been kinky, a BDSM dynamic. Okay, technically they all had dated her, too, and all had sex with her, but it was…different.

  They’d known what they were getting into from the start, as had the woman.

  This is not the unicorn we seek.

  He nearly snickered at that thought as he paused on one of the older Star Wars movies.

  “Oh, I love these movies,” she said.

  Choice made, he set the remote on the coffee table. “Then there it will stay.” He knew he couldn’t segue into a discussion of their own personal lives with her. “So without cameras or microphones or your mom around, how are you really doing?”

  He gave her credit for putting on a brave face. Her sweet lips pressed into a tight, thin line as she struggled for control.

  Finally, “Better than I thought I would, in some ways. And horrible in others.”

  “This is what I get paid to do,” he tried to joke. “You can talk to me.” He hooked a
thumb over his shoulder. “Or, I can kick them out and we can be alone.”

  “Hey,” Mark and Josh countered from the kitchen.

  “It’s our house,” Mark reminded him.

  But it worked. She smiled for him.

  Yes.

  “Please don’t kick them out,” she said. “It’s all right.” She settled back into the cushions. “I just…I think I should be more upset over his death than I am, but it feels like I’m more upset over the house. And that doesn’t seem normal.”

  “Normal is a setting on a clothes dryer,” Mark called from the kitchen.

  “Quiet, you,” Ted called back. “No counseling from the peanut gallery.”

  Another smile crossed her lips.

  His heart twisted in a familiar way he knew could lead to absolutely no good if he let it get out of hand.

  “Normal,” he said slowly, hoping he wasn’t grinning too widely, “is actually a setting on a washing machine.”

  “Asshole,” Josh called out, his tone light and playful.

  Yet another smile from her, this one almost reaching her eyes.

  I could sit here and do this all night.

  And that scared the crap out of him, how easily he could do that.

  How much he wanted to do just that.

  Chapter Ten

  Essie got to bed a little before midnight Thursday, and felt like she’d just closed her eyes to sleep when the alarm on her phone scrambled her awake at five o’clock the next morning.

  Heart racing from the alarm’s loud screech, she stumbled her way out of bed and over to the dresser, where she’d left the phone on its charger, to silence it.

  Oh, yeah. Today. It starts today.

  She sat on the bed, rubbing at her face and trying to shove sleep out of her system. She wanted to crawl back under the covers and knew she couldn’t.

  She might be incapable of mourning her father right now, but she wouldn’t allow her mom to go through this alone.