That One Day (That One #1.5) (5 page)

“It’s my fucking house now. And what’s it to you?” I’m really not in the mood for this shit, not with the jackhammer pounding in my head.

She steps forward again, much to the disdain of the guy. “I’m Allie and this is Jake. We live next door.”

“And?” I give her a questioning look, wondering if this conversation is going to go on forever.

“We were worried someone broke in. No one has been here since Mrs. Andrews died,” she explains, taking a step toward me, but then she backs away again.

“Oh my God, you smell really bad. Where did you crawl out of? A dumpster?” Her nose is scrunched up and her mouth pulls down in a frown of disgust.

I want to be offended, yet I can’t help but laugh in disbelief. When she thought I was a criminal, she had no issues being up in my face. Now that she smelled me, she runs for dear life.

“She’s right about that. The dead rat I found behind the house the other day smelled better.”

“Ah, Muscleman can actually speak more than a few words.”

“Glad my muscles impress you, man. But I’m taken.” He pulls Allie into his side with a smug grin, and she elbows him lightly in the ribs. I’m worried for a moment the poor yappy dog will get squished.

“I’m Ben. Mrs. Andrews was my grandmother.”

“Oh, okay.” Allie still looks at me skeptically before she sets the dog down. “And why again do you look like you’ve lived in a cardboard box for a year and smell even worse?”

Her dog eagerly runs up to me and starts sniffing, before quickly running off. Wow, I even offended a dog. That’s bad.

“I’ve been on the road for a few days and fell asleep last night before hitting the shower,” I say, almost apologetically.

“Well, man, you fucking need one,” Jake states matter-of-factly.

“Wanna join me?” I can’t help smart-mouthing him, especially considering they are in my house and are telling me what to do.

“Dude, I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole.” Jake laughs before he starts pulling Allie toward the door. But before leaving, he turns around and gives me the once-over. “If you need anything, we’re right next door. But, please, shower first. And a piece of advice: Lock your doors in the future.”

“Fuck off,” I grumble, making my way toward the bathroom while pulling off my shirt. God, they are right. I stink.

I thought they’d left already, but Allie suddenly pops her head into the living room. “Nice meeting you, Ben. I have the feeling we’ll be great friends.”

“Allie, you better not be checking him out,” I hear Jake yell from a distance.

Allie laughs and takes off, letting the door fall shut behind her. “You’re the only one I check out, baby.” Ugh. Too much fucking sweetness and love in the morning.

I shower for what seems like forever. Or, at least until the warm water runs out. I take the time to finally shave my face in an attempt to look more like a human being and less like a grizzly. Styling my brown hair for the first time in days seems to help the process along. I can actually look into the mirror without cringing.

I can’t say the same for the bathroom though. It’s an insult to my eyes. The tiles are a hideous pink and have some flower pattern on them. I wonder for a moment if my grandmother was blind because no sane person can look at this day in and day out.

Once I’m done in the bathroom, I put on some clean clothes. I wish I could say I feel like a new person, but I still feel like the asshole whose life fell apart. An asshole who left the woman who cared about him behind.

Instead of thinking about it too much, I decide to check out the house and realize the bathroom was just the beginning of the horrors of interior design. Every room is plastered with a different kind of hideous floral wallpaper that seems like a remnant from the 60s.

Although everything is very tidy and taken care of, the furniture has seen better days. It’s not just old-fashioned but simply old. It looks like my grandmother was hanging on to times gone by.

There are tacky decorations everywhere. Doilies are covering every single table and dresser-top in this house. I also find a few cross-stitch wall decorations with lovely phrases like
God bless our home
and
Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good
, and suddenly I’m not so sad I never met my grandmother. We wouldn’t have gotten along that well, I fear. The last time I saw a church from the inside was when my grandma Liz—Ron’s mom—dragged me there. Mom and Ron aren’t overly religious, so the only time I was subjected to it was when I visited my grandma. She dragged me to church for every possible mass and her goodnight stories consisted of her reading the bible to me. I was always glad when we left to go home. My mind is still not made up on whether there is someone almighty up there who decides our fate. If there is, he certainly has a twisted sense of humor.

I had just checked out what I gathered were my grandmother’s and guestrooms, when I enter the third bedroom. Looking at the football trophies, I have a feeling this might have been my father’s room. It’s odd to be in here, especially before I’ve even met him. I look at the trophies and badges. Looks like my father was a boy scout, and a good one at that.

When I turn toward the shelf with pictures, I actually have to take a step back. If there had been any doubt left in my mind that this nightmare is real, this would have erased it. I look at one of the many pictures on the shelf; it’s like I’m staring at myself.

The resemblance is startling. His hair is the same color as mine and so are his eyes. He has the same smile. The only difference is the lack of cockiness that I more than happily express and the fashion style.

He’s wearing bell-bottom pants in a hideous mustard color and a shirt that looks like the wallpaper in the living room. Things I wouldn’t be caught dead in. But fuck, this is my father. There is no doubt about it.

My hand trembles as I grab the picture sitting next to it. I’ve seen pictures of myself as a baby, but it was always just me or me and my mom, and when I was older with Ron. I only once questioned it, and Mom told me a lot of pictures got destroyed when a pipe broke in our house. I believed her.

God, I was so fucking stupid because I’m looking at a picture of me as a baby, maybe a few months old, with my mother and my father—my real father. He has his arm around her while she’s holding me close. He’s kissing her temple, and she seems to lean into him while looking at me with affection.

How can she say he was bad? This isn’t what a bad person looks like. I feel the rage rearing its ugly head, my jaw clenches, and my hand tightens around the picture frame until I hear a cracking noise and realize I snapped the frame. Fuck. I’ve never been the violent type before, but damn, I feel like punching something right now.

Just then I’m interrupted by a voice from the backyard.

“Muffin, come back. Muffin. Dammit, you stupid, little dog.”

I look out the window and see Allie climbing over the fence into my backyard, while the yappy ball of fluff is running around my garden. The fence is a joke. It’s barely thirty inches high and has slats missing. No surprise it isn’t keeping out the dog or my new neighbor.

I have a feeling that even if we don’t become good friends like she said, I still won’t be getting rid of her anytime soon. I make my way out to the patio in the back, finding Allie crouched in front of the brick outdoor oven.

“Muffin, come back out.” She’s talking to the dog in a sweet voice as if talking to a kid.

“Are you planning to make a habit of trespassing on my property?”

My sudden approach startles her and she falls back on her ass. “Jesus, you scared me.”

I only lift my eyebrows in response. She’s still sitting on the floor when Muffin walks out checking on her. I nod in her direction. “You’re welcome.”

I turn around and am about to go back inside, but stop in my tracks when she calls out. “Aren’t you a ray of sunshine?”

“Looks like you have enough of it in Arizona,” I say, rolling my eyes. And I’m not kidding. It’s just before noon and the heat is unbearable.

“I’m sure underneath all that grouchiness is a nice guy somewhere. Might want to let him out, sweetheart.” She smiles at me sweetly before getting up with Muffin in her arms. It seems like she’s one of those happy go lucky people. Yay me.

“He’s on vacation. Indefinitely.”

She walks up to me and sniffs. “Hey, you smell nice and you look like a human. Who would have thought you actually looked decent?” She winks at me before she turns and climbs over the low fence back into her yard.

Shaking my head, I go inside and start searching for a power bill. I figure that should have the company’s number on it. I find a drawer in the kitchen that holds a bunch of papers and sift through them until I find what I’m looking for.

Eager to sort out the electric, I pick up the receiver of the wall-mounted phone only to find the line dead. Dammit, it probably got disconnected after my grandmother’s death.

Without a phone, I have no way to contact the power company. I definitely don’t want to go over to Allie and Jake’s and deal with their cheery attitude. That only leaves me the option to go out and buy a new cellphone.

When I get in my truck, I see Jake walking out of the house next door, pushing a wheel chair. A guy in his forties is sitting in it. I don’t know what comes over me, but I lift my hand in greeting before pulling out of the driveway.

***

After an extensive grocery shopping trip, I make my way back home. When I pull into the driveway, and look into the backseat at bags full of fresh meat, milk, and other perishables, I realize that I’m going to be fucked if the electricity hasn’t been turned on in my absence. I had called the company out of the shopping center’s parking lot with my new phone, spending twenty minutes on hold. But they promised to send someone today to turn the electricity on. Since I didn’t need to be here for that, I took my time stocking up on food and sorting out internet access for the house as well.

I bring in the groceries, but before I put them away, I try the light switch in the kitchen. Apparently, luck is on my side today because the kitchen is bathed in bright, yellow light. I turn on the A/C and when I hear the soothing whirring, I have hope that maybe tonight I won’t feel like a snowman in August.

After putting the groceries away, I grab a bottle of water and sit on the couch, checking out my new phone. It’s going to take a while until I get Wi-Fi in the house. Until then, my data plan will have to tide me over.

I download a few apps, Facebook being one of them. My account is swamped with messages from my mother and Ron. I don’t even bother reading them.

There is one message from Dave.

Hey bro, everyone is going fucking crazy because you just disappeared. Where the hell did you go? Everyone’s worried. I’m fucking worried. You know I’m here if you need help exorcising whatever demons you’re dealing with. Love ya, man.

I swallow audibly, wondering if I should call him. He’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember. It’s an asshole move to not at least tell him what’s going on or let him know I’m alive. But calling him won’t do him, or me, any good. It’ll just put him in a shitty position, having to keep my whereabouts from his parents and mine. Besides, I don’t want questions or lectures. I don’t want to explain myself. I just need to be away from it all.

It takes me a moment before I realize that he hasn’t mentioned Frankie. He’s not threatening to rip my balls off. I guess she hasn’t told him, or maybe it really wasn’t a big deal for her. For some stupid reason that thought hurts, which makes me even more of an asshole. I hate that she isn’t hurting? I’m such a fucking class act.

In the over one hundred messages is not a single one from Frankie. I check out her Facebook profile, but I don’t see anything more than her profile picture. She unfriended me. I’m not surprised, but it still sucks. We’ve been friends since she was old enough to waddle behind Dave and me, even though most of the time we were fighting and making each other’s lives difficult. Seems she now hates me for real.

Refusing to dwell on it, I delete my account permanently, not wanting the temptation to check her profile, or to contact her or Dave.

My inbox is the same. I don’t even stop to count the number of emails my mother has written. It must be hundreds. I close my eyes for a moment, attempting to quell the guilt that’s trying to fight its way to the surface before I delete that account as well. New start as a new person, even though I don’t know who that person is.

No matter how sorry I feel for myself, there isn’t much point in starving. I decide to try out the grill in the backyard. I marinate my steaks before making my way out there. Just as I start throwing them on the grill, I hear a now familiar voice.

“Hey my friend, what you up to?”

I groan before turning around. “Allie, the neighbor with boundary issues. What do you think I’m doing here?”

“Other than being miserable?” she asks, giving me a smile. “Inviting your new friends over for dinner.” She climbs over the fence, yelling behind her. “Jake, Ben is cooking dinner for us.”

I roll my eyes, on the verge of telling her to fuck off, when she plops herself down on one of the patio chairs, while Muscleman climbs over the fence. Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“Has anyone told you that you’re a pain in the ass?” I ask her, leaning back against the wall after putting the potatoes on the grill. They’re lucky I’ve got enough steaks.

“I do every single day, man,” Jake says to me while drawing her close and kissing her cheek.

“Okay, rule number one: No PDA on my property. At all. Unless you want me to stab you with the grill fork.”

Allie wants to say something, but I continue, “Rule number two: No climbing over the fence. There is a front door. Civilized people use it.”

“Rule number three,” Allie intercepts me before I can say a thing, “be a good neighbor and share your steaks. I’m sure it’s somewhere in the bible.” Despite my misery, I snort.

When the food is done, I bring out some beers and we dig in.

“So, how come you’re such a miserable dick?” Allie asks between bites.

I nearly choke on my food. “Sorry?”

“Well, the sun isn’t exactly shining out of your butt.”

“Seems like you have enough sun here already. No need for it to come out of any of my orifices.” I turn to Jake. “How do you survive that?”

“She gives really good head, man,” Jake says, ducking away when Allie punches him in the arm before all of us start laughing. Since it looks like I won’t get rid of them anytime soon, I might as well try to enjoy it.

“So you two live next door? For long? I’m sure you’re looking for something nicer, with more fucking sunshine?” I smile sweetly at Allie, but it doesn’t deter her.

Jake laughs. “Sorry to burst your bubble. You’re stuck with her just as I am. I think you might be her new project: Make the new guy smile.”

I’m so used to the shit I always talked with Dave, and even with Frankie, that I don’t think about what I say. “Why, is she going to give me head, too?”

Jake stops laughing and glowers at me, while Allie is trying to suppress a grin, the corners of her mouth trembling slightly. “Not funny, dude,” Jake growls.

“Sorry, just a joke. Old habits die hard.” I focus on my food, now missing the familiarity of hanging out with Dave. I’m trying not to let it affect me, but starting new, giving up everything you’ve known and not knowing what is ahead of you sucks.

“So, what are you doing here, Ben?” Allie asks, obviously trying to diffuse the situation while Muscleman is still glaring at me.

“I inherited the house, so now I’m here to figure out what to do with it.” I purposely omit the fact that I’m also here to meet my real father of whose existence no one cared to inform me and that it looks like he might be crazy. It’s not the best dinner conversation with two strangers—one who is still questioning if he should knock me out while the other seems to have ingested some really awesome happy pills.