Glitz & Goals (Venom Next Gen #2)

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Vivian

Everyone should have a place where they feel perfectly content, where they can be their truest selves, where they can let their freak flag fly. Mine has been the same place since I was a kid, and although I know I’m going to leave it behind someday, I’m not ready to let it go just yet. In fact, I still consider it a work in progress.

Most people just think of it as Noah and Molly’s backyard, but I call it the Gnome Gloam.

The day after the team gets back from their away games, I get up early for the flea market. I learned the hard way that if you show up late, other people will have gotten all the good stuff. “Good stuff,” of course, is a relative term. Some people are still collecting Beanie Babies and baseball cards, dishware that matches the set their grandma handed down, old coins, or Hummel figurines. Me, I don’t care about any of that. I’m looking for the perfect addition to my favorite whimsical place on Earth.

I pass by table after table filled with VHS and well-loved children’s toys and vintage clothes until I see him. The one I’ve been looking for. I hurry over to the table and pick up a garden gnome as tall as my forearm. I’m guessing someone picked up this little guy in Florida, because his shirt is painted with a pattern of flamingos and palm trees against a pale blue background. He’s holding a bottle of sunscreen in one hand and a margarita in the other. His sunglasses cover most of his face, and his shorts are sliding down in the back to reveal his crack which is, of course, sunburned.

“Ugly little bugger, isn’t he?” the woman running the booth asks.

“Hideous,” I agree and hug him to my chest. “How much?”

* * *

By the time I get back with my spoils of war, including three gnomes and a pair of boots that just happened to fit perfectly, Dad and Viktor have already fired up the grill. Mom and her store manager slash family friend Mona are on the back deck. Mona has worked at The Last Chapter for about a million years, but she also freelances as an editor, and I’m pretty sure she makes all of her clients cry at least once. There’s no sign of her husband, Oliver, but it’s not unusual for him to be away at various conferences and events. He’s a big-time Shakespearean scholar, at least among people who are that flavor of academic nerd, and he moonlights as a poet, so he does a lot of visiting speaker gigs.

“Hey, Mona!” I wave to her as I walk by with my armload of purchases. “Are you sticking around for lunch?”

“Well, I’m sure not walking for a while.” She holds up her cocktail and grins, which earns a laugh. It’s not even eleven a.m. on a weekday, and she and Mom have already broken out the tequila. Bless them. I hope I have no fucks left to give either, when I’m their age.

“Join us!” Mom calls.

“Give me a sec to drop my crap off.” I take a few steps toward the door.

That’s when I hear the barking. It’s not all that odd to hear dogs barking in this neighborhood. Ranger and Delilah have a pair of crusty, geriatric lapdogs who escaped all the time before the one started to go blind, and Briggs has a husky-beagle mix who makes the most godawful noises when she gets worked up. This bark, however, is deep and low, and sounds familiar even though I can’t quite place it.

I lay down my gnomes on one of the picnic benches and circle back to the side gate. “Blade?” I call.

I’m not the only one saying Blade. Another voice is calling the dog’s name in a plaintive, breathless tone. I’m almost to the gate when the Cane Corso comes vaulting over the fence Free Willy-style, and barrel-rolls to land at my feet.

“Aw, baby, what happened?” I crouch down to pet him. “Did you need some tummy rubbins? Did you?”

One of his back legs cycles furiously as he flops around on the walkway.

“Blade!” Grady’s face appears over the fence. He hops off the bike he’s riding and leans it against the side of the house. “Geeze, Viv, I’m sorry. He got away from me. He’s never done that before.”

“Don’t let him near me!” Viktor yells. He brandishes the spatula he’s been using to flip burgers. “That dog is a menace! Keep him away, Coach!”

Noah gives my brother a funny look. “When did you meet Grady’s dog?”

Viktor pauses. His eyes meet mine. I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but if Viktor tells Dad what he was doing at Grady’s place, my cover is blown.

I narrow my eyes. My brother licks his lips.

“Coach Metcalfe asked me to help him unload some stuff from the move,” he explained. “He had some furniture that needed to be moved upstairs, a couple of boxes, just enough that he needed an extra pair of hands.”

I nod my approval. Viktor winks as his big body practically sags with relief.

“And how do you know this big critter?” Mona gets up from her chair, drink in hand, and wanders over to survey the scene.

As she gets closer, Blade flips over onto his belly and gives her a wary look. I get it. Mona has that effect on people.

“I’ve seen Coach Metcalfe walking him.” I give what I hope is a casual shrug. “You know me. I see a Cane Corso, and I just can’t help myself.”

“Hm.” Mona lifts one eyebrow. She looks from my face to Grady’s, then down to Blade. I can tell she’s not buying it, but after a moment, she nods. “Cane Corso, you said? Like Biscuit was? They’re such different colors, I wouldn’t have realized they were the same breed.”

“I can come get him.” Grady fumbles with the latch.

“Oh, no, there’s no rush.” Mom comes over to the edge of the deck and kneels. “He’s just fine here, aren’t you, big boy?” She makes kissy noises in Blade’s direction.

The big dog cocks his head to one side. After a moment’s consideration, he squirms down the walkway, tail wagging and head bowed, his belly never leaving the ground. He whines when Mom pets him and tumbles onto his back again.

Grady stares in consternation. “Seriously? Are you all dog whisperers or something?”

I point over my shoulder to Viktor, who is currently hiding behind the grill. “Not all of us. But you’d have to be evil to dislike my mother, so I’m not surprised Blade likes her.”

Mom looks up at Grady. “You should stay for lunch. Blade can hang out in the yard.”

“Oh, I…” Grady looks from her to me to Noah. “I’m not sure…”

“Please, I insist.” Mona holds out her arm for him to take. “I know the dirty secrets of everyone in this house. I require fresh meat.”

Grady accepts her arm with a nervous frown. Poor guy, he has no idea what he’s gotten himself into. I leave him to be interrogated—after all, nobody knows we’re together, so it would be suspicious if I hovered around him too much—and head off to get a bowl of water for Blade.

Lunch is only mildly awkward. Dad asks Grady a few questions about his career pre-Venom. Grady’s answers are short, and he offers up very little personal information. I’m not surprised. From what little he’s told me about his life, I can see why he wouldn’t want to share too much.

Which gets me thinking… when Grady told me that he couldn’t have kids, I didn’t think much of it at the time. I was a little preoccupied. But now, I’m not sure how I feel about that information. I know that I want kids. At the same time, I’m annoyed at his ex-wife for ditching him just because they couldn’t have kids together. It would be different if I ended things based on that information, given that we’re not even officially together. She divorced him. Whereas if I called things off now, I wouldn’t even have to break up with him. We could just… stop fucking.

Simple, right?

So stop , I think, but I don’t want to. Not yet. There’s no harm in having a little more fun while it lasts, right? We’re both consenting adults.

When I’ve finished eating, I get up and clear my plate. “Thanks for lunch. I’ll be in the Gnome Gloam if you need me.”

Grady raises his eyebrows. “The what now?”

“Ooh, you should show him.” Mom claps her hands. The cocktails are kicking in, I see. She turns to Grady. “It’s wonderful. You can help her put up the new ones.”

“The new… what?” I can tell Grady’s head is spinning.

“Come on.” I grab his plate. “I’ll take these inside, and then I’ll give you the grand tour.”

My purchases are right where I left them. I shove Florida gnome into Grady’s arms and lead him to the back of the backyard. Blade follows at a trot. There’s a little gazebo back there, partly sheltered from view by the pool house.

Grady stops when he sees the gnomes. “My God,” he murmurs. “This is…”

“Unhinged?” I suggest.

“This is incredible. They’re so tacky.” There’s a note of genuine admiration in his voice.

I’m inclined to agree. In among the hardscaping are hundreds of gnomes, the smallest of which is really just a pet rock, the largest of which is the size of a toddler. A few of them are actually cute, but the vast majority of them are flipping the bird, bending over to reveal their little butt cheeks, or, in one case, holding a trench coat open to reveal a gnome boner. There are meditating gnomes and zombie gnomes and smiling gnomes, girl gnomes and boy gnomes, even a trio of gnomes being eaten by a velociraptor. Grady looks like a kid who just walked into what he thought was the dentist’s office, only to realize that he’s stumbled into the tooth fairy’s living room instead.

“You could charge admission tickets,” he says. “How long have you been doing this?”

I shrug. “Nanny Franny started it. I think I was three or so.”

Grady quirks an eyebrow. “You guys keep saying things like I’m supposed to know what you’re talking about. I’m starting to think you’re doing it on purpose.”

I chuckle. “Sorry. It’s just complicated, and I’m sort of used to people already knowing this stuff. Nanny Franny was like… my second mom. She pretty much raised me when I first came to live with Dad.”

Grady frowns. “Had he and your mom split up?”

I let out a weak laugh. “No. Noah’s not my dad. He’s my uncle. I mean, he’s my dad in every way that matters, but he’s my birth mom’s brother. He became my legal guardian after my parents died.”

Something flashes across Grady’s face. “Oh.” I expect him to follow that up with an apology because most people do. Instead, he licks his lips. “I’d like to know more about you, but I imagine it can be hard to talk about something like that. I’ll leave it up to you whether you want to elaborate, or stick to gnome talk.”

My shoulders relax a little. Sometimes when people hear about my family history, they become borderline obsessed with telling me how I should feel. They’re not doing it on purpose, I’m sure, but it can be exhausting. That’s so terrible. I know just how you feel. Usually, they’re just projecting their assumptions onto me.

“It’s not that hard to talk about, honestly.” I set my stuff down and take Florida Gnome from Grady. “I don’t remember my parents. I was super little when it happened. Six months, give or take. They were in a car accident. I was there, too, but I wasn’t hurt at all.” I hold the gnome to my chest. “Noah could have raised me to think that he was my bio-dad, but he wanted me to remember as much as I could. We’ve always had photos of my parents around the house. It’s nice, but also…” I shrug.

Grady waits a beat before prompting, “Also?”

“It sounds callous when I say it, but I don’t miss them. There’s nothing to miss, really.” I look around the Gnome Gloam, half aware of Blade sniffing his way through the statues. I wonder if he can smell traces of Biscuit after all these years. “I had this awesome childhood with my amazing uncle, my Nanny Franny, Biscuit, and eventually Mom. I even got to have siblings. Viktor’s a turd, but my little sister Vanessa is cool.”

Grady snorts. “Little brothers are all turds. Trust me, I am one. He’ll get better, but it’ll take a while.”

“We’ll see about that.” I brush a stray lock of hair out of my face while still balancing the gnome in my arms. “Anyway, life was good. I missed out on my parents as people but not as a support system, if that makes sense. Noah and Molly never made me feel like I didn’t belong with them, but they never tried to fill the space my parents left. I call them Mom and Dad, because they’ve always been there for me. We love each other, so we created a family even if it’s a little unconventional. That’s what really matters, right?”

I’m suddenly aware of how long I’ve been talking. Grady doesn’t need to know all this. Dead parents don’t make for great casual conversation. I shake my head and smile, even though I can feel that my expression is a little off.

“Anyway, the Gnome Gloam was Franny’s idea, and it’s the best place on Earth. I’ve just kept the tradition alive.”

“I can see why.” Grady crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s wonderful. So, where is this guy going?”

That’s all he says. No condolences I didn’t ask for, no strained sympathy, no prying questions. True to his word, he let me tell him what I wanted him to know and then revert to the emotionally safe topic of garden ornaments. God, I could kiss him right now, even knowing that Mom and Dad are watching from the back deck.

Grady points to Boner Gnome. “I think he should go right next to that guy. They look like they could vibe together. They’re both exhibitionists.”

I nod my agreement. “Shared interests can be a good basis for a friendship.”

Grady takes Florida Gnome back and tiptoes his way across the hardscaping, taking immense care not to dislodge any of the existing residents.

My chest aches. The more time I spend with Grady, the more I wish there could be something more between us. Something real and lasting.

But I know better. If I let myself get too comfortable, it will hurt all the more when this ends.