Chapter 11 #2
“Sure, sure,” Uncle Wayne said. “I’m okay with the queers, as long as they keep their hands to themselves. Weirdos, he-shes, makes no difference to me.”
Grandpa flinched and glared at him. “Stop. That’s not okay language, son. You’d need to be respectful to all the staff and customers, and here in my home I don’t allow slurs. Do you understand?”
Uncle Wayne made a lip-zipping gesture. “I’m real good at playing it polite and cool. You don’t need to worry about me. I’d have been busted a lot sooner if everyone didn’t love me.”
I wasn’t sure that was reassuring, and by his expression neither was Grandpa, but he let it go.
At least, Koda could probably look after themself, and Lily took no shit from anyone, but having Uncle Wayne around would mess with the harmony of the store, no matter how useful extra hands might be. Hopefully, Grandpa was figuring that out.
In a clear attempt to change the subject, Grandpa turned to me. “No practice or game today, huh? Must be nice to have some time off.”
“I’m enjoying it.” I was going to say especially avoiding doing that drive, but at the last moment, I figured that might make Grandpa feel guilty I was living at home to take care of him. If he’d figured out that’s what I was doing. “Early practice tomorrow, though.”
“Tough game last night,” Uncle Wayne commented. “You guys should’ve had that one. Edmonton was in a slump. I suppose when a goalie has an off night, the team is fucked.”
As the slumping goalie, I could’ve argued that the offense going zero for five on power plays and the defense collapsing in front of me had something to do with it. But I had fucked up. I’d own that. “Yeah, sure, I’m the entire team, right here.” Okay, maybe not completely own it.
“Most important position on the team.” Uncle Wayne faked a grab as if at a flying puck, then looked behind him. “Oops, missed. A team’s only as good as their goalies.”
“It helps if they actually score a goal or two,” I pointed out. “I’d have needed a shutout to win last night.” Saying that out loud actually made me feel better, although letting in that soft shot might’ve fucked with our momentum.
“But you have four shutouts already. Leading the league. So that’s not impossible, unless you screw up.”
I was a bit creeped out that Uncle Wayne knew my stats, although hockey had been the one thing we could talk about in my teens. “If letting in one goal is screwing up, then every goalie on the planet is a screwup. No one’s playing with a goals-against of less than one.”
He waved me off as if I was being unreasonable.
“Not saying that. Just that the goalie’s the player who matters most to the final score.
” He gave me a thin smile. “I’ve been checking out your team.
You’re carrying the Foxes this season. They’re putting out mediocre offensive numbers, and you’re stopping more shots than they take in a lot of your wins. ”
If anyone else had praised me like that, I might’ve felt good.
Coming from Uncle Wayne, I just felt uncomfortable.
Maybe he was buttering me up to ask for seats.
Or like he said before, insider info. He could dream on.
“Thanks.” I bounced to my feet. “Going up to put together some stuff to take to Z— the Evanses’ house.
Glad I got to hang out with you, Grandpa.
I can work that closing shift with Koda today.
Do you want me to head on over now or start at three? ”
Grandpa smiled at me, genuine and warm. “Thanks, Callum. Starting now would be great, if you’re up for it, since I took the day off. Have you had lunch?”
“Zeke shared his donuts,” I said, a half lie, since that was for breakfast. But we could call it brunch.
Uncle Wayne snorted. “At least the cop follows the stereotypes. Is he thick around the middle too?”
“He’s got more muscles than you do,” I told him. “Dude works out.”
Grandpa turned to me, changing the subject. “Tell me when you’re heading to Nina’s and I’ll text Lily. Then she can work a short day if she wants to, or stay till three if she needs the money. I’ll let her know.”
“Right, will do.”
I jogged up the stairs, hearing Uncle Wayne say behind me, “Cal’s gotten tall, taller than me. Kid must’ve had a growth spurt since I saw him last. Looks like you raised him healthy, for sure.”
“It’s been too many years since you were home…”
I didn’t stick around and listen to Uncle Wayne buttering up Grandpa, or Grandpa hoping he’d become a better man.
In my room, I threw stuff in a duffel and collected my two game-day suits in their garment bags.
One thing about all those road trips— packing was fast and easy.
I didn’t usually do it in a mood that had me crumpling underwear in a ball and yanking shirts off hangers, but the system still worked.
Uncle Wayne wasn’t around when I came back down. Grandpa still sat at the kitchen table staring out the window, half a cup of coffee in front of him. He startled when I set my bags down and went to him. “Hey. Callum. I never meant for Wayne to chase you out of here.”
“It’s all good,” I lied. “I offered to help Zeke before Uncle Wayne ever showed up. And I’ll be back.” Sometime. A touch to the ceramic mug showed me Grandpa’s coffee was pretty cold. “Here, let me microwave that for you before I go.”
He touched my wrist to stop me. “Nah. Third cup. I don’t need more caffeine.
” The way he levered himself out of the chair, one hand pressed to the tabletop, marked how stiff he was getting.
Seemed like he was ageing at warp speed, but that was probably me not paying attention.
“Here, boy.” He guided me into a hug. I went willingly, remembering how he’d been my refuge through so many years, even when I was fighting to resist.
“Love you, Grandpa,” I murmured, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. “Me not getting along with Uncle Wayne has nothing to do with you.”
“I wish that was true.” He squeezed me, then stepped back.
“But I feel like I have to give him one more chance. I told him he needs to get help with his addiction and look for a job and help around the house. I told him he has to treat you right, too. I know he wasn’t always kind, when you were a teenager.
I told him if I hear him taking shots at you, even as a joke, he’s gone.
” He frowned at me. “But you need to do the same. That whole time in the kitchen, that was you taking shots at him. The licence, the bus, the cop— you were goading him.”
I was testing him. I gritted my teeth against the ache of having Grandpa take his side against mine. But all I said was, “I’ll try.”
“That’s my boy.”
I couldn’t help adding, “Are you really going to let Uncle Wayne work with Koda?”
Grandpa looked away. “Maybe you can talk to Koda. Let them know that Wayne doesn’t always think before he speaks.
Tell them— and Lily too— that if Wayne says anything worse than bad taste, if he’s bullying Koda, or bothering Lily, they should tell me.
They’re both essential to Nina’s and important to me.
I’ll keep Wayne out of the store if they ask me to. ”
“Okay.” I wasn’t sure they’d feel confident telling the store owner to keep his son away, but I’d try to make it so. I scooped up my bags. “I’ll be just next door, right? If you need me for anything, anything, text or call and I’ll be right over.”
“I will.”
Zeke let me in at his place. Jos was nowhere in sight. Zeke said the kid was up in his room, doing comic book research. He helped me lug my suit-bags up to the spare room, and closed the door behind us as we stepped inside, flipping the lock.
I took the bag hooks off his fingers and moved them to the closet rod. “Why the locked door?”
“You look like you could use a hug.”
Slamming the duffel into the closet wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped. I’d unpack later. “My uncle’s a smarmy son of a bitch, and Grandpa keeps giving him one last chance!”
Zeke spread his arms as I closed the closet door.
Well fuck, I wasn’t turning that down, even if it wasn’t what fuck-buddies did.
I grabbed him and leaned in, letting the warmth of his arms around me soak into my bones.
He squeezed me tight, then let go. “I’m glad you came here.
You’re away from your uncle, and Jos gets more people in his life, and isn’t alone at night. Win-big win.”
“Until I head out on my road trip, but yeah.” I looked at his green eyes and that brown hair growing in weird, and the scar on his chin, and his strong arms in that sweatshirt.
Something hooked deep in my chest, dragging me toward him.
I kissed him and after an instant of surprise, he kissed me back.
“Pity we have an awake preteen around,” he murmured when we separated.
I’d have pointed out we could be quiet, but I’d promised Grandpa I’d go to the store. Reluctantly, I backed away. “Yeah, I need to work. Raincheck?”
“For sure. I’m here all night.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I’d put on jeans and my “Nina’s” polo shirt when I changed, so I was good to go.
Still, I had to force myself to reach past Zeke and unlock the door.
The taste of him lingered on my lips. He grinned at me and ducked out, heading down the hall toward Jos’s room, leaving me to make my way out to my car and drive away.
The trip to Nina’s was short. I parked a block away, to leave the closer spots for customers, and headed inside. The tinkle of the bell and the smell of polished old wood and bread and cardboard soothed me in its familiarity.
Lily stood at the register, ringing up a woman’s purchases while Koda packed them in a canvas bag for her. When the customer had paid, Koda jogged to hold the door for her, then came back my way.
“Callum. What brings you here on a Sunday afternoon? Don’t you have pucks to stop?”
“Nope. Day off. And I was pining for the chance to tidy shelves and unpack cartons, so here I am.”
“Welcome to the madhouse.” They waved around the store, where one elderly man carried a basket up and down the aisles.
“Slow day?” I didn’t like the sound of that.
“Nah,” they told me. “You hit a lull. So what’s new?”
I went to stand by Lily and beckoned Koda over to us.
“Well, that’s not ominous or anything.” They leaned a hip against the counter. “Spill the tea.”
Turning to Lily, who’d been with Grandpa for ten years, I said, “My uncle Wayne is back.”
“Well, fuck.”
Koda boggled their eyes at her. “What? You never swear.”
“I do about Wayne.” She sighed. “Is he going to work in the store again?”
“What’s wrong with Wayne?” Koda asked.
Lily tugged at the back of her blond hair, rotating her neck as if she was stiff. “Last time, he ducked out when he was supposed to be working, arrived late for shifts, was generally a lazy bastard.”
I said, “And don’t forget, stole from the till.”
“You said it, not me. Nothing proven.”
“But we both know it’s true.”
Koda asked, “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” I murmured, lowering my voice as the elderly man approached.
Lily told me, “Take Koda in back and get them up to speed, if they’re going to work around Wayne. I’ll check this guy out.”
I led the way through the swinging door into the stockroom behind the store. Koda followed, hitching up to sit on the sorting counter so our eyes were level. “I take it this Wayne guy is the family black sheep?”
“You could say that. He just got out on parole for theft, fraud, and other shit.”
“Okay, really black sheep.”
“He’s never been violent.” I hoped that if I repeated that fact enough, it’d remain true. “He’s harder than he used to be, though, and that was bad enough.”
“How long was he in for?”
“Sentenced to nine years, out in five.”
“Five years is a long time to spend inside.” For a moment, their eyes unfocused, as if looking at something I couldn’t see. Then they shook their head. “You said he stole money.”
“Gambling addict. With the new cash register, he shouldn’t have a code to get into the money. But don’t let him watch you entering yours. My drawer came up short more than once.”
“I get the picture. Damn. It takes some kind of lowlife to steal from your grandfather.”
“Right? And Grandpa keeps letting him back and thinking the best of him. Fuck!” I smacked a short punch at a stack of cartons beside me. The cardboard dented satisfyingly but my knuckles stung.
“Don’t break the hand,” Koda said without getting off the counter. I liked that they didn’t fuss. “How is he with customers?”
“Not bad, actually, from what I remember. I guess a con man learns how to pretend to like people.”
“That’s something, anyhow.”
“Not much, when money’s tight and he’s living in Grandpa’s house. I don’t trust him an inch.”
When I kicked at the tower of boxes, Koda drawled, “You break it, you pick it all up, and that one’s full of cereal. Want to spend an hour with a broom?”
“I know. Fuck.” Even Lily didn’t have a better word for this.
“Look, we’ll manage, right? Lily knows him, obviously. He’s not going to charm her or get around her. You’ve warned me, and I have a good bullshit meter, and experience with con men. I won’t fall for him.”
“He’ll be mean,” I warned. “When you’re alone, when there’s no witnesses, he’ll find your sore spots and dig at them.”
“Thanks for telling me. I’m not a fainting flower, though. I can push back if he pushes me.”
The echo of a young kid down inside me resented the “fainting flower” remark.
I was sure Koda wasn’t even thinking about me when they said it, and they’d no doubt faced just as bad, maybe worse, in their life and didn’t mean it as an insult.
But the idea that I let Uncle Wayne bother me because I was too sensitive stung.
Especially from one of the few people who knew I was gay.
“I’m glad you’re tough.”
My tone must’ve gotten through, if not the reason why, because Koda pushed off the bench and faced me. “I talk a good game. I do appreciate the heads-up. And maybe you can give me some insider info if I need it, to get Wayne off my back.”
The reminder that I wasn’t a kid anymore, that I could find ammunition against Wayne, like when he drove without a licence, helped. “I’ll do that. And with luck, he won’t be around long.”
Koda pulled a pendant out of their shirt and dangled it in front of me. “I’ll put the lucky clover to work.”
I wasn’t convinced a sprig of parsley trapped in melted plastic was on our side, but I wasn’t fussy. I’d take all the help we could get.