4. Chapter 4
Chapter four
Chuck
Abandoning several of the cameras and the lighting folks made things feel…not comfortable, per se, but a lot less overwhelming than it had been in the living room. Plus, stupid as it was, not having to focus on Andrew’s empty chair made things a lot less stressful.
They got mics hooked up for the boys, then started the tour, looking at everything, but also answering questions. Bunny wanted to know how much use they intended to get out of the kitchen—not much, since Chuck wasn’t particularly a whiz in the kitchen. Evander was a nearly constant stream of little questions, from the wall color to the source of the paintings in the hallway to the age of the flooring.
Nick and Colby both were chatterboxes, so they jumped in with their insights. And a lot of trying to show off stuff they liked about the house. Chuck did his best not to cringe at first, but no one seemed to mind them jumping into the conversation. Jake, especially, was all ears with them.
“The bathroom situation isn’t the best here.” Chuck knew it, and so did the boys. They’d turned the upstairs bathroom into a storage room before Andrew even died, and no one had ever bothered to clean it back out again. “I’m not even sure what all still works in there, we haven’t used it in so long.”
“It makes a weird noise, too.” Ryan, the oldest, pointed to his bedroom door. “My headboard’s right against the wall, and about midnight every night, it, like, groans or something.”
Chuck put his hands on his hips. “And you never told me about that?”
Ryan shrugged. “No offense, Dad. You’re not, like, handy.”
Chuck could have feigned annoyance, but it was well-established. Andrew had been the guy doing the home repairs and DIY stuff. So Chuck let his hands drop. “Touche. Still could have told me and I could have brought somebody out.”
“You did.” A new voice. Robinson moved a little closer and Chuck’s eyes were drawn straight to him. Because he’s talking, not because I like the way his arms look. Although he had to admit, whatever work he did as a plumber, Robinson had some damn fine definition on his arms in spite of his slimmer frame.
Chuck nodded and smiled, forcing himself past that awkward clot of feelings. “I guess I did.”
“I’ll be able to figure it out. Fixing toilets is one of my primary jobs.” He winked at Ryan over Chuck’s shoulder. “Glamorous work, I know. I’m sure I’ve convinced you to become a plumber’s apprentice.”
“The money’s good, right?”
Chuck actually smiled at that. Ryan was nothing if not pragmatic when it came to finances. Colby and Nick were younger, but even at their age, he’d been pretty frugal and responsible. Chuck always assumed it was his time in foster care, not having any real stability, but it wasn’t like Ryan talked very much about the years he was in there.
“It could be worse,” said Robinson. “You’re welcome to shadow me if you want to be elbow deep in shi—” His eyes darted toward Chuck. “Poop.”
And that made Chuck flat-out laugh. “He is coming up on seventeen, and we never watched our language. According to Andrew, Colby’s first word was fuck.”
Robinson nodded. “Still, I could have made sure before I started running my potty mouth. Pun intended.” He shrugged. “Offer stands, Ryan. I’m happy to have you watch and learn if you want.”
He flashed a thumbs up to Robinson, and they moved on. Well, they physically moved on, but Jake picked up the conversation. “So, tell me if I step over a line here, but are the two younger boys…”
No one was ever sure how to bring it up, so Chuck was used to it, but that didn’t stop the pang of grief. This was a topic that skirted close to Andrew. Dealing with that was part of getting the house redone. “From Andrew’s first marriage.” He wasn’t going to go into details about Kathy in front of her kids, even though they had to be aware that she wanted nothing to do with them. She hadn’t seen them since Andrew came out and finished up the divorce proceedings. Ten years ago. Chuck was pretty sure that Colby didn’t even remember her. But it was just too gauche to air that dirty laundry around them. “But we raised them basically forever. Fostered Ryan when he was seven, then worked through adopting him.” Chuck’s chest tightened and he had to force himself not to get teary-eyed.
Luckily, they dropped that, but even as they kept on going down the upstairs hallway, moving in and out of the boys’ rooms along the way, Ryan placed a hand on Chuck’s shoulder. He shouldn’t have had to take on any emotional weight, but he took it anyway. Ever since Andrew had died. Chuck grabbed his hand and squeezed. Wouldn’t have made it through this in one piece without that kid .
They went into the master suite and Chuck, once again, wanted to melt into the floor. “I’m sorry about the mess.” He’d finally gotten up the gumption one day to box up all of Andrew’s stuff. Those boxes were still stacked up in front of the closet, covered in a fine layer of dust since he hadn’t been able to make himself take them to the thrift shops yet.
“Looks better than mine.” Bunny shimmied between the bed and the pile of boxes. “Half the time, I can’t even walk. My hubby isn’t known for his impeccable cleanliness.”
“Bones look good.” Evander slung an arm over Jake’s shoulders. “Although we’ll take a proper look at it here soon. Need to figure out what the plan is for the furniture and everything.”
Chuck nodded. “I was emailing with Ms. Kaplan. We kind of need to stay living here, which I know is awkward. If we can work that out—”
“Please don’t be so formal.” Eliza shimmied toward the front, hands clasped in front of her. “Just call me Eliza. And yes, we’re going to do the very most we can to keep you in the house while we do the work.” She spread her hands out as she turned toward the crew. “I was going to bring that up after the walkthrough, but now’s as good a chance as any.”
“Back to the old days, then.” Mason clapped his hands and smiled. “We weren’t exactly rolling in enough dough to send people to a hotel when we were just a VideoHead channel run by some gay boys.”
“And their fabulous token straight friend.” Bunny was looking at the windowsill, but she raised her voice to be heard clearly all the same. “For once, won’t somebody please think of the straights? We have it so hard.”
“How could we be so callous,” said Aras.
Mason sighed. “Point is, we’re good to go. Not our first rodeo working around someone’s life.”
Eliza blew out a long breath. “Good. That’s what I was hoping to hear.” She turned to Chuck. “We’ll still get you set up with a hotel for the last couple days. For the big reveal, final touches, and to give you and the boys a change of scenery.”
Chuck nodded, trying not to give in to panic. “I’m looking forward to it.” He tried to avoid outright lying, but sometimes it was unavoidable. He was not looking forward to it at all. “And I am sorry about the whole thing. Uprooting the boys like that for so long just isn’t something I’m ready to do.”
“As long as you don’t mind me grumbling and bitching about it.” Aras was squatting down, probing some kind of device into a power outlet, but he apparently was still listening. “Doesn’t mean I don’t like you all, I’m just annoying.”
“He’s right.” Ozzy cracked his neck so hard and so loud, it actually made Colby jump back a little. Ozzy grinned at that. “Sorry, kid. When you get to be my age, your joints are going to sound like that too. But yeah. Aras is a complainer.”
“Takes one to know one.” Aras stood up straight. “Remind me who threw a hissy fit over having tumbleweeds in a yard.” He slapped his hands onto both cheeks. “The horror. Who would have thought tumbleweeds would be outside?”
Ozzy rolled his eyes, but said nothing more on it. So Chuck took the chance to get back on topic. “I really do apologize. We’ll pitch in wherever we can, but it just doesn’t really work for us all to pack up for this.”
“It’s really fine.” Robinson’s quiet voice still somehow cut through. “Leave the logistics to us. You just point at the walls that need painted.”
Chuck wanted to keep apologizing. Instead, he just nodded. “I’ll do my best to point at the right walls.”