6. Chapter 6
Chapter six
Chuck
Chuck stood in the upstairs bathroom, doing his best not to unload all his frustrations on the camera crew surrounding him. The longer he looked at the patch of mildew, standing water, and disintegrated cardboard in the bathtub, the harder it was to just be on camera. He didn’t need this caught on camera, but apparently he wouldn’t have ever found out if they weren’t here. The patch was a couple feet across, and the faucet was dripping steadily.
Chuck scrubbed his hand over his forehead and over his scalp. “How long do you think it’s been dripping?”
Robinson crouched down low to look at it. “Hard to say. Better bet would be to check on the boxes and see how much damage there is.”
“A lot.” Chuck shook his head. “A lot of those boxes had mildew.”
“Yeah. They did.” With a groan, Robinson stood back up straight. “Doesn’t mean it’s been that long. Need to look for the warped cardboard. The rest could have just leached up the stack of boxes and let the mildew grow.” He wiped his hands off on his pants, although Chuck wasn’t sure he’d gotten anything on them in the first place, then pointed out the door. “I’m going to go get some tools and break into this wall, here. And find out where your shutoff valve is. Probably tell the boys not to use any water until I can get this diagnosed and at least patched over. Couple hours at most.”
“Well, they’re teenage boys, so no handwashing to worry about, and water is the devil. They can pee in the backyard if they need to.” Chuck was basically just running his mouth to have something to do. “And I can show you the shut-off valve. It’s not easy to get to.”
“I’m not afraid of a little hard work. Crawl space?”
“Just a lot of undergrowth you have to muck through.”
“Sounds like an adventure.”
They headed downstairs and, after Chuck made sure the boys knew not to turn on the water, he headed out the front door. Robinson was bent over, rummaging around the back of a panel van. Which really shouldn’t have been worth noting. It wasn’t worth noting, other than the fact that Chuck’s eyes drifted straight down to his ass. Robinson was pretty skinny overall, and Chuck hadn’t noticed his ass at all until he was bent over and stretching his arms around to find stuff and lifting up the hem of his shirt. There was actual plumber’s crack going on, and for some stupid reason, Chuck was staring at that little peek of ass. At least it distracted me from the bullshit.
Then Robinson turned around and hiked up his jeans, and Chuck panicked like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, even though there was no way Robinson would have known Chuck was checking him out.
And then Chuck’s stomach tensed when he realized he was checking Robinson out. He wasn’t supposed to check anyone out. Plumber or TV host, straight or gay, he’d only lost his husband a year ago. It wasn’t even like Robinson looked anything like Andrew. He was shorter and had blond hair, not black, and had a completely different demeanor. At least if they were similar in some way, there would have been some justification. Missing Andrew, something like that.
“You good?”
Somehow Robinson had closed the distance without Chuck even noticing, and his brows knitted together as he looked at Chuck. That only made the guilt all the more palpable, so Chuck forced a smile. “Yeah. Just tired.”
“Hey, if you’re worried about the plumbing, don’t be. That’s why I’m here.”
He clapped a hand on Chuck’s shoulder, which felt like such a betrayal to everyone. What would the boys think if they saw Chuck with Robinson…
I’m being stupid . Feeling bad for checking someone out made perfect sense, but if he was worrying about the boys seeing Robinson touch his shoulder, he was being irrational.
Chuck shook his head. “I trust you. Just haven’t really had anyone over since Andrew…and now there’s a lot of people over. I may not be handling it super well.”
Robinson nodded. “We’ll make it as painless as possible. And you’re free to tell us to fuck off any time you need some privacy. Lot of stuff we can do off-site.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re just lying to me now.”
Robinson shrugged. “There’s a lot of stuff some of us can do off-site. Jake. Some stuff that Ozzy and Mason and can do off-site. You are kind of stuck with the rest of us in your space. Sorry.”
A new wave of guilt, with a different flavor, hit Chuck. “Don’t apologize. I’m a big boy and I can cope.” He pointed around to the back yard. “Shut-off valve is there, buried in all the bushes and crap. I don’t know if you want someone to come cut them away or anything.”
“We’ll figure out what you want your back yard to look like a little bit later. Leave everything as it is for now, otherwise Ozzy’ll mount my head on a pike.” Robinson took a couple steps, then turned back around, eyebrow raised. “Didn’t you tell your sons to pee in the back yard? Where we’re going to be working?”
Chuck cringed. “Right. I’ll…body block so you don’t have to see anything if it comes to that?”
“I appreciate it. More worried for their shame than me.” Robinson headed for the gate to the back yard. “Not like I don’t know how all the plumbing works, but you know how it is at that age. Don’t want to make them any more uncomfortable in their own home than they already are.”
As Robinson picked up the pace, Chuck found himself smiling. Actually smiling, not trying to cover, since Robinson wasn’t even watching him. He caught that wave of guilt again, knowing part of the reason he was pleased was…well, Robinson was a cute twink. It wasn’t right. Too soon after Andrew’s death.
It still felt nice to spend time with a guy who seemed to give a crap about the boys, and who wasn’t bad to look at.
“Ah, you’re going to want to get on that body blocking!” Robinson had stopped at the fence and was shouting over his shoulder. “Just saw Colby walk out and find himself a corner. Or something close to a corner.” Robinson turned all the way around and shrugged. “It’s not really a corner. Might want to teach him how to find a more private place to pee because if I open that gate, he’s totally just hanging out.”
Chuck rolled his eyes and closed the distance. “That’ll be a fun conversation. Teaching my thirteen-year-old modesty.” He didn’t enter the back yard, just shouted over the top of the fence. “Colby! You’ve got an audience!” He caught a head of black hair shuffling and moving around the far edge of the house.
Chuck sighed at Robinson. “Should be all clear.”
“Appreciate it.” Only then did Robinson push the gate open. “Now show me this shut-off valve so we can get this train moving.” Colby ran to the back door and Robinson stopped to look at Chuck again. “Before I actually do walk out here and embarrass someone.”