8. Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Chuck
“I can’t believe it.” Chuck could, actually, but it felt a lot worse to admit that something they’d done had fucked up the house. “The real estate agent recommended we use that plumber to get the upstairs bathroom in order.” Andrew had reservations about it, wanted to do the research, but they both liked Marnie. She’d gotten them a great deal on the place and had been totally fine working with a couple of married men—not a given in North Carolina, no matter how liberal Chapel Hill was. They’d had to drop two previous agents who couldn’t hold their homophobic comments to themselves. Should have listened to him. He always knew best .
‘That’s…actually better news than I was afraid of.” Robinson blew out a long breath, looking up at the ceiling. His cheeks were flushed and the knuckles of his left hand were white from ratchet-gripping the table so damn hard. “Still going to be a pain in the ass, and you might honestly be better off taking the offer to get a hotel room for a couple nights. The water’s going to be off until I can examine and sign off on the rest of the pipes.” He turned his gaze back to chuck, and even through the mask of stress, a smile peeked through. “I don’t think you want three teenage boys skipping showers for too long.”
“Got a hose in the backyard.” Then he stopped himself. “We don’t, do we?”
Robinson shook his head. “I already sent someone up to pull all the fittings apart in the bathroom, and we’ll start a leak check.”
Danni, the main plumber who worked with their contractor, nodded. “We’ve got two borescopes, and Brad is making some calls to see if anyone else can spare another one for a bit.” She scraped her fingers back through her shaggy brown curls. “More than three and we probably see diminishing returns, but I figure three should still be manageable. We’ll find anywhere else there might be corrosion and then make a plan from there.”
“We’ll stay.” Chuck never even really considered the hotel option. This was his house. The boys’ house. Andrew’s house. He barely wanted to leave it for work , so he certainly wasn’t moving into a hotel unless it was an absolute necessity. “If it looks like this is going to be a way long time without water, I guess we’ll have to reconsider, but if it’s just a couple days, we’ll survive.”
Robinson’s brows knitted together. “The show’ll cover it.”
“It’s not about the money. I just would rather stay.”
Robinson looked like he was going to say something else—probably another very reasonable argument—but then he nodded. “Well, if you’re going to stay, I think Mason would probably like to get going on some other stuff while we work out the baseline of the house.”
“Right. Right.” Mason didn’t sound like he was in on this plan, but he recovered quickly, pulling a laptop out of his bag. He placed it down in front of him and started typing while he talked. “We have a little program we like to use to help narrow down how you want the house to look.” He hit one key with extra flourish, then turned a full-bore smile on Chuck. “Should probably get the boys down so they can have some input. At least enough for their bedrooms.”
“They get as much input as anyone. It’s their house too.” Chuck looked over at Eliza. “Is it going to throw things off if we take a five minute break for me to gather the horde?”
“Let’s make it fifteen.” Her shoulders dropped. “I think we could all use a breather.”
Bless you . Chuck would never have suggested as much, but that was much better in his book. Mostly because the cameras swiveled away from him and the others. The crew all started to move and chatter among themselves, and Chuck pushed himself to his feet and started his finding expedition.
Or he would have if Robinson hadn’t waved for his attention. Once Chuck looked his way, he stepped closer. “Hi. Listen, I’m sorry if I was coming off pushy. I’m not trying to get you to leave your house behind. I just thought it would be easier.”
“It would be.” For the boys. Not for me . “I just…I don’t know, I don’t feel right.”
Robinson nodded. “If we ever step over any boundaries around Andrew, pipe up. We won’t always notice that kind of stuff. Mason, Jake, and Bunny are pretty good about reading people’s emotions, but the rest of us could maybe use remedial lessons.”
Chuck’s chest tightened, but he also felt himself smiling. It took a moment for his brain to catch up to what his body was doing. “I appreciate it. And, for the record, you seem pretty good at it.”
Robinson chuckled. “Well, comes with the territory I guess. When you’re in prison, you have to know when you’ve stepped too far.”
Chuck laughed…then stopped laughing when he saw no mirth in Robinson’s face. “Oh. You, uh…wow.”
“Yeah.” Robinson shuffled in place. “I kind of figured that no one told you, and before I go spending a bunch more time around your kids, I figured it was only right for you to know.” He nodded and bunched his shoulders up high. “I was dumb and young and addicted to meth. Breaking and entering charge, plus I stole some jewelry. Got off the meth in prison, clean record since then. But you deserve to make informed decisions on who your kids spend time with.”
Chuck raised an eyebrow. “I was shocked, not judging. Every other guy I met in the gay bars was on something . Including me. And Andrew.” None of them had gone to prison, as far as Chuck knew, but Robinson seemed like a perfectly reasonable guy. And surely, a company as established as Homescapes TV wouldn’t let him around minors if there was even a hint that he was dangerous.
And maybe it wasn’t scientific—almost certainly, in fact—but Chuck had to trust his gut, and his gut said that Robinson was a good guy. No sense punishing him extra on top of his prison sentence.
Robinson’s shoulders dipped back down to normal. “I’m glad I told you. Sorry for not bringing it up before I offered to let your son shadow me on the job.”
Chuck shook his head. “Seriously, it’s fine. I could tell you some stories about what it was like back then, but I may have spent a significant number of nights in a K-hole, so I’m not sure my memories are totally accurate.” He clapped Robinson on the shoulder a couple times, then headed out to gather the boys.
And somehow, in spite of the tension from the meeting, Chuck felt relaxed.