41. Chapter 41
Chapter forty-one
Chuck
It felt a bit ridiculous that they all had to be blindfolded on the way to the house. As if Chuck and his sons didn’t know what their own street looked like. Hell, they all pretty much knew what the house looked like, so the blindfolds were really only hiding the final touches when they got there.
Chuck was going in about a thousand different directions, though, so he wasn’t going to fight over something that ridiculous. If it made the show better, he was down. He’d barely managed to sleep after his talk with Robinson, and ended up on the phone with Emily and Gen to make sure things were in order. Then he’d woken up early to talk with Ryan. They’d covered almost everything the night before, but Ryan ended up mostly crying and hugging Chuck, and they agreed on a plan moving forward. Including Ryan being grounded from video games for the next month, and only using his computer and his phone for school or in actual emergencies. After a month, they could revisit that, and Chuck would be locking the liquor cabinet.
Plus, Chuck made it as well-known as he could that, if Ryan felt like he wanted to go drink, he would come and tell Chuck. It would be a no judgment zone. Chuck didn’t think Ryan was, like, addicted, but he still needed to keep that line of communication open.
But nothing would start until after the party. They were getting their house back…and hopefully, it would really be a home by the end of the night. A teenager sneaking booze sometimes wasn’t the end of the world, and didn’t need to ruin the experience. Or make it to national TV.
“All right, we’re pulling into the driveway.” Eliza was in the front passenger seat of the SUV, but her voice was still hard to hear over the crunching of tires on gravel.
Chuck had taken the opportunity to talk to her as well, after he was squared away with Ryan. As soon as he mentioned that he was hosting people that night, she jumped on the idea, called the rest of the crew, and promised they would only stay long enough to catch some sentimental shots. Then they’d pack up and leave him be.
And then he’d gotten hold of Gen and Emily one final time to see if they could give him an idea how many people were actually going to be there. He knew they used to have a big social circle, but he had no idea how many could come at the last minute, and how many were even interested after Andrew died.
He was not expecting Emily to tell him twenty-five or thirty, and that was the source of the current twist in his belly. Could the house reasonably fit that many people? With the backyard, probably, but that was so many. Part of him loved the idea, but that same voice that had kept him locked up in the house for so long insisted it was too much, that there was no reason to have so many people, that it wouldn’t matter anyway since Andrew wasn’t around. What was the point?
He couldn’t see, but he reached to his left until he found Ryan’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “You good kiddo?”
“Yeah.” Ryan squeezed back. “You?”
“Super.” If he pretended hard enough, it might just come true. Which he hoped would happen, since the car stopped and the engine turned off. Chuck took a deep breath, then put on his best dad voice. “All right boys, remember that we’re behaving? That we’re all on camera and I’ll be shipping you all off to work in the canning factory if you don’t listen to the crew?”
They all gave some form of assent. Then the door opened and a hand guided Chuck out. He was led to stand somewhere and all he did was breathe. The gravel shifted slightly beneath his feet and the air smelled and tasted of pine and honey and damp earth. That was sure as heck different than he was used to.
It took about three minutes for them to finish whatever it was they were doing, getting them in position and probably setting up lights and cameras. He heard some shuffling, felt people around him, including someone standing right next to him that he assumed had to be one of the boys, in line to react along with him. Some muttering, some indistinct raised voices in the distance, and then finally a familiar voice.
Mason approached, his footsteps crunching in the gravel as he spoke. “I know it might seem like theatrics, but you might surprised just how much we managed to do since the last time you saw the place.” His footsteps stopped, but he kept up his narration. “We really put everything into this place to try and get it ready for you and your guests tonight, so I hope it lives up to your expectations. You ready?”
Chuck nodded, and the boys gave a general noise of approval.
Apparently that wasn’t good enough, since Mason tried again. “Come on, are you ready or not?”
Chuck gave in, and even though it was mostly to appease production and get out of the blindfold a little faster, it did feel more than a bit freeing to shout and whoop with his boys, unfettered.
“All right, go ahead and take the blindfolds off.”
Chuck did so happily, but it took a bit for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, even if it was dappled and filtered through the trees. He saw green, and a gray and maroon blob that he recognized as his house. With a few blinks, he saw that they actually repainted the house, a pale gray with dark red trim, which matched the new door and the shutters. Those weren’t there last time I saw this . The driveway was the same, covered in bright white pea gravel. The front yard was also mostly the same, since there was no way that Ozzy could have added in a bunch of new plants or something in the last couple days. That didn’t make it any less lovely. Two garden beds were full of flowers, one lining the porch and the other forming a perimeter around the yard. It was bright and colorful and lovely.
What did catch his eye was the porch setup itself. The wood had already been refinished, but there was a bench next to the front door, a small table, and two chairs tucked into the corner, all in a pale wood of some kind. A metal sign hung above the address: THE WENTWORTHS. That warmed his heart just a little, as did the hanging, three-tiered planter pot full of petunias. It wasn’t much in the grand scheme, but those little touches felt like they brought things together as a whole…almost a home.
That’s the vibe . It didn’t look, at least so far, like a place that was put together for the purpose of attracting a buyer. It looked like someone actually lived there, but it hadn’t yet coalesced into them living there. Still, it was a step in the right direction.
After about a minute, Chuck realized he was smiling way too wide, but he didn’t stop himself. Mason, thankfully, kept up a good clip. “You ready to see inside? Then we’ll check out the back yard where Ozzy really did his magic.”
Colby and Nick both stepped out immediately. Ryan still seemed withdrawn and glanced over at Chuck nervously. Chuck jerked his head toward the door. “Go. Be free, child.” He smiled, shoulders dropping a touch, and followed behind his brothers. Chuck let them go ahead and nodded at Mason. “Thanks. For everything.”
“Well, don’t thank us yet. You might hate it.”
“Doubtful.” He clapped Mason on the shoulder a couple times, then followed behind his sons. In spite of the fact that he’d seen most of the renovation, Chuck’s belly still bubbled just a touch as he approached the front door, now ajar. This was it. This was his chance to move forward, to bring his family forward, and to have a home again.
He stepped over the threshold and looked around as the boys were spreading through the space. They absolutely had done a number on this place, in the best possible way. More than Chuck ever would have thought possible in just the two days he’d been at the hotel. The sapphire on the walls now looked as if it truly belonged, and the new couch with its dark wood accents and ivory upholstery served as a focal point for the entire space. The new kitchen was moody, but still warm thanks to the Edison bulbs hanging up above, and the color difference served to properly cordon off the two spaces from each other.
There were three armchairs in the living room now. Two matching ones with cream-colored upholstery and dark metal legs…and Andrew’s recliner. Exactly where it had been before, as if he could simply walk in at any moment and take his normal seat all over again.
That was when Chuck felt himself get misty-eyed…and more than misty-eyed. The room got a little blurry, but not because he was sad about Andrew.
Andrew could still be a part of this, even though this was a real change. They were going to move on, but that didn’t mean leaving him behind. Andrew was still a part of the family, a part of their life.
A part of this new home.