Chapter 7
Curtis
After three nights of making myself scarce until I knew Teddy was asleep, I was done hiding out in the bathroom. Using long-ass showers as an excuse only went so far. The woman probably thought I had some kind of issue with shitting.
She was already in bed, her back to the headboard and her knees pulled up under the comforter, when I walked into the room.
“Oh,” she said, straightening. “Hey.”
“You cool if I turn this off?” I asked, walking toward the light switch.
Apparently, she’d had the same idea as I did because every other time I’d come out after my shower, she’d been curled up on her side in the dark.
“Yeah, go ahead,” she replied with a nod. “I was just going through my mental list.”
“Your mental list?”
“You know, the list of things in your head that you know you have to get done?” She watched me move back toward the bed, trying and failing to act unconcerned. “I’ve gotten most of it done. I called the kids’ school and got their stuff transferred—”
“Did you know Kara is a counselor at the high school?” I asked, sliding into bed. “She can help with any of Jesse’s shit.”
“Yeah, she told me yesterday.”
Yesterday, my brother and his girls had ambushed us at dinner time. The house had been loud as fuck while the little kids ran around. Thankfully, Jesse seemed more than comfortable hanging with the adults, because with Dylan holing himself up in his room, they’d had no one their age around.
“Oh, good.”
“The fridge is full,” Teddy continued. “I called and quit my job. All that shit. Now I just need to find a new one and figure out some furniture for the kids so they can stop sleeping on the damn floor.”
“My uncle, Leo, said they’ve got a twin mattress they don’t need.” I’d forgotten all about it until she said something. “They had a bunk bed in one of their rooms that they’re not usin’ anymore, so I think the mattress is pretty new.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. Should be a good one too. Their place is pretty nice.”
“Damn. That’s awesome.”
“He said they’ll bring it on Saturday. We can put it in the back of Dyl’s truck.”
“Is he actually going on Saturday?” she asked doubtfully.
I sighed as I lifted up onto my elbow. “I’m not givin’ him a choice.”
“Good luck with that.”
“He knows he gets to fly out to see Isla in six weeks. We agreed to that shit. He can stay with his mom or one of his buds.”
“Six weeks is an eternity when you’re seventeen.”
“Gonna be a lot longer than six weeks if he doesn’t pull his head out and stop poutin’.”
“Fair enough.”
“I get it,” I said with a huff. “He’s bummed. But he couldn’t have seriously thought that their little plan was gonna work out. He’s an idiot, but he’s not stupid.”
“Maybe he did think it would work,” she said sympathetically. “You never think shit through at that age. It’s all hormones and epic love stories.”
I scoffed. “Wasn’t for me. I was too busy makin’ my way through every girl in the senior class.”
“Ew.”
“Me and Isla’s parents explained exactly why their little plan was doomed from the start,” I told her.
She hadn’t asked about what happened while they were out shopping, which I’d been a little surprised about, but if I was honest, we hadn’t had the time.
I’d gone back to work, and in the evenings we were always with the kids.
“Isla seemed to take it in, but Dylan? Who knows? They’re seventeen and eighteen years old.
Too young to be livin’ together and playin’ house—especially when it’s my fuckin’ house. ”
“Agreed.”
“If she were in a situation, hell, if any of Dyl’s friends needed a place to stay, my door is open.
But she didn’t. This wasn’t that. Her parents are solid.
Made a fucked up impression when they met you, but I’ve known ’em for years.
Isla’s the youngest and has three older brothers.
She’s their baby, and they treat her that way. ”
“Three older brothers?” Teddy asked with a hum as she settled into the bed, curling onto her side. “Dylan got off easy.”
“Dylan’s very fuckin’ lucky her brothers didn’t show,” I confirmed. “Would’ve had a harder time layin’ ’em out if there were three of them.”
“What? You laid him out?”
“Greg can take a punch, so he didn’t go down.” I shook my head. “But I have a feelin’ he wasn’t chewin’ with that side of his jaw for a few days.”
“Oh, shit.”
“He knew he deserved it,” I muttered. “Didn’t even swing back.”
“When the hell did that happen?”
“When they were leavin’, and Dyl and Isla were sayin’ their long-ass goodbye.”
Teddy lifted her hand to her forehead, gently rubbing the spot at her hairline where the bruise had been.
“He’s lucky it wasn’t worse,” I muttered, watching her. “Ten years ago, he would’ve been brought out on a fuckin’ stretcher. Can’t believe he did that shit.”
“I wasn’t really surprised,” she replied ruefully. “By the way he was knocking, he was furious before Dylan even opened the door.”
“With good reason. Thankfully, that’s over,” I said, dropping down to the mattress.
Bunching up my pillow, I stuffed it between my bent arm and my head.
“Just hopin’ that Dylan doesn’t get any other bright ideas when he goes back to see her.
At least I know Greg won’t let Dyl stay there.
He won’t want to live with his mother, so I’m betting he’ll get his ass on the plane when it’s time to come back home. ”
“His mom still lives in Montana?” Teddy asked. “I was wondering. You guys don’t really mention her.”
“Kaylee is a pain in my ass,” I explained. “Or was. She’s married now, and Dyl can’t stand the guy. He moved in with me when they got married.”
“Ouch.”
“I felt for her at first,” I replied softly.
“But it’s hard to feel too bad for her. I’d never say this shit to Dylan, but Kaylee started over, and that was that.
They were together a year before they moved in together and tied the knot, and she knew Dyl didn’t get along with her man pretty early into that.
Instead of tryin’ to make shit better, she ignored it.
By the wedding, Dyl was with me most of the time just to get away from the asshole, and she didn’t put up any kind of fight when he moved in with me full time.
Think it was easier for her without the two of them buttin’ heads. ”
Teddy made a sound of disgust in her throat.
“Don’t agree with kids makin’ the decisions,” I clarified.
“But that shit was toxic and constant. She knew long before things got serious that the guy was a prick to my kid, and she didn’t do anythin’ about it because she was determined to lock him down anyway.
They’ve got a couple of little kids now. ”
“Poor Dylan.”
“No shit. He loves his mom, and I know he misses her.” I shook my head. “Kaylee didn’t say a word when I told her we were movin’ to Oregon. Just said we’d work out a time for Dylan to go back for a visit.”
“I can’t imagine being away from my kids,” Teddy said softly. “I don’t think we’ve been apart more than a day or two since I got Jesse when they were a year old.”
My head jerked back in surprise, and Teddy must’ve clocked it because she smiled.
“What? Did you think I had them when I was seventeen?”
“Didn’t do the math,” I admitted.
“Jesse’s biological parents are my brother, Royce, and a woman named Larissa.
” She pulled the blankets up to her chin, tucking a fold under her cheek.
“Liss wasn’t cut out to be a mom. She was young, she was immature, and I’ve never really understood why she went through with the pregnancy, except I know she loved my brother like crazy.
When my brother went down the first time, she couldn’t cope.
She was leaving Jess with me for days at a time, sometimes weeks.
It came to the point that she was fucking with Jesse’s head, you know?
Coming in and out like that. She agreed to give me custody, and when Jess was three, I adopted them and made it official.
Liss was there at the hearing. She was relieved, I think.
About a year after that, she took off for good. ”
“Fuck. You were young.”
“My pop and I saw the writing on the wall. He was already sick, so he couldn’t do shit. But we knew Jess would end up in the system if I didn’t step in. Things haven’t always been easy, but it’s never been a hardship. I’ve loved them since the day they were born.”
“What’s Royce in for?”
“Where should I start?” Teddy replied with a huff. “Assault. Possession with intent to sell. Felony theft. His court-appointed attorney did his best, but the guy was fresh out of law school and suddenly playing with the big boys. My brother didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”
“Sucks.”
“It is what it is.” She shrugged. “He was being stupid and fucked himself. He’d be the first one to tell you that. He was out for a while after I adopted Jess, but ended up right back in there less than two years later.”
“That’s rough.”
“I think he was rudderless,” Teddy murmured. “We lost Mom, and then we lost our little brother, and it all just fucked up Royce really bad. Pop wasn’t equipped to deal with it, couldn’t control him, and Royce went off the rails. It happens.”
“Didn’t happen to you,” I pointed out.
“Of course not,” she replied ruefully. “Who would take care of everyone else if I lost my shit?”
“Fair enough.”
“Though, to be fair, I wasn’t exactly the poster child for smart decisions,” she said, her voice lowering. “I hooked up with Mike.”
I grimaced but didn’t reply. I’d done plenty of shit I wasn’t proud of or regretted in hindsight.
“I got Finn out of that, though,” she said with a small smile. “Worth it in the end.”
“And now you’re out from under that shit.”
“Hopefully,” she said with a yawn. “I haven’t turned my phone on since I got here. I’ve been using Jesse’s to make calls.”
“Seriously?”
“I know it’s stupid. I’ll turn it on Monday when I start applying for jobs and deal with it then.”
“Not a good strategy.”