1. Left Behind #3
“Ah, fuck,” he muttered. “I told him it was a one-time thing.” He closed the text without responding. It was rare that one of his hookups tried to change their one-night stand into something real, but this was one of those rare occasions, and he was not in the mood to deal with it now.
It wasn’t like he didn’t have a valid excuse to tell the guy, either. He’d moved. He lived several hours away now, and it made no sense to continue the relationship. It was the perfect story, and better yet, it was true.
But he just couldn’t bring himself to type out the words, finalizing the reality that he was now living in.
He moved over to the window to stare out into the backyard, vaguely considering unpacking, until his aunt knocked on the bedroom door.
“Sandwiches are ready,” she said.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Jake replied. “I’m just gonna put my shi—my stuff—in the bathroom.”
“Take your time, Jakey.”
He waited until he was certain Isabel had left the hall before scrounging around for his toiletries bag. He left his room and pushed open the door at the end of the hall, revealing the rather spacious, sea-themed bathroom.
Sea. This place was all sea, all the time. Sea blue, sea air, seashells, seagulls. Why would anyone in their right mind choose to theme an entire room around it when they could walk out their front door and be met with the water right there?
Maybe some well-off older couple would like this place as their vacation home. It was charming, there was no doubt about that, though with the peeling wallpaper and the frayed edges of the lighthouse rug beneath Jake’s feet, its charm was a little stunted.
He set his bag down by the sink and made his way into the kitchen. There, on the counter, was a plate of half a dozen sandwiches. If Isabel thought he was eating all those in one go, she was greatly overestimating most humans’ appetites.
“There you are.”
Jake jumped and whirled around to see Isabel standing behind him, tucking her long tendrils of hair back behind her ears.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to scare you, sweetie. I was just in the living room tidying up. The house is such a mess; I’m sorry about that.”
“The house is fine, Aunt Isabel,” Jake told her. He grabbed a sandwich and took a bite out of it. “Thanks for lunch.”
“I hope you still like peanut better and jelly.”
Jake took another bite. “Love it,” he said, his voice muffled by the food.
“When you’re done eating, I need you to run to the store for me. I have a list of groceries I need, and since the car hasn’t been working, I have to walk there whenever I want something.”
“Just use my car,” Jake suggested, leaning back against the counter. “I don’t care.”
“That’s sweet, but you need to get the lay of the land.”
“That’s not gonna take very long.”
“And you need to get out and meet the community,” Isabel pressed on gently. “There are some wonderful people here.”
“Not wonderful enough to help you, apparently.”.
“My neighbors have helped me plenty. Beverly and Frank have their own health issues to deal with, and anyone else who’s not older than I am is busy working and raising families. But people did help. I wouldn’t have been able to take care of your Uncle Mark for as long as I did without help.”
“Why did they stop helping when he died?”
“They didn’t, but I’m not going to ask them to help me fix up my house, and I’m certainly not going to ask them to get my groceries when I have my perfectly capable nephew standing right in front of me.”
“Fine, I’ll go get your groceries in a minute. Text me the list.”
“Oh, I already have it written down for you.” She walked over to a little notepad on the dining table and ripped off the first page. “Here you go.”
Jake gave it a cursory glance. “Thanks,” he said reluctantly. “I guess I’ll get ready.”
“Are you sure you’ve eaten enough?” Both Isabel and Jake glanced at the plate, still full of sandwiches.
“I’ll have more later, don’t worry.” He pushed himself away from the counter. “Hey, which store do I go to? The Eaton one or that other one?”
“Sandway,” Isabel said quickly. “Only go to Sandway. The prices are better and they have a bigger selection.”
“Isn’t the other one, like, a local business or something?”
“It is,” Isabel said, drawing out the words. Jake could tell she didn’t want to have to explain everything now. “I just prefer taking my business to Sandway. It’s employee owned anyway, so it’s not that bad even if it’s not a small business.”
“Sandway, got it.” Jake washed his hands and shook them dry over the sink. “I’ll be back in a couple hours. Text me if you remember anything else you want me to do while I’m out.”
Isabel smiled. “Thank you, Jakey; I will. You’re a gem.”
“Alex would have been better,” he called back as he reached the door.
With another heavy sigh, Jake slid back into his car, his tired muscles protesting.
He checked the time on his phone before dropping it into one of the cup holders.
He had all the time in the world to get Isabel’s groceries, so he forced himself to take a deep breath and settle in before he started rushing around everywhere to get everything done as fast as humanly possible.
It killed him to admit it, but he probably was, in fact, the best person for this particular job. He just had to grit his teeth and bear it.