Chapter 5
“I’ll do it.”
Theo blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared. “Grace? Why are you here?”
After I’d left Dion and my mother’s house, I’d spent a cold night in my car (and that sucker was still leaking something, no matter how I’d tried to repair it today).
I’d been to several friends’ houses, looked at a few rooms to rent, and considered talking to my sisters about staying with them.
But then I’d had another idea. I’d been mulling over what Pinar and Regina had said, and also how Theo had acted the last time we’d been together at dinner.
He’d eaten more mujadara than I’d ever before seen a person consume and in between bites of lentils, he’d been totally friendly and concerned about me as well as the fish.
So I’d decided I would do it, and that was what I told him again now.
“I figured you’d finally be home, since it’s late,” I pointed out, and then I pointed with my index finger into the interior of the cabin behind him. “I’ll do it.”
“It’s really late,” he agreed with me. “Come on in.” Then he squinted, like he saw something for the first time. “Are you all wet? Did you fall in more water?”
It hadn’t been the man-made lake at the hospital, the small ditch in his driveway, or the giant puddle in my mom’s yard.
Actually, that was gone because according to our sibling group chat, Dion had worked hard to clear the leaves and unblock some drains.
“He’s really helping Mom,” Brenna had written.
“BTW, do you guys care if I add him to this chat?”
I didn’t want to get bogged down in the details of which body of water I’d fallen into, just like I hadn’t wanted to get bogged down in that particular body of water.
I had left both my shoes in it, but the good thing was that it had helped to wash off some of the fluid from my car.
“What do you think about my offer?” I asked Theo as I entered the cabin.
First, he wanted me to dry off and then, mindful of tetanus and my lack of foot coverings, he got the same slippers I’d worn before.
This time, he also brought out a pair of sweatpants that fit me very well and some socks with pictures of fish on them that were extremely attractive.
I changed and then joined him in the kitchen.
“Did you eat?” Theo asked me.
“I did,” I said, but then rubbed my stomach.
“When, specifically?”
“It was this morning when I ate a sandwich from my mom’s house. Specifically, a sandwich that I made last night at seven-thirty,” I answered, and he got some white boxes of leftovers from his refrigerator.
“I stopped at the same Chinese restaurant on my way here,” he commented. “They know my by name now. Sit down and I’ll heat this, and then you can tell me about your offer.”
As I ate, it became clear that he hadn’t understood what I’d meant before, so I repeated myself slowly and carefully. “I’ll take this on,” I told him, pausing between the words, and I pointed in several directions with all my fingers.
“You’re talking about cleaning up this cabin,” he finally understood. “Why would you do that?”
“For room and board. That’s the saying but I don’t really want any lumber. I want to stay here, in a bedroom with a ceiling,” I explained. “My mom doesn’t want me at her house and this seems like the best option.”
“This crappy cabin is your best option?” He shook his head. “Regina told me that you’re twenty-three. Is that right?” It was, so I nodded. “Why is your life like this?”
I immediately understood what he meant. “It started when I was a baby,” I answered. “Things were already happening to me back then and Nicola was always having to drag me out of one problem or another.”
“Nicola is your sister. Why was she the one dragging you out?”
“Because she was more like my mom,” I said. “She took care of me.”
Theo nodded. “I did the same thing for my sister. I was the one in charge of her a lot of the time, too.”
“It happens with older kids when the parents are bad. My mom liked being pregnant and producing children and my dad didn’t want to say no.
I guess he also didn’t want to use birth control,” I mused.
“Anyway, she had a bunch of us and at first, my grandma helped a lot, but then there was just Nicola. I wasn’t a good baby for her, because things were always happening to me.
I got hurt, I got lost, I got in trouble, and I caused all kinds of havoc.
Like when I was really small, I rolled under the kitchen table and the cloth went down far enough to hide me.
My sister couldn’t find me until I started screaming a few hours later.
I must have been hungry because babies eat all the time. ”
“What’s the age spread between you two?” he asked.
“Ten years.” At the age of ten, I wouldn’t have been able to keep track of a kid either. I probably would probably fail at it right now, too, at the age of twenty-three. That thought brought me back to his original issue: why was I so old and still the same Grace, why hadn’t I gotten anywhere?
“I did better at the job at your office,” I said.
“I’ve been thinking lately that I wouldn’t mind having a steady place to live, instead of going with friends or boyfriends, or trying to get my mom to care enough to let me stay with her.
If I were at this cabin, then I would have a good home, like we used to try to find for the shelter animals, and I could also help you empty it out. It’s called back-scratching,” I said.
“So you want to scratch my back?”
I got up and went behind his chair. “Where does it itch?”
“No, I meant…never mind.” He twisted so that he could look at me. “Cleaning out this place is too much for one person.”
“I’ve had a lot of jobs and I’ve gotten fired from almost all of them, but that wasn’t because I was afraid of hard work.
Leaving the garage unlocked so that the tools were stolen, accidentally shaving someone’s head, falling into the vat of olive oil, and losing gold bars? Sure, those things happened.”
“Gold bars?” he murmured.
“It was when I worked for the Mafia. Same thing with the olive oil,” I answered. “But I always did my best for the Don and we ended up parting as friends. He was an amazing financier and he taught me a lot.”
“I…” He stopped and shook his head slightly.
“Also, I got the gold back. It was in a compartment under the gear box of his consigliere. By the way, secret car compartments are outlawed in several states, so be very careful if you drive to Ohio, Illinois, and some other ones that I don’t remember.”
“I don’t have any secret compartments in my car or anywhere else,” Theo told me. He turned toward the table and I watched him massage his cheeks, now on both sides. Dumb bruxism. “I don’t know, Grace.”
“You could think about it,” I suggested. “You’re a smart person who makes good decisions.”
“Am I?”
“Yes, a hundred percent.” He’d definitely been right about me, because it had been a good choice to stay away. “Do you want your clothes before I go?”
“Are you going to strip right here?” He swiveled again and grabbed my hands. “No, don’t do that. Where are you planning to sleep tonight?”
I thought. “Maybe I’ll go to Brenna’s house.
She doesn’t have kids yet so she won’t get mad at me for waking them, but she’ll probably get mad that I’m disturbing her and her somewhat-new husband.
I could also go to Juliet’s because she’s pregnant but showing up now won’t bother that baby. Medically, is that correct?”
“It is, but you can also stay here. Finish eating and then we can clear out another bedroom together,” he said. “Do you have an overnight bag?”
In fact, everything I owned was in my trunk, so I was prepared to stay overnight or over many nights. Mostly my belongings were loose but I did have a bag in the form of my purse, so I nodded.
“Good. There’s no reason for you to drive around by yourself so late.”
“Especially since I think that my gaskets are failing again,” I noted, and he winced.
“I don’t know what that means for your car but it doesn’t sound good.
I’ll come with you to get your stuff.” He waited until I had eaten more wonton soup, though, and he carried a battery-powered lantern as we descended into the driveway.
Luckily, it was freezing cold and mostly everything was now frozen, so puddles weren’t an issue.
“We’re talking about Thanksgiving,” I volunteered as I dug through my trunk and put various items into my purse.
Toothbrush, check; underwear? I must have had some, at least at one point.
“Dion is in the group chat now and he started a big fight with Sophie over the difference between sweet potatoes and yams. It’s a bad idea to argue with her because she’s the only one who paid attention when Grandpa tried to teach the older girls how to box. ”
“She would hit someone over a sweet potato?”
“She would also hit someone with a sweet potato. Do you go to Regina’s house?” I asked.
“For the holidays? I have before, but this year she’s driving to her son’s apartment in Chicago. I’ll have to warn her about having secret compartments in her car.”
It was smart thinking, but as I’d said, he was obviously a smart person. He was also industrious, because it really was late but he hunted down another set of sheets and helped me clear a path over to a room down the hall from his. Obviously, we wouldn’t sleep together again.
When the bed was made, he smoothed his hand over the sheet and looked at me. “You really want to do this?” He also pointed around with his fingers.
“I really do. I really can,” I promised.
He looked at me for a longer moment. “No matter what, I won’t kick you out.” He paused again. “I guess you could give it a try, but I don’t expect you to fix all of this, Grace. I don’t think anyone could.”
I nodded. I would give it a try and then another one, gradually, until the cabin was empty.