Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Kenny was sound asleep, and the house was quiet. Cindy had joined Kenny and was stretched out on Todd’s side of the bed.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take her to bed with me when I go, so you have some room.” Jamie was tired. He hadn’t realized just how much energy a kid took. “How about a movie? Maybe something with explosions and action. No cartoons.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Jamie headed to the kitchen and returned with a bag of chips and a couple of beers from the fridge. He set them on the table and brought up Netflix.
“How about that?” Todd asked, and Jamie nodded, bringing up the latest incarnation of Frankenstein. “I wanted to see it, but there was no chance.”
Jamie settled on the sofa and began the movie. “I read the book and even taught it when I was a grad student. So many of the past movies were cheesy and meant to be horror, but that’s not the real story.”
“So it’s not a monster movie?” Todd asked, sounding disappointed.
“Oh, it is, just not in the way you’re thinking.
” He started the movie. After a while, he found himself sliding closer to Todd, who slipped an arm around him.
It had been a long time since he’d watched a movie with someone, and this felt sort of like a date.
He rested his head on Todd’s shoulder as the movie continued, the action and psychological drama building.
What Jamie hadn’t expected was for this adaptation to be so emotionally gripping.
Hell, he needed a tissue at one point and wiped his eyes.
When he glanced at Todd, he found him doing the same.
“Jesus… I had no idea…,” he whispered as the movie continued.
“Mary Shelley really was a genius… and she was only nineteen when she wrote this as part of a bet among her peers.” He held Todd’s hand as the movie concluded, then turned off the television and sat in the dark.
Jamie didn’t want to move. It was comforting and just nice to have Todd here with him.
Jamie spent a lot of his time alone or with his students.
“Jamie…,” Todd whispered. He turned his head toward him, and Todd gently cupped his cheeks and kissed him. It was soft, and if he hadn’t been so hyperaware, he might have imagined it.
Jamie backed away. “Todd, I….”
“I get it. A lot has happened, and Kenny and I are a lot of take on, and….”
“It isn’t that. You’ve been through so much, and as much as I’d like nothing more than to take you to bed and see what happens, I think we need to take things one step at a time.
There has been a great deal of upheaval for all of us.
” He took Todd’s hand. “Let’s be patient and not complicate things too much.
” Then it was his turn to kiss Todd. It took all his willpower just to get up, get Cindy, and go to bed.
He didn’t sleep well. Things seem to have shifted under his feet, and he hadn’t been prepared for it.
At least not completely. Yeah, he had been flirting with Todd, but a kiss—well, two kisses—his mind had replayed them for most of the night.
Bleary-eyed, he got up and went to the kitchen for coffee.
He needed plenty of it to get his eyes to open and his brain to function.
“Mr. Jamie,” Kenny said as he came out in his Cars pajamas. He held his penguin to his chest. “I’m hungry.”
“Okay. I can get you something to eat.” He checked the time.
It was a little after six, so it was a bit early for Kenny to be up.
Jamie made him some toast with jam and a small glass of milk, letting him sit at the table to eat.
“Do you want to go back to sleep?” he asked once Kenny was done and took him by the hand back to the bedroom.
Todd was spread out on the bed, the sheets wrapped around his waist. The sight was gorgeous, but it didn’t leave much room for Kenny.
“Come on.” He put him on the sofa with a blanket and pillow.
Cindy curled up next to him. Kenny was already half asleep as Jamie returned to his room to dress and get ready for work.
Once he was done and ready to leave, he went to the guest room.
Todd hadn’t moved, and what a sight he was. “Todd,” he said softly.
“Huh… what?” he asked, then sat right up. “What’s wrong? Where’s Kenny?”
“Nothing is wrong. Kenny is asleep on the sofa with Cindy. He was up a while ago, and I was going to put him back in bed, but you are a bed hog by the looks of things. I gave him a little to eat and he’s out again.
” He went to the bed and leaned over Todd, his fingers itching to touch that honey-warm skin.
“I’ll be home by four, and we can go get your things.
After that, we’ll get your phone activated and go to dinner.
” He kissed him and left the house before he could think too much about it.
After his last class, Jamie had office hours, which were packed with students asking questions and handing in final assignments. Finally, at a little before four, he excused himself, hurried to his car, and went right home.
Todd was at the computer, Kenny drawing at the table. “I got an email from a chocolate company about a job in their warehouse.
“Lindt?” Jamie asked. “They have a store in their distribution center on the edge of town.”
“They sent an email, and I scheduled an appointment to come in on Thursday. I’m expecting some sort of interview, but I don’t really know.” He seemed nervous and a little excited.
“Can I see the note?” Jamie asked, and stood behind Todd, reading over his shoulder. “It says you need to call them.” He pointed out the number and let Todd use his phone.
Jamie sat with Kenny while Todd spoke on the phone for quite a while.
He checked the time because they didn’t want to be late for their appointment with the landlord.
After a good twenty minutes, Todd hung up with a smile.
“It seems they do their first interview over the phone, and they confirmed the appointment that I had signed up for next week.”
Jamie knew there were no guarantees, but it was positive.
He hoped that Todd heard from more companies, if only to increase his chance of finding a job.
But still, a quick response was good. It meant that people were indeed hiring.
“Really good. Now we need to get in the car before we’re late to meet your former landlord. ”
They climbed into Jamie’s car, and he drove them downtown and behind the building where a man stood out back. He was about seventy and tall, quite handsome in his own way. “George, this is Jamie,” Todd said, and he shook his hand while Todd held Kenny’s.
“I remember you from the store,” George said. “We delivered a few things to your house.”
“Yes, you did. I love them.” Jamie followed him inside and to a room off the basement where locked cages lined the walls.
George opened the one in question, and Todd began pulling out boxes.
A few held clothes and household things.
But more than once Todd grinned and hauled a box out to the trunk of the car, including a BB8 backpack that held some of Kenny’s toys, which got him excited.
It was a real cross-section of things. They filled the trunk and half the backseat, emptying the small storage area.
Jamie wasn’t sure what they were going to do with all of it, but they’d figure it out.
“Thank you, George,” Todd told him, shaking his hand.
Jamie thanked him for his time, and they headed out to the phone center.
After way too much time and both of them keeping Kenny occupied, they left with a new SIM card and an active phone for Todd and relief that the ordeal was over.
Sometimes people complicated things for no reason.
“I’m hungry,” Kenny said from the backseat.
“I think we all are. How about hotchee dogs?” Jamie offered and took them downtown to the Hamilton, where they served their own specific version of a chili dog with mustard, cheese, onions, and chili sauce. It was busy, but they found a table and got hotchees and some fries.
“I remember these from high school,” Todd said. “We used to come here and order them by the half dozen after a game.” He was excited. “The place hasn’t changed at all.”
“Nope.” In school, this had been somewhere he had avoided because all the jocks like Todd went here. He hadn’t wanted to borrow trouble, so he’d just stayed away. “Is it good?” he asked Kenny, who took a big bite and nodded.
“Yummy,” he answered around a mouthful. Todd helped Kenny with a napkin, and Jamie ate slowly, watching Kenny and Todd together. It was wonderful how closely Todd watched over Kenny and made sure he had what he needed. He was a good father and definitely put Kenny first.
By the time they were done eating, Kenny was wound up, and Jamie was tired. He had had a long day, and there was another in front of him. The end of the semester was always busy, but with Todd and Kenny, it was just that much more active. Not that he was complaining—it was just how things were.
Jamie drove them home and helped Todd unload most of the boxes into the garage. A few of them went into the house, like the toys they had found and a few boxes of clothes. The rest could wait for now.
Jamie was just about to close the garage door when a figure loomed in it.
“I’ve been trying to see my boy.”
Todd lifted Kenny into his arms, holding him tightly.
“You need to leave. You are on my property and must leave,” Jamie snapped.
“If you’re on my property again, I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.
Now, go. And don’t approach my house, use my walk, knock on the door, or anything else.
You are not welcome here.” He glared at him but didn’t get too close.
The smell wafting off him was enough to make Jamie gag.
It wasn’t trash, but the scent of sickness and putrification, like an untended open wound.
“Go!” He pulled out his phone and was ready to make a call when Charlie finally turned and limped away.