Chapter 4
Brody
‘Do you always make sandwiches like that?’ Kate asks, watching as I stuff the rest of the sandwich in my mouth.
‘Like what?’
‘On the counter instead of on a plate.’
‘Why would I dirty a plate? Then I’d have to wash it.’
‘But now you have to wash the counter.’
I brush the crumbs off it with my hand. ‘There. It’s clean.’
She smiles. ‘You and Cam would not get along.’
I hold up the loaf of bread. ‘You sure you don’t want me to make you one?’
She pauses, eyeing the bread. ‘I am a little hungry.’
‘What kind do you want?’ I set the bread down and untie the bag.
‘I’ll do it,’ she says, coming over to me. ‘Can I use a plate?’
‘Go ahead.’ I go to the fridge to get a soda.
‘Where are they?’
‘Behind you.’ I head over to the cupboard where I keep the plates, the only two that I own.
Kate flips around just as I’m reaching up to get the plate and slams into my chest.
‘Sorry!’ She rears back. ‘I didn’t see you.’
‘It’s fine,’ I say, smiling when I see her cheeks blushing. I don’t know why she’s embarrassed. It’s not a big deal. I hand her the plate.
‘I didn’t mean to do that,’ she says, her voice breathy like she’s nervous.
What’s the deal with her? She’s so uptight. Or maybe she’s just shook up from what happened today.
‘You like ham?’ I ask, taking it from the fridge where I just put it away. ‘It’s either that or peanut butter. I need to go to the store. I probably should’ve gone before the storm started, but I got busy and forgot.’
‘Ham is fine,’ she says, taking it from me. She carefully peels back the plastic top from the container and takes out two slices.
‘You can have more than that,’ I tell her.
‘That’s plenty,’ she says, looking around.
‘What do you need?’
‘A knife.’
‘The drawer in front of you.’
She moves back and opens the drawer. ‘You only have one?’ she asks, seeing my nearly empty drawer.
‘I live alone. One is all I need.’
‘But if it gets dirty—’
‘I wash it.’
‘You don’t use the dishwasher?’
‘It’s broken. It’s been broken since I moved in. ’
‘How long have you lived here?’ she asks, cutting her sandwich in half.
‘A few months.’
‘And you haven’t fixed the dishwasher?’ She turns and goes to the sink to clean the knife.
‘I got other shit I need to fix before I deal with the dishwasher.’
Just saying that makes my shoulders tense up and a knot form in my stomach.
I don’t know what the hell I was thinking buying this house.
The plan was to flip it, meaning fix it up and sell it for more than I paid, but once I moved in, I found the place needed a lot more work than I thought.
My original plan was to re-tile the bathroom, paint the walls, replace the trim, and maybe put in new kitchen cabinets.
Then I moved in and the furnace died, a water pipe burst, and the electrical kept shorting out.
Those were all things I had to fix before doing anything else.
I’ve sunk thousands of dollars into this place and haven’t even started the repairs I’d planned to do.
My credit cards are maxed out and last month I couldn’t even pay the mortgage.
My brother Jason did. He had to. He’s on the loan.
We didn’t tell our parents because I didn’t want them to know.
I wanted them to think I did this on my own, and I tried to, but the bank wouldn’t let me.
I’m too much of a risk. I’ve already got debt from buying equipment for my business and the bank didn’t want me taking on more.
So Jason helped me buy the house, with the deal that I’d split the profits with him when I sold it.
But now the place has become a money pit and Jason’s stuck paying the bills.
‘Brody?’ Kate says, waking me from my thoughts .
‘Yeah?’
‘Your phone.’ She takes it from the counter and hands it to me. I didn’t even notice it ringing.
‘Hey, this is Brody,’ I answer, not recognizing the number on the screen.
‘Brody, it’s Al Roberson,’ he says in his gruff old man voice. ‘The wife and I were wondering when you’ll be out to clear the driveway.’
‘Yeah, sorry, I meant to call you, but I had something come up.’ I glance at Kate as I walk past her to the living room. ‘With the snow coming down like this, I decided to wait to plow.’
‘That wasn’t our agreement,’ he says, sounding angry. ‘You said you’d be over at noon. I don’t care if it’s still snowing. I want my driveway cleared. That’s what I’m paying you for.’
Al knows my family, and knows my brothers and I are hard workers, so I don’t know why he’s giving me a hard time. He knows I’ll do the job.
‘I know I said I’d be there,’ I tell him, ‘but with the snow coming down this hard, it wouldn’t do any good for me to plow now. As soon as I was done, your driveway would be covered again.’
I’m not going to tell him my plow isn’t working. I’m still hoping I can fix it.
‘Are you saying I’m stuck here until you decide to come out and do the job I hired you to do?’
‘I’ll do the job,’ I say, going to the laundry room. ‘I’m just asking that you wait a few hours.’ I grab my coat and put it on. ‘You aren’t planning on going out in this, are you? Nothing’s even open.’
‘Forget it,’ he huffs. ‘I knew I couldn’t count on some kid. I gave you a chance because of your father, because I know he’s a man of his word, but I guess that trait didn’t get passed on to his sons.’
‘Mr. Roberson, please, just give me a few hours.’ I go out to the garage. ‘I’ll be over as soon as I can.’
‘Sorry, kid, but I need someone reliable. I’m going to call Santi’s. He may cost more, but at least he’ll show up.’
‘Mr. Roberson, just give me—’
‘Cancel my service. That goes for the lawn care too. I wish you the best of luck, kid. I just need my servicemen to be people I can count on.’ He hangs up.
‘Fuck,’ I mutter.
‘Everything okay?’ Kate asks as she comes into the garage.
‘I’m good.’ I almost laugh, seeing her in my hoodie and gym shorts. She seems like the type of girl who wears designer clothes that fit her perfectly. I can’t see her lying around in sweats or even going to the gym in them.
‘You seemed upset on the phone,’ she says, coming toward me.
‘It was just a customer complaining.’ I walk to the front of the truck.
‘Is there anything I could do to help?’
‘Not unless you know how to fix a plow.’ I tug on one of the wires that connects the plow to the control mechanism, checking that it’s secure.
‘It’s still broken?’ she asks, sounding concerned. I don’t know why she cares. She just met me. This isn’t her problem.
‘I just need to work on it.’ I look over and see her shivering in the cold garage. ‘Go inside and warm up. Watch something on TV if you want. ’
She nods and goes inside.
‘Everything’s connected,’ I say to myself as I inspect all the wires. ‘Why isn’t it working?’
The door from the house opens again and Kate walks out, wearing my tan work coat. It’s ugly as shit but looks cute on her, coming down to her knees, the sleeves hiding her hands.
‘Do you need something?’ I ask.
‘No.’ She walks up to me. ‘I just thought I’d keep you company.’
‘I don’t need company. I’m good.’ I go around her and get in the truck.
She stands beside it, looking up at me. ‘Maybe I do.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I need some company. If I’m alone with my thoughts I think about what happened and, well .?.?. I don’t want to think about that.’
‘You’ll have to, eventually.’
‘I know, but I’d rather put it off.’
‘And stand here freezing in my garage while I work on the plow?’
‘That sounds better than sitting by myself in the house.’
I shrug. ‘Okay, well, as long as you’re here, would you mind grabbing the pliers? They’re on the workbench.’
She goes over to it, almost tripping as she tries to walk in my coat. She yanks the sleeve way up to find her hand so she can grab the pliers.
As she walks back to me, I laugh. ‘Nice coat.’
‘Thanks.’ She hands me the pliers, then spins around, like she’s modeling for me. ‘I think it has a chic industrial look, although it’d look better with jeans than gym shorts. ’
‘Or on someone twice your size,’ I kid.
She laughs as she looks at herself in the coat. ‘Yeah, it’s kind of big, but it’s really warm.’
‘It is. That’s why I bought it. It’s great when I’m snowblowing sidewalks.’
She nods at the truck. ‘So what do you think’s wrong with it?’
‘Probably a loose wire. The blade isn’t moving.’ I use the pliers to check if any of the wire connections are loose. As I’m doing that, my phone rings and I realize I left it on the workbench. ‘Could you grab that?’ I say to Kate.
‘Sure.’
I glance up and see her picking up my phone. ‘Go ahead and answer it.’ I give her the password.
She hesitates, giving me a confused look.
‘What are you waiting for?’ I call out from the truck. ‘Just answer it.’
‘Hello?’ she says to whoever’s calling. ‘Um, no, I’m just here waiting out the storm. I got stranded in the snow and Brody gave me a ride.’
‘Who is it?’ I yell from the truck as I reach down to tighten a bolt.
‘Sure, I’ll give him the phone,’ I hear Kate say.
Looking up from the dash, I see Kate coming toward me. She stops next to the truck and hands me the phone.
‘It’s Talia,’ Kate whispers.
Talia. Shit, I forgot about her. We were supposed to go out tonight. I was going to take her to Sawyer’s brewery, where we could drink for free since I don’t have money to take her on a real date .
‘Hey, this is Brody,’ I say.
‘Hey, it’s Talia. Are we still on for tonight?’
Is she serious? Has she not looked out the window? It’s a freaking blizzard. And when it stops snowing, I’ll be working nonstop to clear driveways. I can’t risk losing another customer. I’ll have to work day and night until I finish.
‘We’ll have to do it some other time,’ I tell her. ‘My plow isn’t working. I’m trying to fix it.’
‘Could you come over and get me later? We could just hang out at your house.’
‘I can’t. I’ve got too much to do. If it stops snowing later, I’ll be out plowing.’
‘Okay, well, let me know when you want to meet up.’