Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
JACE
And I've never wanted to be someone's someone. But damn do I want to be her everything.
Ginger Scott, How We Deal with Gravity
“L isten up team. I’ve got some exciting news for this Friday morning. I just found a brand-new box of Honey Nut Cheerios that wasn’t expired in the back of the pantry, so we’re all set for the next week. And, the forecast has spoken: there is no rain for the next three glorious days, so we can finally use that pool out back and go swimming. Who’s excited?!”
“Me, me, me!” Ryla jumped up and down in front of a line of ten stuffed animals, all of whom she’d been instructing in a rousing game of school in the living room.
“That’s the kind of enthusiasm I like to see!” I pointed at her, then glanced at Max, who didn’t respond. He was playing a video game.
“Max?” I lowered my voice, wondering if he’d heard me. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, then went back to his game.
He definitely heard me. Ryla had gone back to teaching, so I sat next to Max.
“Nice move.” I nudged his shoulder after he won a race using a Corvette. “That’s a sweet ride.”
Another quick side eye was the only acknowledgement of my presence. There was definitely something bugging him. He’d been giving me some multi-word answers in the last few days and now, almost nothing.
“I drove one like that once,” I dropped casually.
Max’s head whipped to me immediately. “For real?”
I nodded. “A guy at the country club owns one and only trusts me to drive it.”
“He gives you his car to drive? Like for fun?”
I sat back, leaning on my hands. “Not exactly. I valet on Sundays. People drop their cars off at the front of the country club, and I drive them back and forth to the parking lot.”
The disappointed look on Max’s face was almost comical. I nudged his shoulder again.
“So, what do you say about swimming later?”
He continued to stay silent.
“Do you know how to swim?” I tried again.
He still didn’t answer me.
“He swims. He’s scared of the bees,” Ryla chirped from behind us, selling her brother out. Hard.
“Ryla!” Max turned and glared at her.
Ryla scowled at Max defensively, then started talking sassy and self-righteous, which I’d noticed she did when she was angry. “You are too! You got all scared when one landed on your arm in the pool and then you showed me that video where that kid got stinged and his face was all puffy and now you won’t go outside!”
Max’s eyes were glassy, his breathing getting faster as the siblings stared each other down.
“Alright, alright.” I held up my hands. “Ryla, you know how you’re not supposed to jump on the bed? My bed is all clear. Have at it, short stack.”
She stood up straight, her posture practically regal as she slowly made her way out of the living room. She gave me one last glare as if to say, I know what you did there, peasant, but I accept your offer, then skipped off down the hallway.
Max had picked up his controller again but was sitting motionless, staring at the floor.
I sat down next to him. “Y’alright?”
He shrugged.
“You know, without bees, nothing would grow.”
Judging by Max’s silence, I could see that wasn’t the angle I should go with. I decided to sit quietly next to him and wait it out. A few minutes later, it worked.
“I’m scared a bee will sting me and then I won’t be able to breathe,” Max whispered.
I wondered if Polly knew about his fear of bees. She hadn’t mentioned it, and I hadn’t seen anything about it on Barry.
“I’d be scared, too, if I thought that was going to happen. You know that can only happen if you’re allergic to bees? Have you talked to your momma or maybe your counselor about this?”
He shook his head reluctantly.
“Don’t you think your momma should know? I could help you tell her later today?—”
“No!” Max suddenly looked up at me, his expression laced with panic.
I held up my hands, remaining calm. “Why’s that?”
He put down his controller and turned to look out the living room window. “She’s really busy,” he mumbled, “and there’s probably nothing anyone can do about it anyway.”
I didn’t think that was the whole truth, but I kept those thoughts to myself. “Tell you what. Let me worry about telling your momma. If I can figure out a way to help, how about you agree to talk about it with your counselor?”
Max turned back to glance at me, then looked down, appearing to be working things out in his head. “I guess so,” he finally answered.
I smiled. “Deal.”
* * *
The rest of the morning was filled with researching bee phobias, bee repellants, and bee allergy treatments. Once I discovered that certain plants and smells repel bees, I thought about growing those plants in Polly’s back yard. I wasn’t a gardening expert, so I knew I’d need some help.
Jace: Do you remember what kind of sun momma needed to grow her onions in the garden?
Sarah: Who is this?
Jace: Do you know or not?
Sarah: How should I know? Ask momma.
In hindsight, I shouldn’t have asked my sister. And asking Momma was not an option. Deciding to go with buying full-grown plants and putting them in above ground planter boxes, I was able to do a lot of things myself. I made calls to the local hardware stores in town, placing the orders for the plants and supplies I needed. But what with having the kids and my car not being big enough to carry even a quarter of the supplies at a time, getting things here would be tricky.
That’s where Sam came in. He owed me no less than ten favors by now, and it was time to cash in.
Jace: I need shovels, potting soil, and a big truck
Sam: You know better than to text me this shit
Jace: I also need you to pick up 20 marigold plants, onion plants, basil and mint. And six above ground planters
Jace : I’ll send you a copy of the pickup order from Bills and Eager Beavers
Jace: You owe me
A few minutes of silence passed. It wasn’t until I sent him a picture of my face with the red rash after Ryla’s birthday party that I finally got a response.
Sam: What’s the address?
I hesitated. If I gave him Polly’s address, which he definitely knew from the party, I’d have to tell him that I was nannying Polly’s kids. And sure, he’d probably assume, (correctly), that I get inappropriately hard around her, not realizing that it was so much more. No knowing that I had this feeling that this woman could be it for me. Figuring out I had no other option, I sent him her address.
Sam: Why do I know this address?
Sam: Why are you at Polly Alberton’s house?
Sam: Are you really not going to answer my texts?
Sam: Fine. I’ll be there no later than 2. But this is the last favor I owe you
A few hours later, Sam messaged me that he was at the gate, and I buzzed him through. After parking, Sam hopped out of the truck with a confused look on his face. “Why are we at Polly Alberton’s house? Did she hire you to do some landscaping or something?”
I put my hands on my hips. “No. She hired me to watch her two kids. I’ve been living here since Sunday. One of her kids, Max, has a bee phobia, so we need to remove all the flowers and pots from the back and put in plants and herbs that repel bees. That’s why I needed all this stuff.”
As I spoke, Sam’s expression turned from surprised to supremely self-satisfied.
“Bruh.” Sam shook his head, a smug grin in place. “Only you would get a job out of that clown gig. And after you made me feel bad about it? You hittin’ that? I mean, don’t get me wrong, she is one high-class MILF?—”
Even though I thought I’d prepared myself, and even though this was my best friend, who’d shown up with a truck, shovels, and dirt, thinking that we were burying a body, I still lost it.
I grabbed Sam by the shirt and slammed him against the side of the garage, putting my forearm to his throat.
“That’s the first and last time you talk about her that way, you got it?”
Sam’s eyes practically bugged out of their sockets—with surprise, I wasn’t holding him that hard. Sam held up his hands and I released him.
He cursed as he stumbled forward to catch himself. “Fuck! Have you completely lost it?”
A giggle from behind us had me closing my eyes.
“Watch your language,” I murmured to Sam under my breath. Turning, I spotted Ryla standing directly behind me, watching us with rapt attention.
“Hey there, Ryla. This is my friend Sam. We were just playin’ around, but I promise not to do it again. It was wrong of me, and I am very sorry.”
Ryla’s eyes were full of mischief. “He said a bad word.”
I got down to the balls of my feet in front of her. “I know. And he’s also very sorry. Right, Sam ?”
Sam stepped forward, nodding down at Ryla. “Uh, yup, very sorry. You shouldn’t say those words until you’re older. Like uh, fifty.”
“Are you fifty?”
“Fuck no!” Sam retorted.
“Sam!” I barked as he shouted, “Sorry!” again and Ryla launched into a fit of giggles.
I scrubbed my hands down my face. This was not going at all how I’d planned.
Trying again, I stood and gentled my voice. “This is my best friend, Sam. Sam, this is Ryla. One of Polly’s kids.”
Ryla studied Sam as I spoke, then as if he’d passed some sort of internal test, she started hopping between the cracks in the driveway. “I have a best friend. His name’s Eric. He’s seven. I’m six.” After a few feet, she turned and looked at Sam. “Wanna see my room?”
“No!” I barked, then held my breath and counted to three. “Ryla. You can’t invite strangers into your room, alright? Especially not male strangers.”
Sam shot me a look like I was completely off my rocker.
I wasn’t normally a nervous person. The opposite, in fact. But I hadn’t asked Polly about any of this, she didn’t know about Max’s bee phobia, and when she came home tonight and saw that I completely changed her entire backyard without permission, she’d be fully within her rights to fire me on the spot.
“Don’t you worry about Jace, Ryla. He’s just having a hard day.” Sam eyed me one more time, then crouched down to her level. “I brought some things over ’cause it sounds like we’re doing some plantin’.”
Ryla pumped her fist in the air. “No more bees!”
“You know it. Wanna help me carry this stuff to the backyard while Jace takes a breather? I think he might need it.”