Chapter 13 #3
Bazel shook his head. “No, no, no. I mean one of those cards like the food card, but will get me a car. Then I can drive and stuff.”
Chris’s reaction was about the same as Atlas’s. “We don’t have those. If you want a car, you have to buy it, but you also need to have a driver’s license and a job to pay for it. I can help you with a membership to the Y, though.”
“Cool,” Bazel said, and met Chris’s startled expression at his speech.
“I want to go swimming. Atlas says I am very good.” Atlas sat in the chair across from Chris while Bazel perched on the arm right next to him.
He saw the moment Chris picked up on it, and thankfully she didn’t say anything, but Atlas knew she would as soon as they were alone.
“He is.”
“I’m trying to get a temporary visa for him.
That isn’t going to take much longer, and he should be able to get a job when we get it.
Then we can work on permanent residency, which takes longer.
I’m working with a lawyer who does a lot of this sort of thing for us.
He’s also helping the one woman who was in the truck with Bazel who will be staying here.
Two of the others have gone back to their families, and the remaining two are still figuring things out. ”
Evie left the room, running toward the back door. Bazel hurried after her. “I let her out.” Then he was gone.
“Okay. We have a few minutes. What is going on between you two?” She switched gears on a dime. “Things have definitely changed.”
“Well, that’s what I need to talk about. He’s amazing and….”
She put her hand up. “Are you sleeping together?” she asked, and Atlas nodded. “Did you do anything to force or coerce him?”
“God no. He came to me. I’ve held back because I want to make sure that he’s making his own decisions. I don’t want him to feel like….”
Chris nodded. “I want to talk to him about it. I need to know from him how he feels and what he thinks is going on. You know I would not butt in, but in this case, I have to be sure for your sake as well as his.”
Atlas groaned. “I know. But don’t be surprised if he doesn’t say anything at all to you. That sort of thing seems to be private and hard for him to put into words sometimes.”
She rolled her eyes. “I am not going to ask him about the sex between you. Just how he feels and to make sure he knows what he’s doing.”
Atlas snickered. “Oh, he knows what he’s doing.”
She leaned forward and smacked his leg. “Don’t be crude.” She sipped her wine. “And how do you feel about him?” He swallowed hard and stared stonily at her. “I see. So if he were to leave, then….”
“That’s something I don’t want to contemplate right now,” he told her softly as Bazel came back in the room with Evie right behind him.
She lay down on the rug, and Atlas excused himself to let Bazel and Chris talk.
Evie came with him, and he went out back to throw one of her balls for her.
Why he was so nervous was ridiculous. He hadn’t pressured Bazel, and he had even held back when Bazel first offered to come to his bed.
Still, he threw the ball and stewed in his own juices until Chris came out to join him.
“You are one lucky son of a bitch, you know that?” she said with a grin. “You find a group of people in the back of a semi-truck, huddled together in fear, take in one of them to be kind, and end up with the most….” Her little speech came to an abrupt stop. “I don’t even know what he is.”
“Exactly. There aren’t words. He’s smart and funny whether he wants to be or not.”
“And he adores you. He didn’t even understand some of my questions simply because they didn’t apply.
You do know that whatever is going on between you is not some little tryst for him.
It’s meaningful and important to him. So it had better be for you too.
Otherwise, if it isn’t, you need to tell me now so we can break the news to him and I can find him another place to stay.
It will hurt him if I have to do that, but staying and letting this go on will hurt him more. ”
“You don’t think I know that?” His voice cracked. “But that isn’t the issue. The chief asked me about it the other day, and there are apparently rumors about us at work.”
“What did you say to him?” Chris asked.
He put his hands on his hips. “What do you think I said? That my private life was none of his business.” He knew he looked as menacing as possible at the moment. “He had no right to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“You told your captain that?” Chris said, her eyes widening.
“You realize what this means. You stood up to Captain Rogers. That man is enough to intimidate anyone… and you told him where to get off. You stood up for Bazel and how you feel for him. That says a whole hell of a lot about how you feel.”
“I know. But sometimes I just don’t trust myself.”
Chris rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You men make emotions so complicated. If you’re falling in love with him, just own it and act like it.”
“But what if something happens? What if they say he has to go back?” Atlas whispered, not wanting to put the idea out into the universe.
“I doubt that is going to happen, and I’ve handled cases like his before. The paperwork is almost ready for submission, and I’ll bring it by later in the week.”
He sighed, feeling a little better. “But what do I do at work?”
Chris shrugged. “There is only one way to handle this sort of thing: head-on. Talk to your friends, make sure they know the real story so they can be the ambassadors of truth. Even introduce them to Bazel, go out to dinner together. Try the usual social situations to make Bazel a visual part of your life rather than someone you keep at home. There hasn’t been anyone poking around since you caught the guy after him, so ease up a little.
He’s been walking to the library and getting out of the house on his own, so include him in other parts of your life. ”
“How did you get so smart?”
Chris grinned. “That’s easy. I’m not a man.”
“Very funny,” Atlas told her flatly. “We should get back inside before Bazel begins to worry.” He threw the ball a final time for Evie, and then they all went inside.
Chris returned to the sofa to finish her wine, and Atlas found Bazel sitting in his chair, reading his book. He really seemed engrossed in it.
He and Chris began talking about books and things, and he explained what he was reading about. “Atlas says there are more books like this one.”
“There are,” she agreed.
“I get the idea that he’s going to give his library card a real workout. I figure we’ll go over together in the next few days so I can help him pick some things out.”
“That’s good.” She pulled her phone out of her purse and made a call.
Atlas refilled her glass, and within a few minutes, she hung up.
“Bazel, you can go in to the Y tomorrow and they will get you all set up with a membership. They will let you use the club for ninety days, and then after that you can decide if you want to join on your own or not.” She sat back in the chair.
“You know, it’s like my job doesn’t seem to end. ”
“You love it, otherwise you’d do something else.”
“Like what?” Bazel asked.
“Chris has a background in theater, so she has worked on a number of shows in New York as well as the rest of the country. She was quite in demand for a long time, until she left the city and came to our little town. She manages the theater in town.”
“Then why you leave?” Bazel asked.
“It was getting to be too much. Every time one of the shows ended, I had to scare up a new job, and I got tired of it. My family lives here. My father passed away a few years ago, and my mother needed help, so I fell back on my college degree and got the job here. Mom is still not doing well, so I live with her, and in return, she tries to run my life and fix me up with every single boy she encounters. I’ve tried explaining that I like girls, but she doesn’t seem to want to listen to that.
” She drank some more of her wine. “Right now Mom is probably on the phone with one of her friends, trying to scare up a cousin or nephew for me to meet. It’s really a pain in the butt. ”
“Well, I know an officer who is looking for someone. She’s a great person and a real ball buster. The two of you would probably get along great. You might know Larissa.”
Chris smiled. “I do. She and her girlfriend just broke up last month, and while I like her, I’m not getting in the middle of that mess. They are fighting over custody of their son and daughter, and it’s getting really ugly.”
Atlas shivered and glanced at Bazel, who seemed completely lost. “Larissa and Claudia had been together for six years, and they had children together.”
Bazel shook his head, probably trying to figure out how that was possible. “I’ll explain it later if you still want to know.” He nodded and turned back to Chris.
“They were happy until Claudia decided that it was all too much for her and wanted out. Larissa had the house, so Claudia left and then returned two weeks later, saying that she had made a huge mistake and wanted Larissa back, but she told Claudia to go pound sand. So now Claudia is trying to get custody of the kids, which isn’t going to happen because she left for someone else.
But it’s making Larissa’s life a living hell. ”
Atlas groaned. “I’m sorry I brought it up. I’ll have to bring Larissa some cookies or something the next time we’re on the same shift. Or maybe take her out for a drink afterwards. It sounds like hell.”
“It pretty much is.”
“And here I was trying to help you meet someone, but you already know everything there is to know.”
Chris held up her glass. “You boys ain’t got any drama on us lesbians.”
“I guess. So are you looking to date?”