24. LION
Chapter twenty-four
LION
Mrs. Shannon and her husband had been together since they were seventeen, and he had kept every little thing that reminded him of her. It was so sweet the way she would open another old tin to find every movie ticket from every cinema they ever went to inside. I thought it was only the inside of her place that she needed help with, but when she took me out back, I saw a giant two-car garage waiting.
“This might take another day or two,” I say as she unlocks the padlock from the door.
“There’s not that much in here. A few old car parts one of the boys from church is going to come and pick up, and Big Bertie. I was hoping you could wheel him out the front. Someone will take him, I’m sure.”
“Big Bertie?”
She swings open the door and there in the shed is what looks like a fuel tank lying on a trailer.
“Walt had these grand plans way back when to smoke his own meats. We pulled this thing behind our old wagon all the way from Austin, Texas, twenty years ago and it sat in this shed unused ever since.”
“It’s a smoker?”
“Yep, one of them huge ones. Five-hundred or something. Every year, I’d ask him to sell it or give it away, and every year, he’d claim it was the year he was going to finally use it, but never did.”
“And you want to just give it away?” I ask her, then it hits me. Maybe this is the kind of one Tim could use for his food truck.
“Seems like someone would want it. Do you think you can pull the trailer out to the front? It looks bigger than I remember now that I look at it. We might need a car. You got a car?”
“Sorry, no. I ride a bicycle.”
“You’re a big strong boy but I don’t think even you could pull it on that.”
“Can I please have it?”
She shrugs. “Sure, if you want it.”
“I do. I can buy it off you.”
“No, no, no. You already spent double the time here today helping me out than the Bunnies task paid you for. It’s yours, but please don’t try to pull it on your bike. Do you have a friend with a car? I already sold the wagon or you could have used it.”
“My sister has a car. Thank you, you have no idea how cool this is.”
“You sound just like Walt.” She chuckles. “He’d be happy knowing it went to a nice young man like you.”
***
I call my sister Mouse to come help me move the smoker. She was on board right away, even if my dating Tim put a kink in her plans to use me as the example of how her new app will work. My brother Buck has already finished creating the app itself, and it’s in beta testing or something with a few of her friends. I think it’s a great idea. I just want my spare ticket to go to people who missed out on seats regardless of if she thinks I will hit it off with them, and now that she knows I’m with Tim, she’s stopped trying to set me up at games.
“This thing is huge,” she says as I latch the safety chain and check the trailer is properly connected to her car.
“It’s a five-hundred-gallon smoker, totally large enough for Tim’s food truck.”
“I thought he wasn’t doing that until after he stopped playing ball?”
“He says that, but he loves cooking, and he just lights up whenever he talks about the truck, and while I never want to think of the day he can no longer play baseball, I thought if I helped him he could start the truck before then. It’s his dream, you know?”
“And what is your dream, baby brother?”
I’ve never really put much thought into what I wanted to do with my life, like some huge grand plan, not really. I wanted what I had growing up. I wanted to find someone to love me the way my father loved my mother. A partner that was also a best friend. And my cats. I love that I was lucky enough to have my four boys find me.
“I just want a happy life like Mom and Dad have. You know, with love, friendship and fun. And to be surrounded by cats.”
“Yes! What did you call it? Feline Good Cat rescue, right?”
“I forgot I named it that. Wow, I was like twelve when I came up with that. How did you remember?”
“I shared a room with you. It was on drawings all over the walls. You know, you could do that if you wanted to.”
“I don’t think I can afford an enormous compound filled with cats on my income.”
“Not yet, but you have a huge social media following and you foster kittens and people and places donate to things like that, too, so you could start small and see where it goes.”
“You’re right. Heaps of people messaged me asking about adoptions when I posted a picture of the kittens with the boys. I guess I could take in a couple more at a time while I find them their forever homes.”
“I’ll ask Buck to get started on your logo. He’s home for the weekend, and I’m fairly sure Mom and Dad still have your drawings up in the attic.”
“Thanks, Mouse.”
“You’re always telling everyone else they can do whatever they believe in, you need to start believing in you, baby brother, because all those things you want, you can totally have.”
“I think with Tim in my life, you might actually be right,” I tell her, and she smiles.
“Where is Tim going to put this thing? He lives in a loft, doesn’t he?”
Shit. I didn’t think of that.
“Umm, that’s a good question.”
I grab out my phone and check my contacts for a name of someone who might be able to store this thing. I can’t take it to Tim’s just to drop it off and leave it as his problem to sort out. If he had the food truck already, we could park it attached in the street that runs along the back of his apartment block, but it can’t just sit there alone.
“Look, how about I take it home with me for now? It can stay hitched to my car for one night, but I have to go into the office in a couple of days, so we need to sort something out. Maybe talk to Tim, tell him what you picked up. He might have a friend with a backyard it can go in or a storage shed or something.”
“Thanks, sis. Hey, can you take my photo with it? If I can’t take it to Tim’s now, I’ll show him the photo of what I scored.”
She snaps a few photos of me in front of the smoker with my phone, then gets this look in her eye like she used to get when we were kids. It normally meant I was about to either have the best time of my life or run away scared.
“You know what would look really fun?” she asks.
“What?”
“If you climbed on the thing, you know, like it’s a bull and you’re a cowboy riding it.”
“It’s a smoker.”
“Come on, it will be fun. I’ll tell you what. If you don’t like the photo, you can delete it.”
I again check the trailer is locked onto her car so that I won’t cause the thing to start rolling back and climb up onto the smoker. I know better than to argue with Mouse, she usually finds a way to get exactly what she wants.
“Perfect, now put one hand on the thing like you are holding the reins and raise the other arm in the air like you’re swinging a cowboy hat.”
I have to admit, this is pretty fun. “Yee Haw,” I say, and she laughs, clicking away.
“Okay, climb down, cowboy. I think we got it.”
I jump to the ground and check them out.
They do look pretty good, except she deleted the shots of me standing in front of it, so either way these are what I will need to show Tim.
“Thanks, Mouse. I’ll message as soon as I know what to do with it.”
“No worries. Chat soon,” she says, jumping up to kiss my cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you more.”
***
I change the sheets on my bed while I wait for Tim to get here. The cats have been in my bed the last few nights without me and have had a good time covering it in their fur. Before I head back to the living room, I grab out the treasure box and set it on the end of the bed.
Hopefully, this smoker will get Tim focused on something exciting and he can stop stressing about what other people are saying about us online. I hardly ever went into my direct messages before this drama started, but the comments were always a place where I could spread good vibes, share awesome fun facts about Tim and the game. Now, it’s become something else. Enzo told me to not click them, and I stopped right away.
I send Mary Beth the photo’s Mouse took of me and the smoker, and she calls me a minute later.
“Oh, my stars, that is hilarious,” she says by way of greeting when I answer the call. “You’re like a kid on vacation climbing everything he sees for a photo.”
“It was Mouse’s idea.”
“I’m sure it was, but you don’t exactly look like she had to twist your arm too far to get you up there.”
“Hey, you’ve heard all the stories, you know there is no point arguing with her. She always gets what she wants one way or another.”
“I’d love to have that superpower.”
“Me, too.”
“So, how’d you score the smoker?”
“The old lady I helped today was just going to put it out the front of her house for free for anyone who wanted it. It was her late husband’s.”
“Well, that’s lucky. Lucky that you were there helping her, not that her husband died. You know what I mean.”
“Do you think Tim will like it?”
“I think he’ll love it. Where is it now?”
“On the back of Mouse’s car, she took it home until I can ask Tim if he knows anywhere to store it. Neither one of us has a yard, so hopefully one of his friends do and are cool with it living there for a bit.”
“You can store it at the cafe if you want.”
“Huh?”
“Out back, where we load the deliveries.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Message Mouse to bring it whenever she likes.”
“I’m going to text her now. You are the best, Mary Beth. Thank you.”
***
“Why are you riding an old smoker?” Tim asks when I show him the photo Mouse took of me today. “I mean, you look adorable, but where was this taken? Was this today?”
“It was at the Bunnies task I was telling you about.”
“Oh, cool. Yeah, I never knew how many people liked to smoke their own ribs and brisket and stuff. That one is a beast, though. You could feed an army with the food you cook in there.”
“Or a truck load of people,” I say, winking at him, but he just nods and hands back my phone.
“Did you want to grab plates, and we can eat?” he asks, unpacking the food containers onto my table, Daffin weaving in between his feet. Daffin is completely obsessed with Tim. Whenever he’s here, he doesn’t go out visiting Mrs. Crisp, or anyone else. He meows at the bedroom door, waiting for Tim to come out and sits immediately in his lap the second he’s seated anywhere.
“One like this would be good for you, wouldn’t it?” I ask, and he rips the lid off the ribs container and swipes his finger over the streak of sauce left on the lid, bringing it into his mouth as he nods.
“Mmmhmm. They cost a bit, though, so I might have to start smaller. One day, though, yeah, that size would be perfect.”
“Today.”
“What?”
“Today, that size would be perfect.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” he says, opening the second lid to the shredded brisket.
“Today, a smoker that size would be perfect. Then you can start practicing bigger cooks, to get used to the thing for when you start the food truck.”
“I mean, yeah, if I had one now, I would practice.”
“But you do.”
“I do what?”
“You do have one. That one. You have that one, it’s yours.”
“What?”
“I got it for you.”
He tilts his head slightly to the side, the frown on his brows softening as realization sets in.
“You got me a giant smoker?”
“I got you a giant smoker,” I repeat, bouncing a little on my toes. It’s been so hard to keep this to myself since this afternoon. I wanted to call him right away, then I thought I would text him the photo, but this is better. Seeing his face lit up is better.
“Are you serious?”
“Totally. Mouse is driving it over to Mary Beth’s cafe in the morning. She said you can keep it out back as long as you like.”
“You really believe I’ll have the food truck, don’t you?”
“Why wouldn’t I? You set out to play professional baseball and you knocked that dream out of the park, literally, so why wouldn’t you do the same for the food truck?”
His lower lip quivers just slightly and his eyes start to gloss over. Shit. Did I fuck up?
“Umm, you don’t have to do it, though. I mean. I don’t want you to think I’m forcing you, I mean. Shit.”
He drops the container in his hands to the table and rushes toward me, leaping into my arms. He wraps his legs around my waist and buries his face in my neck.
“You are amazing,” he says, and I hold him tight.
“So, you like it?”
He leans back, perched on my waist, fingers linked behind my neck.
“I love it, and I love… that you got it for me.”