32. Ned #2
“The foundation is sound, and the electrical and the plumbing are all good,” Steve says. “Redid the roof only a couple years ago. The heat works, too. The rest is cosmetic.”
“Is it,” Ned says.
“Come in. Jess is in the kitchen grilling Henry on Portland neighborhoods,” Steve says.
“You good, Pegs?” Ned touches her head lightly, but she ignores him for the dog.
“Ned,” Liesl says, louder. “Henry said you’d promise.”
“Give me one second,” Ned says, and hurries to follow Steve to the back of the house.
The kitchen is past a dining room, and he spots Abbot, but before he can cast a look his way with a what the hell is happening here expression, Jess greets him with a hug.
“I’m so sorry about my awful husband trying to stick you with this place,” she says. “Before he tries to sell you on it, what he isn’t saying is that the house comes with a whole separate apartment.”
“I was going to get to it,” Steve says. “Let them breathe first.”
“Thank you for having us, really,” Ned says and lets Abbot take his hand in a quick squeeze. “Hi.”
“Hello.” Abbot tightens his grip in a way that Ned guesses probably means Don’t be mad.
Well, a heads up would have been nice, if Abbot’s worried.
“It’s not small either. The ADU is two bedrooms, one bath, washer dryer, has its own entrance, and is great except that it’s an entire other thing to deal with,” Jess says.
“It’s a cute space and super easy to rent out,” Steve says. “We remodeled it a couple years ago, so it’s got all new appliances. Nice little bit of extra income.”
“Extra work,” Jess says.
“Money maker,” Steve says.
“Headache,” she says. “Which is why we’re selling this house now, while at least we’re between tenants and also about to move up to Maine.”
“We’re talking about selling it,” Steve says.
“Yes, I talked with a Realtor today about selling it,” Jess says.
“Who we might work with,” Steve says. “But I know you two are looking, and this place is great for you. And I know I’m biased, but I’m allowed to be a little sentimental.”
“It’s for sale,” Jess says firmly.
“Great.” Ned smiles. “Cute dog.”
“Isn’t she?” Jess asks. “Doesn’t come with the place, sorry.”
“Got one already,” Ned says weakly. A dog and a place to live, both.
Abbot can’t be serious. Ned told him—he told him—that he’s not moving.
He can’t buy a house, or even half a house, shitty wallpaper or no, and especially not after that lovely chat with Claire.
He can afford the doorknobs, maybe, on top of Baxter’s pills.
A couple light switches, too, if he’s lucky.
He’s not, he remembers all over again, doing the math of what Baxter is going to cost. He really has to tell Peggy that summer camp is not going to happen.
He shoves his hands in his pockets and tries to politely look around the kitchen.
Steve’s kids go to camp. Ned’s seen pictures of it, and heard Steve counting down the days until he and Jess have the house to themselves for a two-week stretch.
“Let me just check on Peggy,” Ned says and backs out of the room.
She’s fine. Of course she is, because he hasn’t broken her heart yet with this latest disappointment. He watches for a moment as she and Liesl kneel together, Luna sprawled on her back, wiggling in glee as they pet her stomach.
“Ned?” Abbot asks.
“Yeah. Hey. Hi.”
“Steve wanted to have us over for dinner.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Ned—”
“Do you guys want to take Luna outside again?” Ned asks cheerfully, seeing that Steve followed him.
Steve touches his toe to Luna’s side. “Oh, our heathen children with poor manners equal to mine are upstairs,” he says, and the dog rolls up to her feet.
“The price of getting them to come here peacefully tonight is an evening on the game console up there, so if you two don’t mind sitting on your butts, because we have a TV but no furniture, I told them they’d have guest players. ”
Luna follows Steve, and Liesl and Peggy follow her.
Ned hesitates, wanting to argue against the time sink that is any video game.
Can’t they eat and get out of here quickly?
But it’s too late, and when Abbot goes up the stairs next, Ned can either stand by himself in the small foyer or start up after him.
“In here.” Steve motions to one of the doors in the short hallway, light spilling out of it along with the blue glow of a TV. “Boys? This is Liesl and Peggy. Remember I told you they’d be coming?”
For a moment, Ned wants Peggy to hesitate. She would’ve when she was younger, video games or no, and looked to him to stay for a few minutes until she felt comfortable. Now she plops down cross-legged and picks up a controller.
Liesl doesn’t join the three of them, just kneels next to Luna and pulls out her phone.
“You can come back down with us,” Abbot offers.
She responds with a shrug, her eyes on her screen.
“So this is one of the bedrooms,” Steve says. “Shared bathroom through there, the other bedroom, and then primary is right down the hall here, with an en suite.”
“Liesl, would you like to see the other room?” Abbot asks, but she ignores him.
“She okay?” Ned asks softly as Abbot sighs and steps back.
“She’s, ah, frustrated with me,” Abbot says.
Well, that makes two of them.
Ned politely follows Steve into the other darkened bedrooms, and obediently looks over the hallway linen closet, nodding at the number of shelves it boasts.
“So you’re thinking about it?” Ned asks as they troop back downstairs, his voice low, though Steve’s on his phone ahead of them.
“I’ll need to live somewhere.” Abbot pauses at the bottom of the stairs and says just as quietly, “I understand you don’t want to move in. That’s not what this is.”
“Okay,” Ned says, but isn’t it? Couldn’t Abbot look at some place in another part of the city? Not here, on these streets where Ned used to trick or treat with Pat, where he runs with Baxter?
“Do you dislike it?” Abbot asks.
Ned huffs a laugh. “No.” It’s great, actually. Sure, dated as hell, looking like the last time it was redecorated was a half century ago. Ned peeks into a side room, half expecting to see wood paneling and shag carpet, but it just holds a worn couch.
Steve sees him looking and points his phone toward the room.
“Parquet floors. Isn’t that neat? And then we’ve got the dining room back there, beyond it.
Downstairs bathroom is here, stairs to the basement, and then there’s this room, through here.
Who knows what a Realtor would call it, a den?
Office? I’m not sure it’s technically a bedroom, because don’t those have to have closets?
Anyway, it’s some nice extra space on this floor. ”
“Found the wine key!” Jess calls from the kitchen and waves them in to join her. “The glasses leave something to be desired, but cheers.”
“Thank you.” Ned accepts a glass of red from her in a juice cup. “Yeah. Cheers.”
“Congratulations,” Jess says as they touch their glasses together. “We could do something a lot nicer for you two than pizza delivery, but clearly Steve is desperate to unload this house onto you.”
Steve holds up a hand. “If you want it. I have to try, at least. Did I mention the backyard? Already fenced in, and there’s an awesome, huge tree.”
“Love a good tree,” Ned says.
“Also—”
“Stop torturing the poor men,” Jess says.
“The roof is perfect for solar,” Steve finishes.
“Ignore him. How are you both? New marriage, new jobs coming up? Most exciting thing we’re doing is going to the beach over spring break, which won out over skiing.”
“We had talked about that,” Abbot says.
“We did?” Ned asks.
“New hot water heater too,” Steve says.
“A weekend away up north?” Abbot asks.
“Oh, yeah,” Ned agrees rather than arguing. He’s not going skiing. He’s not going anywhere except to work and then back home, and trying like hell not to spend money on the way.
That takeout. All the food they ordered over the weekend is sitting on his credit card bill, with Baxter a heavy, furry weight on top of it.
“Great snow this year,” Jess says, and Abbot nods like he knows what she’s talking about.
He does, probably. Ned’s pretty sure he took Liesl skiing when he was in Switzerland.
Great, well, he can go and Ned can ask Pat if he can maybe pick up a couple shifts. How fucking grand.
“Is that the big honeymoon plan?” Jess asks.
“We’ll be in Switzerland this summer,” Abbot says.
“Oh, of course,” Jess says.
“Vinyl siding. Can you believe that?” Steve asks. “I know, it looks amazing, and zero maintenance.”
They will? Ned didn’t agree to that. He can’t agree to that. Of course he can’t. What’s he going to do, tell Peggy that not only can she not go to camp with her friends, but also Ned’s willingly going to let Baxter get sicker and sicker and they can sit around and watch his decline?
He sets his wine down and paces to the darkened window, pretending he can see this wonderful backyard. In some other life, he and Peggy can hit baseballs back there, and he can grin when Abbot fumbles an easy catch, and they can fly all around the world on fabulous vacations.
I’m sorry, he wants to say, embarrassment rising through him. Or maybe that’s irritation, that Abbot can’t get Ned’s damn point, that they’re living two very different financial lives here.
A phone dings, and Jess says, “Food should be here in just a couple minutes.”
“We got it all wired for a mini split for AC,” Steve says. “Just needs the install, super simple.”
“So before the children descend on us to stuff themselves on pizza, tell me about Callahan and Portland,” Jess says.
“Wait, yes, starting with Chris,” Steve says. “Because I’ve heard a thing or two about working for him and I’m getting a little nervous.”
Ned finally smiles. “Chris? Nothing to worry about. He’s entirely and completely normal.”
“Oh no,” Steve says.
After dinner, the kids try to dash upstairs again, fingers greasy with pizza and paper plates strewn over the table, but Abbot checks the time and catches Liesl’s eye. “Your flight,” he says.
She sighs loudly. “Fine.”