Chapter 16 Morris
MORRIS
“Mom, please, please! Please can I have a sleepover with the doggies, please!” Zoey is in her pajamas and has freshly painted toenails.
Lia is also in pajamas, if you count fringed pants and a tank top that has more cutouts than fabric sleepwear. She’s sitting with her feet spread out in front of her, and she’s fanning her damp toes with an old, beat-up issue of Hot Rod magazine she found in a pile on a coffee table.
“Can we pleeeeease!” Lia giggles and imitates Zoey, calling out so her voice carries past me and into the kitchen.
Somehow, there is a motley crew of bikers, women, dogs, and children in Leo’s house.
I look over at him apologetically. “Leo’s house, Leo’s rules,” I say.
If he doesn’t mind all these strangers in his house, I can’t imagine why he’d care if this girl crew sleeps on the floor.
Leo is helping Alice put away the dishes and clean up the dinner table. We ordered takeout for dinner, and after Lia went through a shockingly complex ritual to prep her dogs’ food, everyone in the house had eaten.
Tiny is finishing off a beer on the couch, watching his daughter and Alice’s daughter add the finishing touches to a living room floor pedicure, while the dogs crash out in various spots on the furniture, stuffed from their meal of whatever that shit was with herbal supplements Lia decided to feed them.
Leo looks back at me. “Morris, whatever, man. I’m easy. Mi casa, as they say.”
I don’t want to make myself at home in another man’s house, but he has three bedrooms, and we have Alice, Zoey, and Lia, as well as myself, to settle someplace for the night. Tiny plans to head back to the compound to sleep in his own room tonight, which solves one of the bedroom questions.
“You sure you’ll be all right if I head out, man? This is all good?”
I’ve known Tiny a long time, and my brother looks fucking beat. If I became a hands-on father like this all in one day, I’d want to retreat to my room at the compound too.
Then again, maybe not.
I watch Zoey giggle and play with Lia. The little girl seems like she’s chilling out right in front of my eyes.
As if just a few hours out from under the clutches of her mother’s douchebag husband were releasing all the chains that kept the kid toeing the line like a soldier.
I could be done with this mess in the morning.
Let Leo deal with the car and let Alice sort out her own business with her ex.
Go right back to the life I thought I had yesterday. But I know there’s no way I can go back now. Something changed when I found Alice in that gas station. The new building. Jessica moving on, ending things for good. I don’t think I could deny how I’m feeling, even if I tried.
I wouldn’t dream of walking away from these two now. Alice and Zoey.
Not tonight.
Not now.
Not ever.
Tiny hauls himself off the couch and waits.
“Yeah,” I assure Tiny. “Yeah, we’re all good. Come on back in the morning if you want. You can check out the new property. Take your daughter for breakfast.”
“I will,” he says. Then he heads over to Leo. “Thanks, man. You’re saving my ass.”
“Thank you for dinner and the beer,” Leo says, turning to clap Tiny’s hand in a shake. “Happy to host your daughter as long as you need.”
Oh, Leo, the poor fucker.
He’s got no game.
He can’t keep his eyes off Tiny’s daughter, but I can’t tell if she’s even noticed Leo’s alive.
Lia is a sweet one, but she’s got one foot on another plane. She’s more connected with kids and animals than other adults.
Although, she did a great job helping when Alice had her little anxiety spell back at my apartment. Growing up with a nurse for a mother rubbed off somewhat, it seems.
Tiny walks through the mess of tissues and nail polish, dog toys and pillows, to wish his daughter goodnight.
“I’ll be going, then,” he says stiffly.
“Oh! Dad, wait up! Wet nails, I gotta move slow. Don’t leave!” Lia leaps to her feet, dramatically spreading her toes and moving in a zombie-like walk toward Tiny. “Ooooohhhhh, I’m so happy!” Lia circles her dad’s enormous belly, reaching her arms as far around him as they can go.
Tiny gives the girl the world’s most awkward hug, barely patting her back with a hand before frowning and stepping away from her.
“All right, then. You got money? You need food or something?” Tiny asks.
“Aw, look at you!” Lia reaches up and pinches Tiny’s cheek, being careful to hold her fingers out so she doesn’t smear her nails. “Such a dad. I’m great! Got everything I need right here.” She pats her chest, and I swear Tiny rolls his eyes but then quickly composes himself.
“Right, then. Right, okay. Okay.” Tiny stands there muttering to himself, so I wave him off.
“Come on. I’ll walk you out. I wanna lock up.” I head toward the front door with Tiny close on my heels.
We step outside into the humid night air. Darkness has fallen, but Leo’s motion-activated exterior lights turn on once we get past the front door.
“What the fuck, man,” Tiny says. “I need a smoke.”
“Go home and smoke a j,” I say. “Been a day.”
Tiny nods. “This Alice…” He doesn’t finish the sentence. He doesn’t need to.
I nod back.
“Okay.” Tiny gets it. “We weren’t followed, and without that phone, that fucker of an ex shouldn’t be able to find her, right?”
“That’s the hope,” I say.
“Thanks for bailing me out of a tight one,” he says.
“’S’all right.”
Truth be told, I think having Lia and those yapping dogs will be good for Zoey. Leo sure as hell doesn’t seem to mind, and keeping our host happy is a win-win.
“Tomorrow, then,” Tiny says. “I’ll put the key to your place back at the compound? Or you want it now?”
“I’ll take it,” I say, and I grab it when he hands it my way. “May need some shit from over there at some point.”
Tiny claps me on the back and then climbs behind the wheel of his truck.
I wait until his taillights are out of sight before I walk the perimeter of Leo’s house.
It’s a classic split ranch built on a slab, but I don’t like the fact that any asshole with a hammer could get in without so much as a stepladder.
The backyard is fenced, but the fence is old as fuck.
It’s clear that no one has put any money into keeping this place up in some time.
But it’s a roof over our heads, and tonight, I’ll be within arm’s reach of Alice and Zoey.
I’ll be able to keep them safe.
When I go back inside, I flip the deadbolt lock on both the screen door and the aluminum exterior door. The front door opens right into the living room, which has, in the few minutes I’ve been gone, been transformed into a sleepover wonderland.
Zoey and Lia are lying on the floor with their backs leaned against the couch, tucked beneath my mother’s quilts.
The dogs, two tiny critters that can’t weigh more than fifteen pounds together, and then a medium-sized dog that looks like a mix of golden retriever and German shepherd, are passed out cold around them.
Zoey, leaning against the couch, my mother’s quilt over her lap, gives me pause. Lia is young enough to be my daughter, and of course, so is Zoey. Even with the age gap, the two could be sisters.
Leo is lying on the couch behind Lia and Zoey, transfixed by the feathers in Lia’s braids when he’s not watching the kids movie playing on the TV.
But it’s not until I see Alice that something catches in my chest. She’s sitting alone at the kitchen table. She’s taken off her shoes, and her feet are bare. Her legs are crossed, and she’s sipping a beer, watching me intently. There is something in her eyes, a look that draws me in, toward her.
I head into the kitchen, fill two glasses with water, and set one on the table in front of her.
“You know we just did all the dishes,” she teases.
I stand behind her and put my hands on her shoulders. “You sure did,” I note.
“Morris,” she starts, but I squeeze her shoulders. She looks up at me, and I shake my head.
“Let’s take a minute,” I say.
“For what?” she asks.
I don’t say the word on the tip of my tongue, so I just fall silent.
Home.
I want to take a minute to savor something I have not felt since my mom passed.
What it feels like to be home.