3. Deck
Chapter three
Deck
PRESENT DAY
I stuck the shovel in the ground and leaned against it, the task of digging a massive hole in my backyard nearly complete.
My arms ached like I’d just pitched nine innings, but the Japanese maple in a pot on my patio deserved a permanent home.
I had almost psyched myself up to keep going when the Dope Gardening Songs playlist blasting from my soundbar went quiet between tracks, long enough for me to hear the buzzing of my doorbell.
Leaving my muddy shoes outside and turning off the speaker, I gave my hands a quick rinse in the kitchen before making my way to the front of the house.
As I opened the screen door, I hoped Johnny would be on the other side.
I hadn’t seen him for a few weeks, and he’d looked pretty strung out that last time. It would be nice to see him safe and—
“Oh my god…Deck?”
Alright.
Not Johnny.
Mierda.
Since I started talking to her brother again a year ago, I’d been expecting this moment. Dreading it. Even as I did my best to avoid it.
“Hey, Cori.”
I lifted my arm, like maybe I was gonna shake her hand, but it turned into a clumsy little wave at my waist. It didn’t seem like she noticed. Her eyes looked unfocused, dazed.
“Deck?” She appeared to be catching her breath. “Deck…” More deep breaths. “I can’t believe… Wow.”
As much as I’d anticipated running into her eventually, I still felt unprepared. Even more so when I registered her expression.
Why did she seem so surprised to see me? She’d shown up on my doorstep. Had Johnny given her the address? Was he okay? Was she okay? I wanted to ask, but the words wouldn’t come. The only ones that came were, “Yeah…wow.”
She glanced up at the sky and shook her head before muttering, “W ild ,” beneath her breath. Leaning back on her heels, she eyed me up and down. Her expression remained unreadable. I stood, not speaking, my hands buried in my pockets.
"I take it this is…your house?" she asked.
"Yeah."
A few more seconds passed.
Finally, her upper lip twitched. “So are you going to invite me in?”
“Oh, shit.” I backed up and held the screen open wider. “Sorry. Yes, of course, come in.”
Cori stepped over the threshold and into the small entryway of my house. She eyeballed the cardboard container filled with boots, as well as my sock-clad feet. “Should I take my shoes off?”
I looked down at the small items U-Haul box I used to hold the steel-toed Wolverines I wore to jobsites.
“No. It’s fine.”
She nodded, and I motioned her into the living room.
Thankfully, nothing too embarrassing was lying around.
A few baseball caps and a jacket on the couch, some mugs left out on the medium items box I had repurposed as a coffee table, and small piles of junk mail on top of the six other boxes stacked against the wall.
I moved around hurriedly, gathering up the loose items. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting company.”
“It’s fine,” she said. “I wasn’t exactly expecting to see you today either.” Her tone stayed flat, but she smiled tentatively, as though to test my reaction.
The smile hit me in my gut.
Cori sat down, and I looked anywhere but at her. I’d already noticed enough. The high ponytail exposing the long line of her throat and neck, the expressive sky-blue eyes behind dark, blunt lashes, and the two tiny brown moles on the apple of her left cheek.
Memories flared. I’d been young. Cocky. I’d wanted to kiss those moles.
Pushing the thoughts aside, I decided the stacks of mail needed straightening. Right that minute. The jacket and hats had to be put away neatly in the front closet.
Forcing myself to forget about her had been the right thing to do. It was still the right thing. But it was impossible to ignore her when she and her two tiny moles were in my living room. I evened out the already even boxes against the wall.
I had no idea how she'd ended up at my house since seeing me on the other side of the door had obviously been a shock.
“I…I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, mostly to herself.
“Uh-huh.”
Cori peered at the boxes along the wall. “Did you just move in?”
“Um… It’s been about two years.”
She sucked in a breath. The silence stretched and knotted in the air. “You’ve been back…two years?”
I nodded, shifting my weight from foot to foot. When I didn’t elaborate, her eyes moved around the room, taking in my sparse living space. Eventually, she asked, “Do you…live alone?”
“Yeah… Just me.” I raised my arms at my sides.
After another beat of silence, Cori gestured to the bare walls. “Not much on decorating?”
“Not really.” I looked down and ran my hands over my shirt—muddy from planting—then stuck them into my back pockets.
“And you were…gardening?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Cori scrunched her nose. “I gotta be honest, Deck. I remember you being more of a talker.” A nervous little guffaw left her throat.
Carajo .
I needed to get myself together. I might be stunned to see her, not to mention afraid of her ability to draw me in like a magnet, but none of that was her fault. If I’d wondered if anything had changed in twelve years, just having her in my house for ten minutes had proven that it hadn’t.
But she deserved better than me acting like a pendejo . Of course she was confused. The Artie Decker she’d known before had talked a lot of shit.
“Sorry, Cori. I guess I’m just surprised to see you. I asked Johnny not to tell you I was here. Or that we were back in contact.”
She recoiled slightly at my words but seemed relieved I’d finally uttered more than a few in a row. “He didn’t tell me. I snooped out this address on my own, thinking he might be here…long story. I didn’t know it was your house.”
I sat down next to her, maintaining a careful distance. “So you came here looking for your brother? Is he alright?”
She sighed thickly. “That probably should have been my opener, huh? I guess I got distracted…seeing you. But yes. I’m looking for him. And I don’t know if he’s alright. That’s why I need to find him.”
Cori explained how she’d ended up here—Johnny staying over last night, the stolen credit card, the address in the app, and hanging out on my front porch for twenty minutes, ringing the doorbell.
Part of me wanted to tell her she’d been foolish to leave her purse on the counter, that of course an addict was going to take that opportunity, but I understood what she meant when she said, “I think I’m always trying to prove my brother still cares, in his way.
Subconsciously, giving him easy access to my purse was like a test of our relationship. ” She stood, agitated. “He failed.”
I watched her pace across the builder-grade beige carpet in my living room, ponytail whipping around.
Good thing we had an urgent task to focus on.
I needed something to think about other than how beautiful she looked.
She’d been can’t-argue-it attractive as a teenager, but this grown-up version… peligrosa . Fucking dangerous.
“Don’t worry, Cori, I’ll help you find him.” What else could I say? She looked so lost. And I had an idea where Johnny was.
She stopped moving. “Thanks. And, so we’re clear, I realize it was kind of insane showing up at a random house.
I know you could have been an axe murderer.
But it’s also been a hell of a morning on top of a really weird few days.
” She reached into the purse that was still slung over one shoulder and pulled out a slim black cylinder.
“In my defense, I brought pepper spray.”
“Hey, I get it,” I reassured her, almost smiling.
“You don’t grow up where we did without becoming at least a little insane and a lot fearless.
I’d have given teenage Cori at least fifty-fifty odds against an axe murderer, so I wouldn’t expect thirty-year-old Cori to be scared of a quiet house in Mountlake Terrace in broad daylight. ”
“Watch it. I have six more months of my twenties.” She laughed before sobering. “It’s just that Johnny’s never stolen from me before. And I’m mad at him, but I’m mostly worried.”
I decided not to upset her further by admitting I’d also been extremely concerned about her brother lately.
My stomach dropped as her expression turned grave. Grave and eerily familiar. Unbidden, an image of her face on the last night I’d seen her surfaced in my mind. But I couldn’t allow myself to think about that right now. Not if I wanted to function while she was near me.
“Try not to get too freaked out yet, Cori. I have a thought about where he might be.”
“Well, thank goodness for that, because I’m officially out of leads. Honestly, I can’t believe Johnny didn’t tell me he was talking to you again. He never mentioned a thing.”
“Like I said, I asked him not to.”
“I know you said that. But…why?” She frowned, letting out a deep, slow exhale before asking, “Why have you been back two years, and I didn’t know?”
I eyed her levelly, speaking in a low tone. “I think you can guess.”
An exasperated huff left her. “I’m not sure I could, Deck.” Her shoulders sagged. “But we can leave it for now.” Blowing out another massive breath, she sank back onto the couch. “This is all so surreal, seeing you and—”
A poofy gray hurricane jumped up on the cushion. Cori looked at him, disbelieving, as he rubbed against her and purred noisily.
“Is that…” She glanced at the feline again before whispering reverently, “Bastardo?”
“Yep,” I replied, glancing down at the furry little intruder.
“Mamá was more than happy to part with him when I got this place. In fact, the day I closed escrow, Pop showed up and dropped Bastardo in my living room. I believe his exact words were, ‘ Es tu problema ahora, tonto .’” I did my best impression of my dad’s gringo accent.