11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Andre
When your phone rings in the middle of the night, it’s never anything good.
Only, it isn’t that late and it’s Paul who’s calling me. Maybe he just wants to chat.
I consider sending it to voicemail because I’m beat from being in the sun all day.
After getting Rylee settled into bed, I laid on the couch to watch TV and fell asleep.
I can’t remember what I was dreaming about, but it was good.
Calm. I feel rested even though I haven’t been asleep long. An hour, maybe?
Something in my gut tells me to answer the phone. What if he needs something? What if something is wrong? And even if it isn’t, maybe he just wants to talk, and I like talking to him. He’s my best friend.
“Hey,” I answer.
“Dre—”
I shoot up, knowing immediately that something is wrong. I can tell by the tone of his voice.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, my heart already beating a mile a minute.
“My apartment… there was a fire… and I—fuck.”
“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is Maddox okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. We’re fine. But our stuff… everything. It’s just… gone. I…”
“Where are you?”
“Parking lot. Sitting in my car.”
“Can you drive? Do you need me to come get you?”
My heart beats harder, panic swimming in my veins.
He doesn’t answer.
“Paul?”
“Yeah, I’m here. I’m sorry, I just…”
“Don’t be sorry. Where are you going? Why don’t you come back here? You and Maddox can stay.”
He pauses a moment before saying, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I”m fucking sure. I’ve never been more sure of anything. But are you sure you’re okay to drive?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Talk soon.”
He ends the call, and I stare at my phone, wondering if I should believe him. There was no emotion in his voice. Obviously, he’s in shock. Was he in the apartment when it happened? Did he drive up to it happening? How bad is it? What the hell is going on?
Minutes pass like years.
I pace the foyer by the door, waiting for the headlights to flash across the windows, letting me know he’s here.
When they finally do, I bolt out the door and toward his car. I yank the driver’s side door open, needing to see him. He looks devastated, but he seems okay physically. I glance in the back. Maddox is asleep, leaning against the door.
“Hey, you good?” I ask.
He nods, but says nothing. I make room for him to get out, and he goes to the trunk to pull out the bags he had with him earlier. So he didn’t make it inside the apartment, so I take it.
Paul opens the back door and speaks to Maddox quietly. He climbs out of the car, wiping his eyes and yawning. We walk to the house, Maddox half asleep on his feet.
“He can take my room.”
Paul doesn’t argue, just nods as he leads Maddox to my room and gets him settled. I so badly want to help, but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to overstep, but I feel like I need to do something. I just don’t know what that something is.
When he’s finished with Maddox, he walks out of my room without even looking at me. His shoulders are slumped, and his normally bright smile has been replaced with a vacant stare.
“Let’s get a drink,” I say, putting my hand on his back to guide him to the kitchen. He sits at the island, and I grab us both a beer. I pop the top on his and slide it over, then sit beside him.
“What happened?” I ask.
He shakes his head, staring at the beer bottle with a distant look in his eyes.
“I don’t know,” he says plainly. “We just got there and… everything was on fire. Like… really on fire. The flames were so high. I could hardly make out that it was a building. I thought maybe it was the wrong house, but… the bike. That was Maddox’s bike outside the window, beneath the burning curtains… . What the fuck.”
Paul rubs his eyes as he shakes his head, before opening them and glancing up at me.“Dre…” he breathes my name, and I hear the anxiety in it. “How the hell do I do this? What do I say? Where am I going to—”
“We’ll figure it out. You and Maddox can stay here as long as you need.”
“All of our stuff. It’s.. gone. All I have is… our bathing suits from earlier. I don’t even have my phone charger or his backpack or… fuck.” He leans forward, burying his face in his hands. All I can do is sit here and be a silent support.
“Have you called Amelia yet?”
“Fuck. No.” He pulls his phone from his back pocket. “I should call her. I should have called her, but I didn’t know—”
“Hey, it’s okay. You can call her now,” I say, keeping my voice even, though I can’t deny that seeing him like this hits me in the chest like a brick.
“Right,” he says, his voice despondent and distant. “I’ll be right back.”
He gets to his feet and heads toward the sliding glass doors.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“No, it’s fine. I’m… I’m fine. I’ll just be a minute.”
“At least take your beer. Might make you feel better.”
He huffs out the smallest laugh, grabs the bottle, then disappears outside.
The automatic lights go on, and I watch as he brings the phone to his ear.
I have plenty of space here for them to stay. He said something about Amelia leaving for a trip, but I can’t remember how long she’s supposed to be gone.
There are three empty rooms upstairs that can be turned into bedrooms. I was trying to figure out what to do with them.
Now I know. I’ll just need to get them beds, dressers, probably clothes too.
Whatever they need. Paul will give me shit about it, but I have the money.
That’s no concern. He doesn’t have much of anything right now, and the best way to do this is to just do it.
Worry about the rest of it later. Paul doesn’t have any family close by, and no other friends he can lean on. It’s not like he can stay with Amelia.
I pull out my phone and start searching for furniture, telling myself I’m not jumping the gun. I’m just doing what best friends do. What other options does he have?
I pick out two matching bedroom sets, but in different colors. I get the grey one for Paul, and the black one for Maddox. Both come with queen-sized beds, two end tables, and a dresser. They’ll fit perfectly in the rooms.
They’ll need to shop for their own clothes and decorations themselves.
I guess I could throw in some generic stuff like pajamas and sweatpants.
T-shirts. Socks. Underwear. Essentials. That should be okay, I think.
As quickly as I can, I add everything to my cart.
I get shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, hairbrushes, everything I can think of.
Whatever I forget, I can get later. But I have to do this before Paul gets back in here and argues with me about it.
Because he most certainly will argue with me about it. So, I’m not giving him the chance.
I’ve just cashed out when the sliding door opens with a whoosh, the warm air coming in with him. He closes it, then sits beside me.
“Everything okay?”
He settles his beer on the island, batting it back and forth with his hands as he sighs.
“I had to talk her out of coming back from her trip.” He licks his lips, and stares at the bottle. “I told her we were fine, and that’s the most important thing, so she should stay. Told her I got it covered.”
His voice is barely a whisper, and I hate seeing him like this. He glances out of his peripheral, at me, and my heart breaks at the sight.
“Yeah, no need for that. We’ve got this.
We’ll figure it out.” I reach out slowly, setting my hand on his shoulder.
He relaxes a little, his brown eyes tired and glistening as if he’s been fighting tears for a while.
I give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
“I’m turning the two extra rooms down here into bedrooms for you and Maddox. ”
“You don’t have to do that, Dre. Really.”
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to.” My voice is low, though there’s no need to whisper because the kids are asleep, and it’s just us, but still, there’s a tension between us that is irrefutable.
I know how he feels. Maybe it’s not exactly the same as how I felt when I lost Victoria, but I know the look of defeat.
The look of exhaustion. And I know how much of a support Paul’s been these last for months for me. It’s the least I can do for him.
“And you can’t argue with me because I already ordered everything,” I say, giving him a soft smile, hoping it will help.
Paul frowns at me. “How the hell did you do that? I was gone for five minutes”
“I’m really good at spending money.” I give him a reassuring smirk as I rub his shoulder and he leans into my space as his gaze finds mine, searching for something I can’t quite place. “Now, tell me what happened.”
He takes a deep breath, then lets it out.
“I don’t even really know. Everything was great today, I mean.
With you and Rylee.” He blinks. “Then I got home and there were people everywhere, and sirens and…” He swallows hard.
“I thought there was no way it could be my place. But… that was his bike under the burning window. Where he always leaves it. Even though I tell him all the time to pick up his shit, he—”
“Hey,” I say, letting my hand slide over to his neck. I gently massage it as he lets out a heavy breath, hanging his head. “It’s okay. You’re good.”
“I just don’t understand how something like this happens so quickly.”
“I’m so sorry, Paul. I know that doesn’t help. Nothing I say can bring back all the stuff you lost or fix what happened.”
“It’s just stuff,” he says. “Stuff that can be replaced. Thankfully, most of Maddox’s baby stuff is at Amelia’s. His clothes, toys… all that can be replaced, but Maddox…” His throat gets tight as his body tenses. “No one was hurt, and that’s what matters.”
“Yes, it is.”
His eyes are red and watery, but there’s a familiar warmth in them.
“Thank you, Andre,” he says, his voice cracking. “Just… thank you.”
I pull him in for a hug. He needs it, even if he won’t ask. And maybe I need one too, because I’m hurting for my best friend and his son.