Chapter 9
On the day Matt was moving in, Bailey had offered to pick him up from Gwen's place, but he said he was all set. Then Bailey and Joey were coming back from breakfast and doing some food shopping when they found Matt on the porch with about a half dozen boxes, none of them too big.
He was putting down one last box and looking apologetic. "Sorry. I wasn't going to bring too much, but Gwen ordered me to get this stuff out of her place," he said as he moved some boxes out of the way.
Joey was already eyeing some of his stuff with a lot of interest. "A basketball!" he said spotting it on top of an open box.
"And I have a hoop somewhere in here that I used to hang on my door," Matt said. "We can hang it outside if that's OK."
He was looking at Bailey, but he was looking at the sand. "Beach basketball? Is that a thing?"
"Uh, we can make it a thing," Matt said.
"Hang it," he said with a shrug. He was curious to see how this beach basketball was going to work.
Taking in the shopping bags first, Bailey came out to help Matt bring in the boxes. "Oh, you don't have to do that," Matt told him. "I'm here to work."
"I can bring in a few boxes," Bailey told him.
They put the boxes in the room that was going to be Matt's. With Matt and the boxes in there, the room looked so small. "I helped you clear out the place and now I'm bringing in all this." Matt pushed at one of the boxes with his foot.
"I'm sure it will be fine," Bailey told him then noticed Joey peering in.
"Are you gonna show us the stuff?" Joey asked.
"He's going to unpack without you bugging him," Bailey said to him the ruffled his hair. "Come help me put away the groceries."
"I can do that," Matt said. "You probably have to get to work."
"I do," Bailey said then he gave Joey new marching orders. "OK, help Matt put away the groceries. I got some stuff to make a sweet potato stew."
"Sounds good," Matt said. "Can I make it?"
"Sure, if you want," Bailey told him.
Matt and Joey went to the kitchen and Bailey went to his grandfather's office which he had taken as his own.
He got to work and resisted the urge to go see what Matt was doing.
The last thing he needed was to have Bailey hovering around him.
Joey was probably doing enough of that for both of them, but with pure motives.
Bailey just wanted to be near Matt, watch him doing anything.
He didn't do it. He needed to prove to himself that he could act normal and that hiring Matt wasn't a mistake. That's why he was proud of himself for working until quitting time.
Now that he was done, he went in search of Joey and Matt. He found Joey in his room drawing on the headboard of his new bed. "Who are those guys?" Bailey asked him as he saw he was drawing two figures.
"Superheroes. They're gonna protect me when I'm sleeping," Joey said.
"Oh, I thought maybe it was Matt and me," Bailey said jokingly.
Joey thought about it. "OK. I'll make you superheroes and then you can be on here too."
"Thank you," Bailey told him with a smile and went to see if Matt was making dinner.
Matt was in the kitchen, but the ingredients were untouched. They were spread around the countertop. While vegetables were waiting to be peeled and diced, Matt was furrowing his brow at his phone.
"Sorry. I was watching some videos. I thought a stew would be easy, but I never made it before," Matt admitted.
So this was another example of Matt jumping into things. "I never gave you the recipe, so it's OK," Bailey told him.
"I found videos but I'm not sure which one is right."
"It will be easier if I help you," Bailey told him. "I'm done working."
"I was hoping to do it all myself and impress you," Matt said then he smiled. "But this is good too."
He put away his phone, and they got to work.
As usual, Matt made every space he was in feel smaller.
Bailey didn't mind being crowded by him, but he made sure not to indulge in more 'crowding' than was necessary.
Still, he couldn't help the inappropriate feelings he had when he was near Matt as they made dinner.
To cover for his excitement, Bailey made conversation. "With all the jobs you had, I'm surprised you didn't work in any kitchens."
"I did have this job scrubbing the kitchen of this stake house every night, but there was no cooking going on when I was there," Matt said as he cut up the sweet potatoes Bailey was peeling.
"I remember Gwen saying she couldn't cook," Bailey said.
"I think it runs in the family. No one could put on a decent meal. My father was always yelling about it, but he always burned stuff at the grill," Matt said then he shook his head. "I need to stop bringing up all this negative stuff."
"Talk about whatever is on your mind," Bailey told him. "Sometimes it's better to get things off your chest."
"Maybe. Gwen always told me not to dwell on the bad stuff. Just put it behind you," Matt said.
"That is one way," Bailey said. "Gwen is very protective of you. She even wants to protect you from your own past."
"I appreciate it, believe me," Matt said and Bailey could see the love for his sister written on his face.
"You two are quite a pair," Bailey told him.
"But she's glad I'm out of her hair," Matt said with a grin. "I've lived with her almost since she first got her own place, so it's about time."
"I hope you'll like living here. I want you to make yourself at home, and don't worry about doing everything. The main thing is to look after Joey."
Matt nodded. "That reminds me, Joey said he had to draw on his headboard before it got dark in case there were scary noises again."
"Scary noises? He didn't tell me about that," Bailey asked and got worried.
"Probably just the wind. I noticed the window in the office rattles. I'll check the others too, but especially Joey's," Matt said.
So much for him not trying to do everything. "Thank you."
Bailey planned to talk to Joey about what scared him, but when the little guy came into the kitchen, he started questioning them to make sure they were making the stew right.
"Did you put the sweet potatoes in there? That's how you make it good," he said.
"Someone likes his sweet potatoes," Matt said.
"I like them from the oven too, and when they're fries and when you put a whole potato in and then you peel it and then you eat it," Joey said.
"A whole sweet potato?" Matt said. "Can you handle that?"
"I can," Joey said and stood straight.
"We like to roast the small ones whole," Bailey said. "We need to do that one of these days."
At Joey's bedtime, as Bailey was helping him get ready for bed, he asked him about the scary noises. "I don't know what they are," Joey said and then tried making the noises but they didn't sound like anything to Bailey.
"You know, any time you're worried about anything or anything scares you, you can tell me," he said and kissed Joey on the top of the head.
"I just forgot," Joey told him.
"OK. Then just remember that I'm right next door and Matt is in the other room. You can always call out if you get scared," Bailey said and he hugged Joey.
After he was in bed and asleep, Bailey told Matt he had a talk with him. "Joey doesn't seem too worried about whatever scared him, but I appreciate you telling me about it. You're already making our lives better."
"Yeah?" Matt smiled kind of shyly at that. "But this doesn't feel like a job yet, you know. I like being with you guys too much," Matt said, and Bailey told himself not to let his chest get tight or to lose his head over it.