Chapter 12
It was raining so Bailey was working in the office instead of on the beach where he wanted to be. He was doing it to the sound of Matt hammering, reinforcing the back of a shelf while Joey was telling him, "I want to hammer too."
"OK," Matt told him. "We'll do it together."
He was so good with Joey who was happy to see the results of his work. "The nail went in. We did it."
"Are you going to help me put the shelf upright?" Matt asked him.
"I will, but I'm not as strong as you," Joey told him.
"You will be. You're going to be big and strong any day now," Matt assured him.
Bailey was thinking about lunch and since Matt was busy, he decided to order some salads and sandwiches. Joey liked when his salad had strawberries so he ordered that kind for him.
When the delivery came, Matt opened the door. The guy who brought their lunch turned out to be that guy Matt was kind of friendly with. Bailey could hear him talking about some party that night.
"I might skip it," Matt told him.
"Oh, no man. You're always working. You need to live," the guy said.
"I'm good," Matt said.
Hearing the door close, Bailey went to the kitchen just as Matt brought the delivery bags in. "I overheard that guy mention a party," Bailey admitted.
"Oh, I'm not going. I'm staying in tonight. I have video games that need playing. Gwen got me a subscription for Christmas. I can't waste it," Matt said like he wanted to make sure Bailey knew he had no intention of going out.
"OK, but..."
"I'm happier staying in anyway. You don't need to worry about it," Matt said.
Bailey didn't like the sound of that. "I thought we settled this. You can go and have fun. You're allowed to live your own life."
"Sorry. I had a nightmare last night that I came back here from a party and the door was locked and then I got the door open somehow and you and Joey were gone, and...
Sorry. That's stupid," Matt said. "My dad would lock me out when I was little, and I had to sit outside next to the door half the night until my dad went to bed and Gwen sneaked me in. "
"Joey and I would never lock you out," Bailey told him with a smile but his chest felt so tight, hurting for him. "We should all go for a swim after lunch. Clear our heads."
"In the rain?" Matt said but Bailey pointed out the window. The rain had stopped and the sky was clearing, the sun was coming out.
After the rain, the beach was kind of a mess. Joey loved it, looking at what treasures washed up though it was mostly just seaweed. After they all went swimming, he was poking at the stuff on the beach while Matt and Bailey strolled after him.
Bailey got a text and assumed it was work, but it was a reminder about what Joey was doing tomorrow.
He passed the reminder on to Matt. "You'll be losing your little helper for a few hours tomorrow.
They just sent me the schedule for the day camp at the sea museum.
They're doing some projects and learning some nautical terms," Bailey said.
Matt made a face. "Sounds like school," he said like a guy who wasn't fond of school.
"Don't tell Joey that. He's excited about it," Bailey told him.
"I won't and I'll miss the little guy," Matt said.
Bailey was thinking how he was going to miss having a buffer between him and Matt. But maybe he shouldn't have been worrying since Matt only noticed him in that way when he was drunk.
"So you don't like school but you spend every waking moment working to go back?" Bailey said.
"I don't have to like it. It just needs to get done," Matt said. "It's like another job and I hope it will pay off."
"I'm sure it will," Bailey told him.
"I want to have a good job, making good money, so I'm not worrying about where I'm living, you know, so I can feel secure or something like that," Matt said.
Bailey could tell his upbringing had left him with too many fears and he hoped he would end up with the kind of life he wanted.
It made him wonder what Matt would do once he and Joey were gone.
There was at least one thing he could do for Matt, so he told him, "Once Joey and I go home, you can keep staying at the beach house.
It probably won't sell right away. I'm in no rush to put it on the market anyway.
" Bailey was even thinking of keeping it, bringing Joey there every summer.
"Oh, I didn't mean to make you feel sorry for me," Matt said. "You don't need to worry about me. I'll have it all figured out by the time you guys leave."
"The house is going to sit empty. You can be like a caretaker, make sure it stays presentable if any prospective buyers want to look at it or if we want to come down here to stay," Bailey told him. "You'd be doing me a favor if you stayed at the house."
Matt gave him a mildly suspicious look then he smiled. "All right. As long as I can be useful, I'll do it."
The next day, Joey was already at the sea museum day camp, and Bailey was drinking his second cup of coffee on the porch. Matt was there too. He had taken the dining table out there to sand it down and he was going to refinish it. It did need it.
With Joey gone, Matt was making sure he stayed busy. Bailey was glad though he couldn't help coming out to hang out on the porch to watch him work, to see if he wanted a cold drink, that sort of thing.
Seeing that Matt was finished sanding down the legs and he was about to turn the table to sand the top, Bailey was going to go over and help him. Before Bailey could even set down his coffee cup, Matt flipped the table by himself.
"I was going to give you a hand, but I guess I'm not needed here," Bailey said.
"I like the company," Matt told him with a smile.
Bailey smiled back but told himself not to make too much of it. "I thought we might go out to eat when Joey is done at day camp," he said then he noticed that Matt looked kind of uncertain. "You too, I mean, if you want."
"If you want to spend some time with Joey, I can just keep working," Matt offered.
"I think Joey would miss you," Bailey told him and didn't add that he would too.
"I'm surprised you're not sick of me," Matt said.
"It's the opposite. We're going to miss you when we have to go home," Bailey admitted.
"I'll miss you guys even more. I keep reminding myself not to get used to the way things are now. But I'm going to be sad, there's no way around it," Matt said. He sounded resigned and his expression was heartbreaking before he smiled quickly to cover it up.
Was he really going to miss them that much?