Chapter 8
Before
The Davis family has an annual get-together every summer with extended family, and that includes me now too.
I’ve never had this much family, being an only child with older parents. My grandparents were gone before I was born, so all I ever had were my parents.
And now, I have Jess and her parents and twenty other people.
The backyard is full of cousins I’ve slowly learned the names of over the years. Aunts and uncles who greet me like I’m part of the family. Kids, chasing each other too close to the pool while Joyce yells at them to stop running before someone gets hurt.
I’m in a lawn chair by the far end of the pool with my book in my lap while Jess talks with two women I vaguely recognize from out of state, a beer bottle in her hand.
This isn’t my thing, but I enjoy it for her sake, drowning out the noise as I turn the page.
“You can’t have that.”
Joyce’s voice cuts through the climax of my book, where they’ve finally caught the killer. I look up in time to see her with her hands on her hips, the particular pose she takes when her kids, no matter how old they are, are doing something they shouldn’t.
And Will is standing at the cooler with a beer in his hand.
“Mom—”
“You’re twenty years old.”
“It’s a family thing, nobody cares—”
“William Davis, you put that back right this instant.”
He puts it back with a sigh that I can see from here, a group of kids nearby chuckling at his expense.
I look back down at my book. Jess and I have been together since high school. I know her little brother more than I would like to sometimes, and I’m sure he feels the same way.
I’ve tried with him throughout the years. Spoken to him, asked about his work when he had it, his friends. Sometimes it’s fine, and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes, his distaste for me is so obvious it’s impossible to ignore, and I still don’t know what I ever did to deserve it.
One thing’s for sure, you never know which version of him you’re going to get, and it’s best to watch your back.
That’s the only reason I know that he’s in the pool now, and I didn’t read a word of the last page.
He’s at the far end, forearms on the concrete edge, talking to an uncle, and for once, he looks relaxed. We worry about him, where he’s going in life, if he’ll eventually find his purpose.
Frank got him on at the construction site this summer, and it shows. His pale skin has tanned, and freckles have started to bloom across his shoulders and the back of his neck. The sun has lightened his hair, and he’s gained some muscle.
He looks completely different from the stone-faced kid who barely leaves the house, other than to do things he shouldn’t.
When the food is ready and the man he’s talking to heads over to grab a plate, Will follows him out of the pool, bracing his hands on the concrete and pulling himself up in a fluid motion. He reaches for the towel left on a nearby chair and runs it over his face and hair.
I’m guessing.
That’s not where my eyes are.
His swimming trunks have ridden up, stopping mid-thigh, revealing pale skin that hasn’t tanned, leading up to where the red fabric clings to his—
He’s in good shape. That’s all. He’s been working a physically demanding job, and his body has changed. I’d notice it on anyone—
“Hot out,” Will says, from directly in front of me. His towel is around his neck, and he’s squinting down at me, water from the pool sliding down his toned stomach, catching on the waistband of his trunks.
“It is,” I agree, clearing my throat.
He nods at my shirt. “You’re gonna cook in that.”
“I’m fine.”
He tilts his head, looking me up and down, smirking in a way that makes me feel like my t-shirt and khaki shorts aren’t enough clothes. “You look like a math teacher, dude.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I defend, but I still close my book and set it to the side.
He smirks again, and I don’t know what that means, so I ignore it, watching him drop into the chair next to me. He stretches his legs out, turned toward the pool, putting all of that golden body on display, and I don’t know what happens to my mouth after that.
“You look good.” He turns to face me, his eyebrows climbing to his hairline. “I—I meant physically. You—” I stop before I dig myself into a hole I can’t get out of. “You look like you’re doing well.”
He stares at me, an unreadable expression on his face, teal eyes boring into mine. I shift in my chair, opening my mouth to say something else, but close it when his lips stretch into a smirk that I don’t trust.
“Oh, really?” He leans back in the chair, at ease in his own skin in a way I can’t help but be jealous of. “Well, thanks, doc, but I’m not sure how fair it is, you seeing all of me when you’re dressed like that.”
He looks at me expectantly as anxiety churns in my stomach and my heart begins to pick up. The look on his face, his eyes trailing down my body—
He’s not flirting with me. There’s no way.
But it feels like he might be.
I look away, finding my wife in the crowd, still talking to her cousins, completely oblivious to my conversation with her brother and the strange feelings bubbling up that I push away as soon as they come.
I love Jess.
Will is an asshole who doesn’t know when to quit.
“Suit yourself,” he says with a shrug, standing up before I can address him again, leaving me with a nudge on the arm.
He was messing with me. Doing whatever he does to make me feel like this, all weird inside. I don’t feel anything for him.
I don’t want him.
Across the yard, Jess waves at me with a smile, and I lift a hand back. She starts toward me, and I remind myself how lucky I am. How good my life is. How much I love her and this family and this yard full of people who have taken me in as their own.
And when she sits down in my lap and wraps her arms around my neck, tipsy from the beer, I don’t look in Will’s direction one single time.
Now
Turns out, inviting Will to fix up the practice was a good idea.
He shows up on time. He knows what he’s doing.
And to think I didn’t ask for any credentials before hiring him, I guess I should be pleasantly surprised that the wall in the waiting room is unrecognizable already.
Smoothed out, ready for paint soon, he’s even doing something in one of the rooms off to the side with a power tool.
Admittedly, I’ve walked past more times than necessary, trying to get a feel for where he’s at in the project.
I’m not hovering.
This is my place of business, and I want to make sure everything is going smoothly, not that it could look any worse than it does right now.
Victoria glares at me on my fifth time taking the long way back to my office, having caught on to my curiosity two days ago.
By five thirty, I meet her in the lobby where she’s pulling on her coat, the keys already in hand. “You go on, I can lock up.”
She pauses, looking toward the sounds of Will working with a raised eyebrow. “You sure?”
“Go ahead. I want to get an update on his progress before we leave.”
She still has that look, a disagreement somewhere in her eyes, but she gives me the keys and starts toward the door. “Alright, boss. Whatever you say.”
I find Will crouched in front of the far wall of one of the other exam rooms, the bottom of his shirt riding up slightly, showing a sliver of his lower back as he lines tape along the baseboard. “This room’s ready for paint,” he says without looking my way. “You got a color picked out?”
“The same as the other rooms,” I say, leaning against the doorframe. “There should be a can of it around here somewhere.”
He nods, standing with a roll of his shoulders, his shirt clinging to his back in a way that makes the muscles there stand out.
“I’m picking up dinner tonight,” I say, clearing my throat.
“That new pasta place. The kids have been asking for it all week.” I stuff my hands in my pockets, sweaty from nerves.
We haven’t done this since our argument, but things have been better, and it feels like it’s time to try again. “You should come.”
He gives me a sideways glance, so I continue. “You can ride with me.”
“Actually.” He pulls his phone out of his back pocket, holding it up for me to see. “Victoria downloaded this app for me.”
I step closer into the room to see.
“It’s called Uber,” he says, like he’s explaining the world’s next great invention. “It’s like a taxi. You put in where you want to go, and somebody comes and picks you up.”
I look at him, but he’s still staring down at the app.
“I’ve been using it all week,” he continues, and I realize with a sick feeling that he’s actually excited about this. After spending so many years behind bars and living the way he did before—
Uber is exciting news to him.
“It’s only like five bucks to get across town, can you believe that?” He pockets his phone, and he’s nearly smiling. “I already have somebody on the way. I’ll meet you there.”
I stare at him, his smile, my stomach twisting. “Okay,” I say, my tongue heavy in my mouth. “See you then.”
He nods, grabbing his jacket.
I wait until the weird feeling passes before following him out.
It’s a cold, rainy evening, dark even though it’s not that late, fat raindrops making me wish I had thought to bring a thicker jacket. But the bag is still warm when they hand it over at the counter, so I tuck it against my body, walking back to the car.
“Dr. Murphy!”
I turn at the sound of Karen’s voice.
She’s jogging up the sidewalk, her hands stuffed in a long coat and her dark hair surrounding a scarf. She brightens when our eyes meet, closing the distance between us with a smile that I return to be polite.
“Hello, Karen. How are you?”
“Oh, I’m good!” Her eyes drop to the bag. “Dinner run?”
“Kids have been asking for this place. I finally caved.”
“That’s so sweet.” She tilts her head with another smile, her cold hand reaching out to touch my arm. “You’re a really great dad.”
“I try.” I shift the bag to my other arm for a reason to move.