CHAPTER 18
The next day, Johnny had two shifts to work, but his sister had changed her mind regarding her refusal to help clean the trailer, so with Johnny’s blessing, Victor headed out to Johnny’s place to meet Kayla the next morning.
She looked twitchy and irritated, but she had very little to say, and they got straight to work after exchanging brief pleasantries.
After a few hours, the place was cleared of trash, but the bigger obstacle ahead was the deep cleaning it desperately needed.
Instead of jumping right into that, they ordered a pizza and sat on the porch in the cold to eat it because Kayla didn’t want to eat it in a dirty kitchen. Victor couldn’t blame her.
“You must be real good friends with Johnny to be doin’ all this for ‘im,” Kayla said after a long and pregnant silence.
“It’s what friends do.”
“He’s my brother and I wanna tell ‘im to take a hike.”
“Well…” Victor wasn’t sure how to follow up that comment, so he just let it hang for a moment. “My relationship with my brother is complicated, too. I get it.”
“Your brother abandon your family to ride rodeo?”
“No, but he’s about to get married and I don’t think he’s cooked anything more complicated than a hot dog.”
“That’s just men.” Kayla bit off a piece of pizza and chewed.
“I know how to cook more than hot dogs.”
“Well, Johnny don’t.”
“I’ve noticed. He is willing to help with the dishes though.”
“So he’s been staying with you?”
“Yeah.”
“And he ain’t drivin’ you crazy yet?”
Yes. “No.”
Kayla snorted. “Give it a week. He lived with me for a few months after he got outta the hospital cuz he couldn’t take care of himself.
Took him about four days to start pickin’ fights with Mike.
Those two could not get along.” She rolled her eyes.
“He was good with the kids, I’ll give ‘im that. He’s especially good with Taylor.
” She paused to pick off a splinter of wood from the decaying porch railing.
“I kicked him out and that’s when he started livin’ here.
Maybe this is all my fault. Maybe the head injury was worse than we thought. ”
“It probably didn’t help.”
“God. What the fuck was he thinkin’? Why the hell—” She cut herself off and glowered.
“He’s such a stubborn piece of shit. I didn’t know his drinkin’ was this bad.
He was always a bit of a lush, but so is everyone ‘round here. Mike drinks more than his fair share, and God knows Daddy loved his liquor. You’da think the way he acted when he was drunk woulda kept Johnny away from it.
” She turned to Victor. “What do you think? You think he can get sober?”
“I don’t know. I hope so.”
“I can see why he gets along with you.”
Victor raised his eyebrows, questioning.
“Cuz you don’t talk all that much,” Kayla said with a twist of her lips. “Johnny never could shut the fuck up.” She finished off her pizza. “You got another hour or two to help with cleaning?”
“I can spring for it,” Victor replied, knowing Jade could hold down the fort at home.
They worked a bit longer, vacuuming and washing down surfaces and cleaning up all the cobwebs that had built up over time.
Kayla started shrieking over a few mice that scattered when she disturbed their nest behind the television stand.
Victor told her he’d come back later with some traps.
Overall, it was exhausting, dirty work, but Victor worked with horses all day, so he was used to it.
The house still wasn’t clean by the time they were done, but it looked a hell of a lot better, and with another few days of labor and an appointment with someone to fix the roof, the place could be habitable again.
Kayla’s mood had improved by the end, and she seemed more open to conversation.
She asked about how Taylor was coming along in her lessons, and Victor was happy to talk to her about how great of a rider Taylor had become.
After they packed up and headed back to their cars, they paused at the driver’s side of each of their respective vehicles and Kayla said, “Johnny should consider himself extremely lucky he’s got a friend who’s willin’ to put in this kinda work.
Most of his other friends took off after he got injured.
I don’t really blame ‘em. He was terrible to be around at that time. He didn’t take too well to having his dreams washed down the drain.
And honestly, if he weren’t my brother and I saw him livin’ in a place like that—” She jerked her head toward the trailer, “I prolly woulda given up on him, too.”
“He’s been through a lot.” Victor hesitated, unsure if he should continue but feeling brave enough to try. “You’ve both been through a lot.”
Kayla stared at him a moment, and Victor couldn’t help but see all the similarities between her and her brother.
They both had the same piercing crystal blue eyes, the same angry flare to their nostrils and the same pinch to their lips when they paused in thought.
He still wasn’t sure what to think of Kayla.
She seemed about as complex as her brother was.
“He tell you about Chuck?” she asked, voice quiet.
“Yeah,” Victor said. “Nothing too detailed, just the basics.”
Kayla looked unsure for a moment, turning away.
When she looked back at him, her expression had a tinge of sorrow.
“I know Taylor’s not at fault for what her daddy did to me, but it don’t mean my feelin’s aren’t complicated.
Johnny’s always cared about her more than my other kids, even if he denies it.
But I don’t think he’s always the best influence.
So… I’m glad she gets to be at your barn. I think you’re a better role model.”
A compliment seemed such an odd thing to receive from Kayla, but he was happy to get it. “Thank you. We’re happy to have her.”
“Personally I think you shouldn’t waste your time on an idiot clown like my brother but it’s your life,” Kayla replied with a smile and a shrug.
“I’m a horse trainer,” Victor replied. “I like projects.”
She snorted. “Well, bless your heart.” She then waved good-bye and slipped into her car.
* * *
Within the week, they had the place cleaned up and ready for Johnny to move back into.
The roof still needed work, but the forecast was dry and Johnny promised to hunt down a contractor in the meantime.
The carpet would also probably need replacing, considering all the year-old stains, and there was some pest control that still needed kept up with.
Still, the floors were clear, the walls were cobweb-free, the windows had been cleaned, and the place smelled only of Lysol and plug-in air fresheners.
Johnny put on a good front of being unaffected by all the work that had been done, but Victor caught him turning to wipe a few tears out of his eyes when Sarah showed him the new mattress they’d pooled money together to purchase for him.
Victor was exhausted—both emotionally and physically—but there was nothing like the joy of bringing his friend home to someplace clean and safe when he’d spent so many years buried in trash.
There was obviously more work to do than just what needed done on the house.
Johnny was in an emotionally fragile place still, and sobriety was not doing him any favors.
Judging by how freely Johnny had let go of pretty much everything in the house, Victor didn’t think the trash had been a result of hoarding.
Moreso it had been a result of deep depression and alcoholism, both of which would need extensive attention.
Victor couldn’t help him much with the alcoholism part, considering he knew very little about addiction.
But Johnny had already gone to at least one Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at Victor’s insistence, and afterward his opinion of it had improved.
Victor believed Johnny needed therapy as well, but in rural Oklahoma, that sort of thing wasn’t easy to come by, and Victor wasn’t sure if his piss poor insurance would cover it anyway.
Instead, Victor kept him busy, either in the house or around the farm, and Johnny seemed to enjoy putting himself to use.
He helped patch Victor’s tractor tire, put up a new section of fencing where the boards had rotted, and spent a few hours under Victor’s stock trailer to figure out the issue in its braking system.
Johnny seemed to know a bit about everything, so he was useful to have around.
Jade brought up the possibility of attending this year’s Stock Show in Fort Worth, as several of their boarders were interested in participating and had qualified for some of its classes.
Victor wondered if it was possible to get Taylor some time off of school to go.
She’d improved drastically over the past six months, and Victor thought she was capable of winning something if he entered her in a ranch riding class with Blitz.
He brought it up with Johnny, who then took it to Kayla, who came back a few days later with her approval.
As long as Johnny went with her as chaperone, she could go to Fort Worth.
Taylor spent twenty minutes running around the stable shrieking with joy upon hearing the news.
She had wanted to take Midnight, but the show was only sanctioned for pedigreed Quarter Horses, so it would have to be Blitz.
From now on, she’d do every other lesson on him.
Technically Blitz was retired, but Taylor weighed less than a hundred pounds, so Victor figured he’d do well enough.
* * *