Son for Hire: Chapter 57

By the time I catch up Alan already has the suite door open and clomping heavily down the stairs.  I am relieved to watch as he sets the box with the incriminating contents down in the middle of the living room floor in tact.  He turns on his heel and brushes right past me without a glance, he drops the keys onto the kitchen counter on his way out.  I set my load beside his and hurry to keep up.  I consider telling him that Kit wasn’t actually pregnant but we weren’t even moved in yet and I didn’t want to say anything that might risk a change of heart, a big reason that we even got the place was because of his chivalrous attitude toward what he thought was a hapless couple expecting a new addition.  I didn’t think anything I said could help at this point but I felt like I had to defend myself on some level.

“I told her not to lift that much.”  I say, close on his heels.

“Uh huh.”  He peels out of his suit jacket and rolls up the sleeves of his collared silk shirt.

“We had help lined up.”  I lie.  “It fell through at the last minute.”

“Hrm.”

“She insisted on helping.”

“None of my business.”  He says in a clipped voice.  Carefully draping the jacket over the side of the dusty truck box panel he wastes no time in reaching in and hauling out the next item.  Christ almighty!  The dude was every bit as strong as he looked.  His big mitts latch onto my old wooden dresser that Kitty and I had struggled to carry together and he hefts with ease all by himself.

“Do you need help with…”  I start to ask but he was already on his way.

“This is going great.”  I mutter to myself sarcastically as I take a couple of armfuls of overstuffed garbage bags.

Whether it was because he was late for work, he was too annoyed to talk, or that he simply didn’t want to interact with me Alan moves like a machine.  Take a load, carry it down, and back again at a relentless pace.  The only thing that gives him pause is when we get to the bottom of the load and he notices two single mattresses instead of one larger one.

Out of breath from keeping up with him I huff.  “We push’em together.”

“None of my business.”  He says again before grabbing both of them together and heading back again.

I stand looking at the empty truck bed a moment.  In a quarter of the time it took us to load the truck we were already done.  I then scramble to follow my gruff cuckolded landlord.  I get to the basement just in time to watch him rest the two mattresses against the wall, right where I had been for my ‘spanking’ not so long ago.  He turns to look at me, a sheen of sweat across his brow.

“Uh…thank you.”  I say.  “Thank you so much.”

“Uh huh.”  His eyes narrow.  I could almost hear him swallowing everything he wanted to say to me right now.  In the end he keeps it to.  “The rental agreement is month to month.  Do not take this place for granted.”

“We won’t.  We appreciate this so much.”  I say.  Hoping beyond hope I offer my hand once more.  “Thank you Alan.”

He looks down at my hand…then reaches out to take it.  His enormous paw encompasses my comparatively slender hand and he squeeeeezes way harder than necessary.  I clench my jaw but make no sound as we shake.

“Furniture stores have delivery.”  He says bluntly.  “Use it.”

“Of course.”  I say through gritted teeth.

With that his vice-like grip loosens and he strides from the suite.  The moment he is out of earshot I let out a gasp and rub my nearly crushed hand.  “Fucking gorilla.”  I mutter to myself.  Even as I massage my sore hand though I cannot deny what a huge help he had been.  He didn’t need to do this, yet he did.  He and I would never be friends but I did have a grudging respect for the guy.

My hands on my hips I look about as I catch my breath.  Weird as it was to see our stuff piled here now I am awash with a great sense of relief and accomplishment.  We made it!  But we still had a lot to do.  I had a truck in the driveway and cash burning a hole in my pocket.  I grab the keys and bound up the stairs.  I pause just to enjoy the quiet and fresh air, I swear even the sun shone warmer out here, before heading to the back kitchen door.  There I tap lightly.

“Come in.”  Evelyn calls.

I open the door to find both Evelyn and Kitty at the island where I had enjoyed that first meal she served me on my first day as a call boy.  There was a file folder on the counter with a pen on top of it.  It looked as if any business that needed to be done had been done.  In a lovely green dress, her red hair shining in the morning light from the window, Evelyn is a vision of beauty.  I pause a moment, trying to maintain my cool, but when she holds her arms out to me…I crumble.  I let out little peep and rush into Evelyn’s outstretched arms.  Not even caring that Kitty was watching, she knew a bit of our secret anyway, I rest my head on Mommy’s shoulder and shrink into her warm encompassing embrace.

“My boy.”  She whispers then smooches my cheek three times then nuzzles in to smell my hair.  Ohhhh how I needed this.

“I’m home.”  I whisper.  “I’m home Mom.”

My eyes are tight shut and I am grinning from ear to ear as I feel her arms tighten around me.  “Welcome home baby.”  She pulls back and looks at me with a radiant smile.  She places her hand on my chest, her fingers touching the compass pendant that she had gifted me.  “I knew you’d find your way to me.”

I melt.

Kit cannot contain a chuckle, reminding me that she was there.  Feeling rightly embarrassed I clear my throat as I feel my cheeks begin to warm.  “Ahem.  Yeah, um, good to see you again Evelyn.”

“It is good to see you too baby.”  She smiles, not the least bit flustered at Kit’s presence.  “Is my sweet boy hungry?  Thirsty?  Tired?”

Sheepishly I glance Kitty’s way to see her watching and smirking, both intensely curious and amused by the interaction playing out in front of her.  There was no point in hiding anything from her now.  She’d already seen too much and heard too much, and she would only witness more as time went by.  I accept my role as Evelyn’s son for hire, in fact I embrace it.  I was so damn PROUD to be her boy.  Who wouldn’t be?

In a soft voice I say.  “I’m thirsty.”

“I thought you might be.  Moving all that stuff is thirsty work.”  She pats my cheek.  “Sit down my boy and I will get you a nice cold iced tea.”

“Thank you.”  I smile.  Coming around to beside my sister I sit down and look over at her from the corner of my eye.

Kitty just laughs quietly and shakes her head.  I knew she wanted to say something, to tease me in a kindly sisterly way, but she’d promised that this was the one thing that was off limits and, bless her, she is true to her word.  Despite her laughter there was no mean-spirited judgment in her bright twinkling brown eyes, she’d done enough with clients in her years as a working girl not to sit on any high horse, if anything she seemed fascinated to see this side of me revealed.  For my part it actually felt kind of nice having at least one person we didn’t have to keep our secret from.

“Any chance a parched girl might get in on this action?”  She quips.

“Of course my dear.”  Evelyn says, already pulling down two tall glasses from the cupboard.  She adds ice then takes out a big glass pitcher from the fridge and pours.  With a glass in each hand she turns back to us and sets one in front of each of us.  Kitty and I glance at each other with a strange sense of deja vu, memories of childhood flitting about in our minds.

I take mine and raise it to our host.  “To Evelyn, for making this possible.”

Kitty raises hers.  “To Evelyn.”

Mom crosses her arms and leans back onto the counter.  “The pair of you are just too adorable.”

Having genuinely worked up a thirst I chug half the glass before setting it back down again.  “Hahhh, delicious.”

“Yummy.”  Kit agrees.

“So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?”  Evelyn asks.

“Shopping.”  I say.  “While we’ve got the truck we need to get some essentials.”

“We don’t even have a place to sit.”  Kit agrees.  

“Shopping.  That’ll be fun.”  Evelyn says warmly.

“Yeah it will.”  Kitty replies.  “I’ve got a few things picked out already.  Nice but affordable.  We’ll have that place looking better than ever.”

“It’s good for a place to have a woman’s touch.  There’s nothing uglier than a bachelor pad.”  She looks at me.  “You listen to your sister young man.”

“Yes Ma’am.”  I giggle.  “Oh hey, speaking of bachelor pads, Alan mentioned you might have some used stuff you might want to get rid of.”

This gives Evelyn pause.  “Alan said that?”

“Uh, yeah.  He said you might have stuff from your granddad up in the attic.”

“Well…yeah.”  She says.  “Son of a gun.  That man continues to surprise me.”  She shakes her head.  “Yes.  We’d saved it for Eugene but he didn’t want any of it.”

“Eugene?”  Kit asks.

“Her son.”  I mutter.  “Her real son.”

If Evelyn heard the jealousy in my voice she chooses to ignore it.  Continuing on she says.  “I would have offered it sooner but I thought that might appear a bit too…friendly, if you know what I mean.”

“Ha ha!  Alan likes us.”  Kitty chirps.  “I just knew he was a big ol’ softie.”

I rub my tender hand.  “I’m not so sure about that.”

“He has been wanting to clear the attic.”  Evelyn says.  “This is just perfect.  Well then, before you go why don’t you two come up and see if there’s anything you’re interested in.”

“You won’t feel weird?”  I ask.  “Your granddad’s stuff back in his suite?”

“Nah.  He’d be happy to know it’s going to good use.”  She nods as she looks back and forth between us.  “He would like you two.  He’d say you were good eggs.”

“Well…great!” 

“This just gets better and better.”  Kitty says.  She pokes my shoulder hard.  “You better be extra special nice to Mama after this Donny boy.”

“Kitty!”

“Oh, he will.”  Evelyn states.  “No worries there.”

“Mom!”

“Make him earn it.”  Kitty insists.  “Work him hard.  We aren’t taking handouts here.”

“Kit!”

“He’ll earn his keep alright.”  Evelyn confirms.  “He better anyway or I might just take him over my knee.”

“Mooooom!”

The pair of them laugh like fast friends as I sit and blush.