Hope's River

by McHeyzer , Margaret

  “I’m quickly learning this.” What a beautiful, courageous thing River is doing. This forces me to see him differently.

  River reaches down, takes my hand in his, and warmly squeezes. “He’s a good kid, love.”

  Wow, River has taken me by complete surprise. I want to say something, but I’m not sure I know the right words. Dropping his hand, I walk back to the others, and look Matt in the eye. This kid needs to know we’re on his side, but we won’t tolerate bullshit from him either. “What you did in there will never happen again, understood?” He lowers his gaze, and gives me a small nod. “You’re damn lucky I’m not pressing charges.”

  “Thank you,” he says in a tiny voice. Then he looks to River, and shows him a hint of a smile. “I won’t let you down,” he says looking at River first, then me.

  “You better not,” I say with a hard, no-nonsense tone.

  Stacey looks at me, then River and mouths the words thank you. This may be what he needs to make sure he doesn’t end up being an adult asshole. God only knows, there’s enough of them in the world.

  Stacey and Matt walk toward her car, I hear her saying, “Don’t think you’re getting off that easily, Matthew. You’ll be punished at home too.”

  The kid mumbles something, but whatever it is, between River and me, we may just have saved his life.

  Thomas’s turn. “Jake,” I call. He comes over, and I jerk my head toward Thomas and his parents. “What’s the story?”

  “They haven’t been in Hope River for long. The parents are furious with him. He was supposed to be staying at his friends’ house, but snuck out to cause a bit of trouble. What do you want to do with him?”

  “He’s fourteen?” Jake nods. “I’ll talk to the parents. But he’s not getting away with it.”

  Jake leans in and says, “Maybe go a bit easier on this one then you did Matthew.”

  “I wouldn’t want to be on her bad side,” Charlie says under his breath.

  “Nor would I,” Jake agrees.

  I walk over to the kid, and his parents. “We’re so sorry,” the father automatically says, though something’s telling me he’s not as furious as I thought he’d be. It’s more like a token apology.

  “He’s really sorry too.” Thomas’s mother pushes him forward so he can apologize. I notice she’s significantly younger than her husband.

  What is it with kids? They do something wrong, and the parents have to prompt them to apologize. “What have you got to say for yourself?” his mother scolds.

  “Joanne!” the father snaps at his wife. He turns to the kid, and looks at him. “Thomas!” He jerks his head toward me, then takes his phone out of his pocket and flicks through it.

  You’ve got to be kidding me, right? He’s got no interest in his kid, or this situation. Not to mention the way he talked to his wife. Ugh.

  “I’m sorry, Hope,” Thomas says as he looks over at his dad, who’s completely indifferent now.

  “I don’t accept your apology.”

  I hear his mom suck in a breath. And his dad lifts his head from looking at his phone. Thomas hasn’t lifted his chin. He bursts into tears, and brings his hands up to cover his face. “Am I going to go to jail?” he says between sobs.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” the father says in a condescending tone.

  This father is not getting away with downplaying what his kid did. “The decision is yours. I’m going to give you a chance to right the wrong you did. You can come here every weekend for the next month and wash the trucks, and help around the house, or I can…”

  “I’ll do it. I’m so sorry.” He drops his hands, and lunges at me, wrapping his arms around my waist while he cries into my chest. Right, then. I wasn’t expecting that reaction. “I’m so stupid, I promise I’ll never be so dumb again.”

  This kid is totally different to Matt. This has probably scared the shit out of him. And I honestly believe he’ll never do anything like this again.

  Lifting my right hand, I pat him on the back. Stepping back, he looks at me and gives me a small smile. “Don’t screw this up.”

  “I promise, I won’t. I’ll be here six in the morning to start on my chores.”

  Jesus, six? “Seven is fine.”

  Both his parents stare at me, and I’m sensing by the pissed-off look on his father’s face, that I’m in for tongue-lashing from him.

  “Go to the car, son,” his father instructs while scowling at me.

  “Yes, Dad.” He hangs his head, and walks toward his parents’ car.

  Here we go.

  I pull my shoulders back, and lift my chin. I notice Charlie does the same thing. He stands a step back on one side, and River emulates his pose on the opposite side.

  The father flings a vicious look to his wife. She too lowers her head, and walks to the car.

  What the actual fuck?

  The father takes a sly look around, seeing where everyone is positioned. “You have no right to make my son work for you.”

  “And your son had no right to trespass,” I say with equal venom in my voice as he has.

  “He’s not coming here to work for free. What do you think this is?”

  “I think it’s an opportunity for him to not become an asshole like his father.”

  His eyes widen, and he steps closer to me with hands quickly balling into fists. Charlie is right beside me within a second, River pulls me back, and stands in front of the man.

  “This has got nothing to do with you, River. Back away,” the man threatens.

  Charlie and River both stand in front of me, protecting me. I push through them both, and come toe-to-toe with this abusive piece of shit. “He’s right, step back,” I instruct Charlie and River. The tension is high among all of us. Any second, someone is going to end up on their ass, and it isn’t going to be me, Charlie, or River. “You want to come at me, come at me. But I’ll tell you right now, you’ll find yourself knocked out, and it won’t be because of them.” My heart is pounding so hard inside my chest, and I feel like I’m going to be sick. “I don’t back down from bullies. You may be able to intimidate your wife, but your son owes me for the damage he did to my property. He’ll be here, or you and I will have problems. I’ll have Jake arrest him.”

  This dick’s jaw flinches, and he scowls at me. He quickly glances at Charlie, then River.

  “It’s agreed, Damian. Thomas will be here helping,” Jake says as he appears beside me, creating a uniform front.

  Asshole Damian plasters a fake smile on his face, and nods. “Yes, Thomas will be here.” Asshole gives Jake another curt nod before shooting me a glare and returning to his car.

  He pulls away with a chirp of the tires. I let out a breath, and feel my hands shaking. “Are you okay?” River asks as he gently rubs my back.

  I smile, refusing to let River or Charlie see how terrified I am that I came so close to being involved in a confrontation. “Jake,” I call.

  “Yeah.” He watches as the car disappears into the darkness of the night.

  “Is he on your radar?” I jerk my chin toward the retreating car.

  “He is now,” Jake says sounding suspicious and angry.

  “I’m amazed that in such a small town, no one has ever said anything about him,” I challenge Jake.

  “They moved here fairly recently, and have really kept to themselves. But, don’t worry, Hope. I’ve got my eye on him now. And I’ll be making sure I talk to his wife when he’s not around.”

  “Thank you.” My concern is for the wife and the kid. But it does ease my mind knowing Jake will keep an eye on them. I truly hope he was just angry in the moment, and he doesn’t take it out on Thomas or his mother.

  “I’ll leave you to it,” Jake says as he walks back to his sheriff’s cruiser, turns the car around and heads back to the station.

  River, Charlie, and I are left standing, looking at the house. The neighbors have lost interest, and have gone back inside. Charlie’s holding a flashlight toward the house. “Let�
�s have a look at what they did,” I say.

  “Hang on, I’ll grab my flashlight too.” River runs back to his truck, and returns with two. He hands me one, and turns his on. The three of us walk into the house, and have a look at what they’ve done.

  “It’s minimal.” Looking around, I shake my head. “A grand at most.”

  “Maybe a bit more.” Charlie points the light to some of the scorched lumber. “But it’s okay, it’s not that bad. Man, I don’t remember us being little turds like this when we were their age.”

  “I was,” I honestly reply.

  “I can’t imagine that,” River says.

  “Yeah, I was always skipping school. Then I was always losing my phone. Oh my God, remember that time we were blowing up everyone’s mailboxes?” I ask Charlie.

  Charlie looks at me with wide eyes, and an even wider grin. “We blew up our own to make it look like we were victims too.” He laughs so hard. “Mom and Dad had no idea it was us.”

  “How old were we? Like twelve or something?”

  “Jesus, Hope. Do you remember we stole that bottle of bourbon from the store? And we drank the whole thing, and were so sick?”

  “No, what? We never did that,” I say trying to remember if we actually did in fact steal a bottle and drink it all.

  “Yeah.” He hits me softly on the arm. “It was just before Christmas one year. We went to get Mom and Dad a present and we stole a bottle of bourbon.” Oh shit, the memory is returning.

  “Nah.” Hell no, I’m not admitting to that.

  “Yes! Come on. We stole the bottle. And we saved it for New Year’s Eve. Mom and Dad had some friends over, I think. And you and I snuck off to my room, and drank the entire bottle. You threw up all over the floor. I threw up all over my bed.” He’s laughing as he’s recalling the story.

  “Did you?” River asks, completely invested.

  “No, I was a good kid.”

  “Like hell you were,” Charlie shrieks. “Our parents were furious at us.” He’s laughing so hard he’s nearly doubled over. “She got her ass handed to her by our parents. They were so angry with us.”

  “Nah!” I try to defend myself. “You got in shit, not me. They were angry you were such a bad influence on me.”

  Charlie keeps laughing. River’s chuckling too. “Until I told them you stole the bottle.”

  “Traitor.” I smack him in the arm.

  “Why is it I’m not surprised at all that you were the one who stole the alcohol?” River says.

  “Shut up!” I say with a smile.

  “Come on, we’ll look at this tomorrow. No use in trying to look at it in the dark.” Charlie turns and starts walking out of the house. “Oh yeah, don’t forget to tell River how when you threw up, you also peed yourself.”

  Slowly, I turn my head to glare at Charlie, but he’s nearly gone now. If I could see what was on the ground, I’d chase him and beat his butt for saying that.

  River snakes his arm around me, leans down and whispers, “We’ve got unfinished business.”

  My skin tightens, and suddenly my heart lurches, and not in a good way. This has been a wakeup call. Once this house is done, I’ll be gone. I can’t start something I can’t finish.

  “Good night, you two,” Charlie calls.

  “Night,” River responds. I’m quiet the entire ride back to River’s. I’m trying to think what I’m going to do. I like River, really, I do. But it’s not fair to lead him on. It’s going to end badly for both of us. He parks his truck when we get back to his place, and turns to me. “You haven’t said a word since we left.”

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  He nods, and purses his lips together. “This isn’t going to happen, is it?”

  Letting out a sigh, I shake my head. “We’re never going to work, River.”

  “You’ve convinced yourself, haven’t you?”

  “How can we, when I’ll be gone soon?”

  He looks forward for a few seconds. “Okay then.”

  That went much better than I thought it would. The best thing for me to do now, is to leave. Getting in my truck, I drive back to May’s.

  There’s a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew it couldn’t work between us. It never has in the past, so what makes me think it could now? Something would be waiting, ready to tear us apart.

  It always does.

  The house has started coming together. The days River is there to do the electrical rough-in, I’ve been making myself scarce. I don’t want to see him. That night two weeks ago doesn’t need to be repeated. I was so close to having sex with him, but I’m glad I didn’t. Because then, I’d be the asshole who’d leave and we’d both end up with a broken heart.

  “Hey, wanna go out for dinner tonight?” Elle asks as I’m picking up a coffee for Charlie and myself before I head over to the house.

  “Sure. I need a girls’ night.”

  “You’ve been different, lately. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” I reply in a monotone. “Nothing at all.” I add in a click of my tongue.

  “I’ll pick you up? Say about six?”

  “Make it seven. There are a few things happening over at the house. But I can’t stay out for too long.”

  “It’s a school night, is it?” Elle chuckles. She places the two coffees on the counter. The bell over the door chimes, and I see Elle’s eyes widen, before she quickly lowers her head.

  Must be Jake.

  “Morning, Hope. The house is looking good,” Jake says as he stands beside me.

  “Yeah, it’s coming together. We’ve got a lot happening today.”

  “I might stop by and have a look later, if that’s okay?”

  “Anytime. Anyway, I’ve gotta run. See you at seven?” I say to Elle.

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Where are you two off to at seven?” Jake asks.

  “We’re going for dinner. No idea where yet, Elle’s organizing it.”

  “Will this be another drunken evening? Should I accompany you to be the designated driver?” Jake asks.

  Yes! Finally, these two might get it on. “No, I won’t be drinking,” Elle says.

  I shoot her a what the fuck look, clenching my jaw tight and widening my eyes. What the hell is wrong with her? He wants an invite. And he probably doesn’t want me hanging around.

  Jake smiles, but it looks like he’s hurt more than anything. Here Elle is, lusting after Jake, and he’s wanting to be included, and she can’t read the obvious signs. “Make sure you both behave yourselves.” Jake’s police radio goes off, and he turns away to respond to it.

  “I swear to God, Elle. I’m gonna smack you one.”

  “What? Why?”

  She can’t be so unaware. “He wanted an invite tonight.”

  “What?” she shrieks. She looks over toward Jake, then shakes her head. “Nah, he only said that because of what happened last time.”

  “Tell him he can come.”

  “What?” she shrills again. “Nah.”

  I grab the coffees, and the paper bag with the muffins, and walk backward toward the door. “Do it!” I say in a low breath.

  No, she mouths as we both look over to Jake who’s still got his back to us.

  Do it! I try to point, but my hands are full.

  No!

  “Whatever. I’ll see you at seven.” I grab the handle of the door with my pinkie, and maneuver myself out of there while wrestling with the idea of returning and asking Jake to join us. It’s not my place. She has to do it. They have to find their own groove without interference from me.

  Me of all people.

  A person who’s always unlucky in love.

  Getting in my truck, I place both coffees in the cup holders, and pull into the street toward Old Roger’s house.

  God, I hope River’s not still there. He shouldn’t be. He’s done everything he needs to until Charlie lets him know we need the next stage of electrical done.

  I pull i
nto the street, and there’s a swarm of workmen coming and going from the house. Looking at it from the outside, it’s really coming together. I mean, it’s still nowhere near ready, but considering the way it was it’s looking amazing. At least we have outside walls now, and the roof should be finished today.

  Closing my eyes, I take a second to just catch my breath. “Today is going to be an awesome day,” I say to myself.

  Yep, nothing is going to get me down. Not a damn thing.

  I take the two coffees, and brown bag with the muffins, and head in to find Charlie. “Charlie!” I call.

  “Hang on.”

  I have no idea where he even is, or where his voice is coming from. I look around, and can’t believe the back. It’s completely exposed.

  Walking toward it, I love what I’m seeing. It makes it so much larger, even though the build-out will make it even bigger. I place Charlie’s coffee on a workbench set up where the new kitchen will go.

  “Hey, sis.” Charlie comes over and grabs his coffee. His tool belt is around his waist, and he’s looking all dusty and dirty. “Liking it?” I bring my thumb up to my mouth, and flick the short nail on my tooth. “Oh shit,” Charlie says as he exhales loudly.

  “What?” I look over at him.

  “You’ve got the look. You’re thinking, right? You’re going to change something?”

  He knows me so well. “Actually…”

  “No!” he protests. “Nothing else.” He takes a sip of his coffee, then says, “What are you thinking?”

  “You have the plans on you?” He pulls a piece of paper out of his back pocket, and when I unfold it, it’s a shrunken version of the plans I designed. “See here?” I walk the length of the back that’s completely open because we haven’t finished with the extension yet.

  “Ugh, yeah.”

  “What if instead of having a sliding door to the back, we open it completely up, and have bi-fold glass doors from here.” I walk to the opposite side. “To here?”

  “So you want the entire back to be one huge glass sliding door?”

  “Not a sliding door, but the bi-fold ones. So then, we can build a deck that takes it out say another ten feet, and it can easily transform the house, giving it more usable space.”