by C. Kennedy
“Yes. I’m going to try to speak with Rich’s parents again this evening. I’ll keep your parents posted.”
“Thanks, Detective.” Jake terminated the call. “He says Rich was held back and didn’t graduate.”
“What’s with the ring?”
“He bought it at the beginning of the year. Maybe that’s why he’s pissed off.”
“Doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
“You being gay didn’t have anything to do with Jason either, but he thought it did.”
Michael shook his head in frustration as he dialed his phone. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, honey. How’d practice go?”
“Great. What are you doing at the house?”
“Your dad and I met with the insurance adjuster, and the restoration people are here now.”
“I’m coming by. I want to check out my room.”
She sighed. “There is nothing left of it, but you’re welcome to come by.”
Michael winced. “I’ll be there in a few.” He terminated the call, dialed Christy, and it went to voice mail. He dialed Rob. “Hey, Rob.”
“Hi, Michael. Christy’s napping with Thimi.”
“How was last night?”
“Rough. I’m afraid the meeting with Ariel didn’t bode well for Christy’s nightmares.”
“I wondered about that. Is he okay?”
“As well as can be expected.”
“Will you tell him I called and I’ll try again later?”
“Sure will.”
“Thanks.” Michael terminated the call.
“Bad night for Thimi?”
Michael shook his head. “Christy.”
Jake blew a long, exasperated breath. “Everything needs to calm down.”
“Did you talk to Sophia?”
Jake nodded. “She called early this morning and said Ariel is doing okay, and seeing Christy was the highlight of her life since losing her sister. She was laying down all kinds of plans for the future.”
Michael matched Jake’s long breath. “That whole thing could have gone all kinds of wrong. I’m glad it’s a wrap.”
“She said Ariel is still seriously afraid of the Sannas, but the extra security helps.”
“Can’t blame her there.”
“All considered, I still think it’s a win.”
“Except for Thimi’s custody.”
Jake shrugged a shoulder. “With General Sotíras and my dad on it, I don’t think there will be a problem.”
“What if his adoptive parents want him back?”
“Then we’ll deal.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
A RESTORATION company had removed the water, ash, soot, and damaged carpeting from the house. What was left of the burned furniture was loaded into a truck to be carted away. Workers on the roof removed damaged shingles and tossed them down to the grass. Another crew worked to remove the ceiling and replace the drywall in the hallway, and some guy ran around taking pictures of it all. Michael and Jake walked through the living room to the kitchen.
“Looks a lot better than it did last night,” Jake said. “There’s hope.”
“There’s always hope, bro.”
They found Michael’s parents in the kitchen, each with a cell phone plastered to an ear. Bobbie looked exhausted and Mac raised a hand in a wave. Michael went to the fridge and pulled a couple of bottles of water out. He tossed one to Jake and joined him at the breakfast bar.
Bobbie terminated her call and smiled at Michael.
“You okay, Mom?”
“I am. Your father didn’t limit my furniture budget, and I’m going to refurnish the entire house.”
“Score!” Michael held his hand up for a high five, and she slapped it lightly.
“We’ll stay at Jake’s during the reconstruction.”
“Another score! Can we look at my room?”
Her face fell in disappointment. “It’s been gutted. I moved anything remotely salvageable to the den. I think your saving grace is that everything important to you was in the den cabinets.”
Michael jumped up from his seat and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”
They made their way down the hallway, careful to step out of the way of the workers, and stood in the doorway to Michael’s room.
Jake whistled softly. “She wasn’t kidding, was she?”
The room was black with soot from floor to ceiling, and the windows were gone. It was empty of everything, including carpeting and the doors to the walk-in closet and bathroom. Michael walked to the closet and peered inside. Nothing remained. He went to the bathroom. The mirror had shattered from the intense heat, and all the plastic in the room, including the bottles in the shower, had melted in place. He reached for the bottle of CLEAN on the sink. It had melted and was now stuck to the counter. Seventy-six dollars down the drain. He looked in the cabinets beneath the sink. Everything had melted.
He looked around the bedroom and couldn’t help but feel violated. He’d had pictures on the walls, photographs on the nightstands, and a few knickknacks. The knickknacks weren’t terribly important, but they were his, and there was no sign of the one thing he had hoped had survived the fire. His heart sank.
He left the room, Jake followed him down the hallway, and he pushed open the double doors that led to the den. There on the game table was the metal lockbox he’d hoped had survived, and his heart soared. Charred, dented, and black with soot, it was still intact. He went to it and tried to open it. Still locked, he was satisfied.
“What’s in it?” Jake asked.
A pink flush crept up Michael’s neck and filled his face.
Jake chuckled. “Skip it.”
“Yeah.” He looked through the other things and found nothing of value until he came to his laptop. He tried to pry it open and gave up. Everything he owned but the metal lockbox had melted. It felt as if his entire life had melted.
“It’s a good thing all your trophies and stuff were in here.”
“Seriously, bro.”
Jake’s phone rang, and he answered it before Queen’s “We Are the Champions” ringtone could finish. “Hey, Coach. … Way to go. … Thanks, I’ll tell him. See you tomorrow.”
“We can use Wilson’s track?”
“Yes, the indoor one. And he has an extra jersey for you.”
“Cool.”
MICHAEL AND Jake practiced on Thursday and Friday mornings, and Christy texted Michael in the middle of the night instead of returning his calls. It bothered Michael, but he figured Christy needed time to process what Ariel had said and also needed time with Thimi. He hung out with Jake but was otherwise bored out of his mind, and at dinner on Friday night, he pushed peas around his plate, disinterested in food.
“Not hungry?” Bobbie asked.
Michael shrugged.
“Still no call from Christy?” Mac asked.
“Nope. Is Thimi one of your patients?”
“Not yet, but I assume I’ll take over his care when Dr. Jordanou leaves. Why?”
Michael glanced at Jake before responding. “Just wondered if you knew anything about him.”
“If I did, I couldn’t share my knowledge with you.”
Anger pricked Michael’s spine. He didn’t want to lose his temper in front of Jake’s parents, but he’d been stewing since the end of the trial. “Just like you couldn’t tell me Yosef raped Christy?”
Mac paused briefly at the sarcastic question. “Exactly.”
“You should have told me.”
Mac wiped his mouth with a napkin, set it beside his plate, and met Michael’s challenging gaze. “Let’s assume, for a moment, that I chose to violate a patient’s confidentiality and my ethics, and I told you. Would it have made it any less horrible for you? For Christy?”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is your point?”
“Christy’s my boyfriend. I had a right to know.”
“You did not.”
Michael shoved his plate a
way hard, and the silverware flew and landed on the floor. He stood abruptly, his chair tipped backward and fell, and he stormed from the dining room.
Bobbie stood to go after him, and Mac motioned for her to stay.
She righted the chair. “That was out of line.”
“He’s angry.”
“Still unacceptable.”
“He knows that, but to speak with him now will only result in an argument.”
MICHAEL KICKED the end of the bed with his good leg, flopped down on it, and stared at the ceiling in the dim light of the room. Anger vibrated through him, and he needed to unload it. He decided to go for a run, sat up, and kicked off his shoes.
His phone rang with Coldplay’s “Fix You” when he had his shirt halfway over his head, and he froze. It was Christy’s ringtone. As the phone rang a second time, he raced to put his shirt back on and only succeeded in tangling his arm in it. He reached for the phone with his free hand, fell back on the bed, thumbed the green button, and tried to put the phone to his ear. The shirt was in the way. “Shit.” He set the phone on the bed, pulled the shirt over his head with far more force than necessary, and answered the phone. “Christy?”
“Shit? This is how you answer the phone?”
Michael’s anger dissipated the moment he heard Christy’s voice. “Sorry. My shirt got stuck, and I couldn’t get it off to answer the phone.”
“You had the argument with the shirt?”
Michael half laughed. “Yeah. The shirt almost won. How are you, babe?”
“Thimi is not well. The new place is very hard for him. After five days, only now does he sleep without the vomiting.”
“Oh, man, I’m sorry, babe. How are you doing?”
“I am very tired, but I am happy he is better.”
“I miss you.”
“I am sorry it is like this.”
Michael sighed and rubbed his eyes with thumb and forefinger. “We’ll get through it.”
“I call to ask the favor, the big one.”
“Anything.”
“This week when Thimi does not sleep, I tell him the story of us. I also tell him of the Ferris wheel and how it is a good thing for me, not the bad thing.”
“Cool.”
“I tell him of the arcade, the pinball, the rides, and the man with the balloon at the waterfront.”
Michael smiled. “Yeah.”
“Like me, Thimi does not know these things. I show him more of the picture on the computer of the painted horses. I forget the name of this.”
“The carousel?”
“Yes, this. He likes this. He does not go out since he is here. I would like to take him to see the painted horses.”
“Yeah, sure. When do you want to go?”
“If Thimi has the good night, can we go to the waterfront for the short time?”
“Sure, what time?”
“The afternoon. Three, perhaps. But I must wait to see if Thimi has the good night.”
“Okay. Just give me a call when you wake up.”
“Thank you, moro mou.”
“You’re welcome, babe. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No. Thimi needs the time to see and learn the new things. He lives for years in the cage, so it is hard for him.”
“Cage?”
“In the very small closet. He does not know sounds, people, and the things. Michael, he never had the ice cream.”
“We can fix that.”
“He will be very afraid. He cannot be touched. We must keep him safe from the people.”
“You sure you want to go to the waterfront on a weekend? I mean, there are a lot of people there.”
“You have practice in the week.”
Michael sighed. “Yeah, okay.”
“Oh, one more of the important thing. I tell him Sophia is the sister of me. He is surprised and would like to see her.”
“Did you tell her that you told him?”
“I did. She is coming from the city to be with Jake. I ask her to ask Jake to go to the waterfront.”
“Cool. You don’t want to drive there together?”
“I don’t know. It will depend on the meeting with Sophia. It could be too much for Thimi. I will sit in the back of the security car with Thimi and you to make sure he is okay.”
“What does Rob think about this?”
“He thinks it is good. When I came here, I did not leave for almost nine months except for the school. Rob did not like this.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot about that.”
“Rob wish Melos, the counselor of Thimi, to come with us, but Thimi does not want this. He wish only Zero to come with us.”
“The whole family.”
Christy laughed softly. “It is nice to hear you say this.”
Michael smiled to himself. “Okay, babe. I’ll wait to hear from you in the morning?”
“Yes, Michael. Thank you.”
“Love you.”
“S’agapó̱.”
Michael terminated the call, lay back on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. He wasn’t sure how he felt. Good that Christy had called, but things still felt off. Maybe it was because he was tired. He speed-dialed Jake.
“Bro,” Jake’s deep voice rumbled in his ear. “Why are you calling me when you’re fifty feet away from me in my house?”
“Did you speak to Sophia about the waterfront?”
“Yeah. She’s coming back from the city early in the morning. I take it you finally talked to Christy?”
“He called.”
“You don’t sound happy.”
“I’m okay.”
“No you’re not.”
“Am too.”
“Are not.”
“Am too, am too, am too.”
“Are not, are not, are not. Talk to me.”
Michael thought for a moment too long.
“See! I told you! Something’s wrong!”
“Shut up. Dad should have told me Yosef raped Christy.”
“He couldn’t tell you.”
“He still should have.”
Jake sighed long and loud. “Be smart about this, Michael. Christy didn’t want you to know.”
That was the other thing that pissed Michael off. Christy should have told him. “You’re not helping.”
“Have you and Christy talked about it?”
“Yeah.”
“What did he say?”
“He thought I wouldn’t want him anymore.”
“There’s your answer.”
“What does that say about me? That I’d give up on him for something that was totally not his fault and 100 percent out of his control?”
Jake was quiet for a long moment before he spoke. “That’s a good point, but you can’t be selfish.”
“How in hell is that selfish?”
“It isn’t about you. It’s about him. Put yourself in Christy’s shoes. If Jason had raped you, would you want Christy to know?”
“He’d never find out because I would kill Jason.”
Jake laughed. “Lame answer. You know what I mean.”
“Hey, I do whatever it takes to make sure Christy is okay and to make sure he knows I love him. He knows that. How could he not tell me?”
“So you’re angry at Christy for not telling you?”
“No. God, I could never be mad at him for that.”
“But you can be mad at your dad for it?”
His mom’s words came back to him. Some choose to place the responsibility for their feelings on others. Transference is when we redirect our emotions to a substitute and try to deal with it through that person or thing. “Point.”
“Did you go back and talk to your dad?”
“No bueno.”
“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish. Go apologize.”
“Taco. What’s the matter with my life lately? Nothing’s going right.”
“I hate when you do that.”
“What?”
“Whine.”
“W
hine, whine, whine!”
Jake cracked up. “There is something so wrong with you, bro. Stop thinking about it. We’ll have fun at the waterfront tomorrow.”
“Hey, Jake?”
“What?”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t go all maudlin on me! You know I hate that!”
“Shut up, bro. You love it.” Michael terminated the call, walked back to the dining room, and was happy to see that Jake’s parents were no longer in the room. “Sorry, Dad. I get it.”
Mac looked up at him. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. I knew it would be a problem when you found out.”
Michael dropped into the chair his mom had righted. “Life can suck.”
Bobbie looked at him for a long moment. “Life can be very hard through no fault of our own, but it doesn’t mean life sucks. It means we do the best we can to take things in stride.”
Michael blew a long breath, and Mac turned to him. “You’re dealing with a lot right now, and you’re doing a fine job of it, son.”
“Not.”
Mac frowned. “Is there something bothering you besides Yosef?”
Michael shook his head. “Nothing I can put my finger on. Something’s weird with Christy. He seems… distant.”
“He’s afraid the other shoe will drop,” Bobbie said.
It was Michael’s turn to frown. “What other shoe?”
“I think he knows at some point your anger at Yosef will come to roost, and he’s afraid he will be in the line of fire.”
Michael shook his head. “Not a chance.”
Mac looked at him over his spectacles. “It may never happen. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t fear it.”
“How do I fix that?”
“Time.”
The single-syllable, four-letter word was ominous.
Bobbie clasped her hands and rested them on the table. “Simply reassure him over and again until he feels secure.”
Michael chewed his lower lip and nodded. “As long as it takes.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
MICHAEL’S PHONE rang at six in the morning, and he rolled over and grabbed for it. It fell off the nightstand, and he groped over the side of the bed blindly. He found it with his fingertips, put it to his ear, and answered it in a stupor. “Yeah.”
“Michael!”