by K. S. Thomas
“Bo. Bo Daley. Is he okay?”
Trix’s stare is locked on me, her eyes wide and glossy and glued to my lips, but for the first time since I’ve known her, she says nothing. She doesn’t interrupt.
“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t give out that information. Not until after we’ve informed the family of what’s happened.”
I squeeze my eyes shut trying to drown out everything around me. “Margaret and Frank Daley. Those are his parents. They live over in Ponce. I can give you their address.”
“Thanks. That won’t be necessary. I appreciate all your help though.” Then the line goes dead and everything is crystal clear again.
I take her hand and lift her from the seat. “Come on. We need to get to your house. Now.”
“What happened? What did they say?”
But all I can do is shake my head over and over while I drag her along behind me. I can’t say it. Can’t put it into words. And even though I could tell her the same thing I keep telling myself – that I don’t know anything for sure yet – I know she won’t believe it any more than I do.
Chapter Two
Present Day
Trix
When I drag myself into the kitchen I’m barely awake enough to fully open my eyes, only to wind up wishing my eyes were sealed shut on a permanent basis when I’m face to face with Penn’s bare ass. My first instinct is to grab the kitchen towel from the counter, ball it up and hurl it at the back of his head. Which I do. I realize a second too late that getting his attention was an amateur move on my part, because now, of course, he’s turned around to look at me.
“God, Penn. I thought we discussed not being naked around the food we both have to eat.”
“Yeah, but you think we discuss a lot of things. Really, you’re just going on and on about something while I ignore you and mentally escape to doing something more interesting...like imagining paint drying.” Then he chugs milk straight from the carton, wipes his mouth, and continues, “Besides. I forgot you were getting back last night. I thought I had another week.”
“Unbelievable.” I pass by the multitude of recycled and repainted vintage kitchen cupboards, all individual units and different colors we pieced together to form our counter tops, and reach up for the glass rack hanging on the wall to pull one down. “First of all, here,” I hand him the glass, “Second of all, I was supposed to be back three days ago but one of the nearby villages was raided in the middle of the night and I couldn’t exactly leave the hospital when they had people being carried in with bits of them blown off and in desperate need of surgery.” It was the worst I’ve ever seen. And after two three month stints with Doctors Without Borders as a nurse anesthetist, I’ve seen some shit.
Penn scrunches up his nose. “Do we have to talk about people in bits before breakfast? I know what that looks like, and frankly it doesn’t make for an appetizing visual.”
“Neither does your naked ass.” He knew that one was coming and just wiggles his brow in response. Then he comes up beside me, leans back against the cupboards which I will now have to bleach as soon as he leaves, and bumps his shoulder into mine. “Seriously though. I’m glad you’re home safe and sound.”
“Thanks. I’m glad to be back, too.” I love my work. I live for my work...but these trips, they aren’t easy. Worth it, but draining in a way nothing else could have ever prepared me for.
I’m about to ask if I should bother checking the fridge for food or if we should just get dressed and head down to the Taco Shack for breakfast when I spot it.
“What is that?”
It takes him a second to catch up. Penn has a tendency to drift off easily. He blames ADD, I blame technology and the ease at which he can view a set of tits any time he feels like it. Who wouldn’t be distracted knowing a new half-naked text could be coming in at any second?
“That,” his hand gestures toward the tiny ball of charcoal gray fluff swaying itself back and forth in the doorway, “is Gilbert.”
“Gilbert?”
He shrugs. “Yeah. Brought him home from work last week.”
I smirk. “Really? Work? What, like he got stuck in a tree and the whole fire department showed up to rescue him?” When he doesn’t answer, I start to laugh. “Oh my God! You’re serious! That’s what happened?”
He shoots me a dirty look over his shoulder as he moves toward the kitten and crouches down to scoop it up. It’s so tiny, it can curl up in one of his massive hands.
“That’s not exactly how it went down, no. I think one of the strays around the station had a litter and this little guy must have wandered off. And yes, he was stuck in a tree when I found him. A small tree. Tiny really. Might have been a bush. Whatever, he was stuck and I saved him and now he’s here.”
I reach over and slide my fingers over his smooth coat. He begins to purr almost instantly.
“Gilbert, I think I might be in love with you.” I feel my insides turn to goo, gently lifting him from Penn’s grip to get a better look at him. Her. I’m getting a better look at her.
“Penn, this isn’t a boy kitty.”
His forehead wrinkles. “Are you sure? He looks like a boy to me.”
“Well, not according to her genitals.”
“Oh, I didn’t look at those. Seemed like an invasion of privacy.”
He turns and starts back for his bedroom. Apparently, there isn’t any food in our kitchen. He stops and turns back in the doorway anticipating my response.
“Really? You never seem too worried about invading anyone’s privacy when human beings are involved.” I shake my head, holding Gilbert to my chest with one hand and letting her warmth spread some good juju back into my soul.
“I’m not the one looking at everyone’s genitals this morning. Now put the cat down and get dressed, Trix. I’m starving and Lupe stops serving breakfast burritos at ten.”
I don’t put the cat down. But I do go back to my room and start sifting through a laundry basket of clothes I washed three months ago before I left in hopes I’ll find something I can walk out in public in.
Penn
Trix is back. Finally. I’d never admit it to her, but I hate these trips. The house is too damn empty when she’s gone. I think that’s part of the reason I brought Gilbert home. I’m not a cat guy. Shit, I’m not even dog guy, but I needed something else to be alive and breathing in this house with me at night. Silence is not my friend. I learned that a long time ago. And the irony of this is not lost on me.
“You driving?” Trix is leaning in my doorway. She’s wearing a short summer dress from like three years ago with her black plaid Converse, and socks that don’t match. Her long blonde hair is in some twisty mess hanging down her left shoulder and her teal blue eyes are popping out at me from behind her black framed glasses in spite of the fact there isn’t a hint of make up on her.
“You look like a hot mess.” I slide a baseball cap over my head to cover up the sections of matted hair I got from falling asleep soaking wet and still in my towel after my shower last night.
She gives me an obnoxious giggle, batting her eyelashes and tapping her chin flirtatiously.
“You think I look hot?” she mocks me.
“You’re seriously not going to do anything about this?” I gesture at her ensemble. “I get being too lazy to struggle with contacts, but the socks?”
She shrugs. “It’s all I could piece together out of my clean clothes. I haven’t had a chance to do laundry yet.”
“Okay.” I sigh loudly, moving her out of my room and down the hall toward the door. “But you should know, Lupe’s nephew is back in town and he was asking about you.” Joel’s had a crush on her since high school, not that she’s ever given him the time of day. And it’s not because she doesn’t like him. She’s just completely oblivious to the fact that he likes her. Doesn’t matter how often I tell her. Then again, I guess I’ve fucked with her one too many times over the years to expect her to take me seriously on anything.
“I really don�
�t think he’s going to give a shit what I’m wearing.” She opens the front door and squints. So do I. I wasn’t ready for quite that much sunlight.
“Actually, you’re probably right about that.” Trix is the rare combination of hotness and intellect, topped off with a sense of self-awareness and complete lack of awareness regarding how others see her. So even now as I’m telling her I agree with her, she’ll take it to meaning no amount of sexy clothes and make up would help garner her attention, while I’m actually saying she could basically wear a paper bag after having spent the night in a dumpster, and men everywhere would still take notice. But it’s Trix and I’m me, so I don’t clarify. Because she’s right. She is awkward, she’s just sexy as hell while she’s doing it.
Meanwhile, Joel doesn’t waste any time rushing to the front door to greet us when we walk in.
“Beatrix! So good to see you. Let me find you a table.” He scans the place with a hurried glance like he doesn’t want to take his eyes off of her for too long.
I pat his shoulder and keep walking toward our regular booth in the back. “It’s seat yourself, bro. We got this.”
Trix offers him the standard apologetic smile she gives everyone after I talk to them and then follows me. I’d like to think I’m not as big an asshole as she makes me out to be, but I might be. Not like I do it on purpose, I’ve just never been good at sweating the small stuff. Maybe I don’t pussyfoot around people’s feelings and maybe my manners aren’t always up to par, but I’ll be the first guy to back your ass up in a fight or face a wall of fire to save you. I can’t offer niceties, but I’ve got loyalty, and in my book that shit counts for something.
Then, Lupe spots us. Well, Trix mostly.
“Trix! You’re home!” She practically runs out from the kitchen to embrace Trix in a tight hug. Lupe’s always looked out for us, but since that night of Bo’s accident, it’s been more. I can’t explain it, I just know that it’s good. We’re good. Because we have her.
“Oh, you’re skin and bones, girl. Sit down. I’m going to make you a real breakfast. Something to fill you up and put some fat back on ya.” She pinches Trix’s side and frowns. She is skinnier than usual, but she’s been a runner since she was twelve. There’s never been fat on her, no matter how much Lupe has tried to achieve the opposite.
Trix’s cheeks are flushed when she sits down next to me in the booth. I don’t know why we still sit like this. It’s just been the two of us for years now, but for some reason we’ve never managed to give up our old spots. Or maybe it’s really that neither of us is able to take Bo’s.
“You don’t think she’s going to make me eat that intestine soup again...do you?” She’s leaning in close to make sure no one can tell she’s a little panicked at the prospect of being force-fed cow insides for breakfast.
“Could happen.” I wink at her, taunting her further. Lupe usually only serves Menudo for the holidays, and it’s delicious, but she always keeps a small batch simmering in the kitchen. It’s her go-to for comfort food. It’s just not Trix’s. She can’t get past the intestine part any more than she can get herself to tell Lupe she doesn’t like it.
“Coffee?” Joel’s back at her side, full coffee pot in hand and eagerly flipping over the cups which were already set on the table.
“Yes, please.” Trix smiles, but I can still see the fear of tripe lingering in her eyes. I probably shouldn’t be so amused by this, except we both already know I’ll eat it for her when it comes. Even if I do make her sweat it out and ask me all over again no matter how often we go through this.
“Thanks, man.” I grab three packets of sugar from the tray and slide them over to Trix. “So, how long you in town for this time anyway?” Joel usually just shows up when Lupe’s short staffed. As far as I know, he’s got a freelance thing going these days doing graphic work. He’s been drawing for years. I remember when he first came up with the new logo for the Taco Shack back when we were like fifteen. Guy’s crazy talented. And humble as hell. He sure as shit doesn’t need to come here and bus tables. But he does it anyway. For his aunt.
“Just another two weeks. Then I’ve gotta get back home. Maybe I’ll see you a few more times before then, Trix? Now that you’re back?” How she can’t tell that this guy is ga-ga over her just by the look on his face when he talks to her, I’ll never understand. Maybe it’s her parents’ fault for always favoring Bo and making her feel second rate, who knows. Everything always boils down to our parents fucking us up in one way or another, right? I know mine certainly did. Even if it wasn’t intentional.
“Definitely. Maybe I can catch you on a slow day and we can have a real chat over lunch or something.”
I think he may have just shit his pants, he’s so excited by her response. “Absolutely! Yes.”
Then, before he can man up and actually ask her out, Lupe calls him back to the kitchen and his near moment of glory fizzles out again.
“What are you going to do when he finally locates his balls and wants to take you on a real date, huh?”
She slowly sips her coffee, her brows coming together in a frown while she eyes me over the top of her mug. Then she sets it down, still maintaining her dissatisfied expression. “I don’t know why you think he has a thing for me.”
“Humor me. Pretend I’m right. What would you say?”
“If Joel asked me out?” She shrugs. “I’d probably say yes. Why do you care?”
“I don’t.” That’s not entirely true. I do care who Trix dates. With Bo gone, I’ve made it my business to care. “But I like Joel. I think he’s a solid dude, you know?”
“Absolutely. No doubt. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to ask me out.” She laughs. “Meanwhile, what’s up with you? Still dating Scary Mary?”
“I don’t know. You still rhyming to make nicknames like a five year old?”
Joel shows up with two bowls of Menudo before she can answer. This time he doesn’t stick around to try and sweet-talk her. It’s probably my fault. Can’t be easy trying to make a move on a girl when the same guy’s always hanging around. Even if the whole town knows we’re not together.
Trix tentatively slurps her broth while I hurry up and dig in so we can switch bowls when no one’s looking.
“And no, we split last month after I caught her watching me in my sleep.”
She grins. “Told you she was scary.”
“Yeah, yeah. Eat your intestines and shut up.”
After we finish our soup, the food just keeps on coming, and after passing on the tripe, Trix doesn’t ask me to eat squat else for her. I think maybe she really was starving out in Africa. I never ask for details on her trips. I don’t think I could stomach them. The work stuff, that she tells me, but the ‘her’ stuff, what life is like day in and day out while she’s living there, that I don’t want to hear. Not when I know she’s going to go back and there’s not a damn thing I can do to protect her while she’s gone.
It’s almost noon by the time we’re sitting there, rubbing our full bellies and eyeing the distance between our table and the parking lot knowing there’s no way in hell we’ll make it out of here without collapsing in a full-on food coma.
Trix has been busy scrolling through every social media newsfeed for the last twenty minutes when she squeaks loudly. It’s not a sound I hear often and it’s usually the result of seeing something she finds disgusting, like a spider or some shit.
“What?” I move in to try and see her screen.
“You!” She turns her phone out toward me and damn near hits me with it. “Since when are you on Instagram? And what’s with all the weird pictures of you in your uniform? Or, I’m sorry...pieces of your uniform!”
I’m about to answer her when she gasps and slugs me in the shoulder. “Seriously? @Pennisforyou? That’s your username?”
“Catchy, right?” I chuckle, watching her get all worked up. It’s just too easy. “Relax, Trix. It’s for the Firefighter’s calendar we do every year. They’re trying to create more
buzz about it, raise more funds for the charity and increase awareness, so, a bunch of us guys decided to get on Instagram and post some cheesy pics to try and generate some sort of interest in the cause.”
First her expression remains blank. Then, things begin to filter through the various stages of her brain and a wicked smirk spreads over her lips. “A bunch of you guys? Who else? Hot Tony got a page?”
“No one calls him Hot Tony.”
“I do.”
I clench my jaw and breathe out through my nose, nostrils flaring at her double standards. “@TonyStefani.”
“See! He has a non-pervy name.” But she’s not non-pervy enough to keep from typing it in and ogling him for the next five minutes while I gesture for Joel to bring us the tab so I can pay and get out of here before she starts asking to see half naked pics of every guy on my crew.
Chapter Three
Trix
With my return date having been slightly delayed, I don’t have nearly as much time as I’d have liked to mentally prepare myself for my new job and jumping back into the real world. I’d hoped to have almost an entire week, instead, all I have is the weekend, and after sleeping a lot and getting caught up on laundry, I’m in a slight panic when I realize it’s Sunday morning already.
“What’s wrong with your face?” Penn’s usual charm does the trick to snap me out of my daze when he walks in through the back door. When I come back to reality I’m a little surprised to find myself staring at an empty cereal bowl I was intending to take to the sink. Apparently, I haven’t gotten there yet.
“Nothing’s wrong with my face.” I frown, dropping the bowl on top of a pile of dirty dishes collected from the weekend. Then I turn toward him again and fully register what I’m seeing. “Holy hell, what’s wrong with yours?”