All Rhodes Lead Here

by Zapata, Mariana

  “He does?” I asked quietly.

  One side of his mouth tipped up. “Yeah, he does. I do too. Billy said I can’t come over if you aren’t with me. They’ve heard too much about you.”

  “From Am?”

  He gave me one of his rare, small smiles. “And me.”

  My knees went like jelly, and it took everything in me to stay upright. It was a miracle in itself that I managed to even smile back at him—so big it made my cheeks hurt.

  “Do you… want me to?” I asked. “I was just planning on staying in the studio and hanging out.”

  Those purple-gray eyes bounced around my face. “We were wondering since you didn’t say anything about going back to Florida or seeing your friends,” Rhodes replied, sounding cryptic and not answering my question about whether he wanted me to come over or not.

  “Yeah, I don’t really care about Thanksgiving all that much. My mom never made a big deal about it. She used to say that the Pilgrims were a bunch of colonizing pieces of shit and we shouldn’t celebrate the start of a people’s genocide.” I paused. “Pretty sure those were her exact words.”

  Rhodes blinked. “That makes sense, but… you still get the time off anyway, and why can’t you just make the holiday about being thankful for the blessings that you have? The people that you have?”

  I smiled. “That sounds pretty nice.”

  “You’ll come then?”

  “If you want me to.”

  His mouth twisted into that not-officially-a-smile smile, and his voice was gruff. “Get ready to leave by noon.”

  “You’re using your bossy voice again.”

  He sighed and looked at the ceiling, his tone lightening. “Please come over for Thanksgiving?”

  I brightened up. “Are you positive?”

  That got him to dip his face a little, his breath touching my lips, his eyebrows up. My heart swelled within my chest. “Even if it didn’t make you smile like that, I’m positive.”

  * * *

  I didn’t want to think that I was nervous, but… I was nervous the next day.

  Just a little bit.

  I’d stuck my hands between my thighs to keep from rubbing them against the leggings I’d pulled on under my dress to wipe off the sweat that kept accumulating on them.

  “Why are you squirming so much?” Rhodes asked from his spot behind the steering wheel as he navigated us down the highway, closer and closer to Amos’s aunt’s house. She lived two hours away. I wasn’t proud to admit that we’d had to stop for me to pee twice.

  “I’m nervous,” I admitted. I’d spent way too long doing my makeup earlier, putting on bronzer and brow gel for the first time in months. I’d even ironed my dress. Rhodes had smiled at me when I’d walked into his house and asked if I could use his iron, but he hadn’t made a comment as he stood by me while I did my dress… and then he redid it because he was better at ironing than I was.

  A lot better.

  And honestly, the image of him ironing my clothes was going to be burned into my brain for the rest of my life. Watching him… this weird little tinkle had built up in my chest. I was going to pick that apart later. In private.

  “What do you have to be nervous about?” he asked, like he thought I was nuts.

  “I’m meeting Amos’s mom! Your best friend! I don’t know, I’m just nervous. What if they don’t like me?”

  His nostrils flared a little, eyes still glued to the road. “How often do you meet people who don’t like you?”

  “Not that often, but it happens.” I held my breath. “You didn’t like me that much when we first met.”

  That got him to glance at me. “I thought we talked about this already? I didn’t like what Amos had done, and I took it out on you.” He cleared his throat. “And the other thing.” Oh, about me reminding him of his mom. We hadn’t brought her up anymore, and I had a feeling it would be a long time before we did again.

  I glanced out the window. “That too, but you still didn’t want to like me.”

  “Fine. I didn’t,” he agreed, glancing at me real quick with not a smile but just about the most fond expression I could ever have dreamed of on his features. “But I lost that battle.”

  The tinkling in my chest was back, and I braved a smile at him.

  The fond expression was still there, trying its best to short circuit my brain and heart.

  I wiped my hands again, and I gulped. “His mom is just so accomplished, and so is his other dad, and I’m just over here… not knowing what I want to do with my life at thirty-three.”

  He slid me a look that was way too close to the rabid raccoon one. “What? You think they’re better than you because they’re doctors?”

  I scoffed. “No!”

  His mouth twitched just a little bit. “Sure sounds like it, angel.”

  “No, I like working with Clara. I like working at the shop. But I keep thinking that I’m… I don’t know, that I should try to do something more? But I don’t want to, and I don’t even know what I would want to do. I know it’s not a competition, and I’m sure I’m overthinking things because my ex’s mom scarred me. And like I said, I really do like working there a lot more than I would have ever imagined. I can actually help most people out now without having to bother Clara. Can you believe it?”

  He nodded, his mouth twitching even more. “I can believe it.” Then he peeked at me. “Are you happy?” Rhodes asked seriously.

  I didn’t have to think about it. “Happier than I’ve been… ever, honestly.”

  The lines across his forehead were back. “You mean that?”

  “Yeah. I don’t remember the last time I got mad over anything that wasn’t a customer being annoying, and even then, I forget about it five minutes later. I don’t remember the last time I felt… small. Or bad. Everyone is so nice. Some people ask for me now. That matters to me so much, you have no idea.”

  He was silent before grunting. “Kind of pisses me off imagining you feeling small and bad.”

  I reached over and squeezed his forearm.

  His mouth did that twisty thing as he let go of the steering wheel with his free hand and covered mine. His palm was warm. “We’re here,” he claimed.

  I held my breath as he pulled into a very full driveway. I’d kept a vague eye on the neighborhood when he’d turned in, and it seemed to be spaced out with at least five-acre lots for each home.

  “I’m glad you’re good here,” Rhodes said quietly right after he’d parked.

  My cheekbones started to tingle.

  He undid his seat belt and angled his body to look at me from across the dark cab. He dropped his hands into his lap and leveled me with a stare that nearly took my breath away. “If it matters any, you make Am and me both happy. And you help Clara out a lot.” His throat bobbed. “We’re all grateful you’re in our lives.”

  My heart squished, and my voice definitely came out funny. “Thanks, Rhodes. I’m grateful for you all too.”

  Then he threw a verbal grenade. “You deserve to be happy.”

  All I could do was smile at him.

  I swear his expression went tender before he blew out a breath. “All right, let’s get in there before—there he is.” He gestured through the windshield.

  Standing in the doorway of the adobe-style home was Amos, waving big, in a button-down shirt that surprised me more than anything. I waved back, and he started gesturing for us to come in. Beside me, Rhodes chuckled lightly.

  We got out, smiling at each other one last time before he met me on my side, taking my elbow while his other hand held the multiple bottles of wine he’d picked up at some point yesterday.

  “About time!” Am called out from where he’d kept on standing at the doorway, waiting. “Uncle Johnny is on his way too.”

  “Hey, Am,” I greeted him as we went up the stairs. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

  “Happy Thanksgiving. Hi, Dad,” he said. “Come on, Ora, I want you to meet my mom and dad.” He paused and eyeballed me for a
second. “You look….” He trailed off and shook his head.

  “I look what?” I asked as I wiped my feet on the mat and then the rug before going inside the house. Rhodes had let go of my arm, but the second he was in, his hand landed at the small of my back.

  “Nothing, come on, come on,” he said, but I didn’t miss the way his cheeks went red.

  The house was huge, I could tell as we went through the foyer.

  “I didn’t know they were coming, but Mom called when their flight landed, so I couldn’t tell you I was going to go with them, but—Mom!” he yelled suddenly as the foyer opened into a kitchen on the left-hand side. I could hear voices, but I only spotted three women in the kitchen. One had hair so white it was nearly blue who was stirring something and oblivious to us, another was an older woman who might be in her fifties, and the last was a woman who appeared to be a few years younger. She was the one who looked up at the “Mom.”

  She smiled.

  “Dad Rhodes is here, and this is Ora,” Am said, looking at me and patting my shoulder once.

  It was basically a hug coming from him, and I would’ve cried if Amos’s mom hadn’t circled around the island and come straight toward us. She ignored Rhodes as she passed by him, and the second she was close enough, she thrust her hand out toward me.

  But her eyes glittered.

  I took out my own hand and grabbed hers.

  Her smile was tight but genuine. And I knew I didn’t imagine the tears in her voice when she said, “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Ora. I’ve heard everything about you.”

  I know I heard tears in my voice when I replied, “I hope it was only the good stuff.”

  “All good stuff,” she assured me before appearing to fight back a smile. “I even heard about the bat and the eagle.”

  I couldn’t stop the snicker or the glance toward the sheepish-looking teenager still beside me. “Of course you did.”

  A grin took over the woman’s face at the same time I laughed. She shook her head. “When he wants to, he has a big mouth like his dad.”

  I must have made some kind of face at the idea of Rhodes having a big mouth because she smiled even wider.

  “Billy. Most of the time though, he takes after Rhodes with his one-word answers,” Amos’s mom explained. “When they’re not in the mood, getting them to talk is like...”

  “Getting wisdom teeth removed wide-awake?”

  Rhodes grunted from where he was standing, and we both turned to look at him. Then Amos’s mom’s gaze and mine met again. Yeah, we both knew that was exactly it. She grinned at me, and I grinned right back.

  “Remind me to give you my number or email before we leave, and I’ll give you the real scoop any time you want,” I offered with a wink, feeling a sense of ease come over me.

  Rhodes had been right about Thanksgiving and Amos’s other parents. I didn’t have anything to worry about.

  Chapter 25

  I was at the table in the garage apartment, trying to finish this son of a bitch of a puzzle. How many different shades of red were there? I had never really considered that I might be color-blind, but I kept putting the wrong shades of red together and the pieces still weren’t matching up.

  This was what I got for buying a used puzzle that had to be at least twenty years old. Maybe it was faded or the color had yellowed with time. Whatever it was, it was making this a whole lot more complicated than it needed to be. And I was cursing at myself over this puzzle that I shouldn’t have bought on clearance at a resale store when I heard the garage door rolling up downstairs.

  I had just picked up another piece when I heard Amos yell from downstairs—not this panicky thing of terror but just frantic enough to make me sit up straight. Just in time for him to shout again.

  “Am?” I yelled, dropping the puzzle piece to the table and heading straight downstairs. I opened the garage door and peeked my head out. “Am? You okay?”

  “No!” the kid pretty much shrieked. “Help!”

  I threw the door wide. Amos stood in the center of the garage, head tipped back as he stared at the ceiling with a look of pure helplessness on his face. “Look! What do we do?”

  “What the hell,” I muttered, finally taking in what he was freaking out over.

  There was a massive stain on the ceiling. Dark, dark gray patches were formed along the sheetrock. A few drops of water dripped onto the floor at Amos’s feet, just short of where most of his music equipment was.

  There was a leak. “Do you know where the water shutoff is?”

  “The what?” he asked, still staring at the ceiling like his vision alone was going to be enough to prevent the sheetrock from crumbling and have water come flooding down.

  “The water shutoff,” I explained, already whipping around to find what I was pretty sure I knew what to look for. When the Antichrist’s child and I had found the home that he eventually bought—and like a dumbass I had been fine with them not putting me on the deed because someone could look up the records and ask questions—I remembered the realtor pointing at something along the wall in the garage and specifically mentioning a water shutoff in case of a leak. “It’s a lever thing in the wall. Usually. I think.”

  There was no way Rhodes would have let him cover it with padding or mattresses. I knew that. I spotted what I thought could be it and ran over, moving the lever down and shutting off the water into the garage apartment. At least I was pretty sure. One more peek at the bulging ceiling had me focusing.

  “Let’s get your stuff out of here before something bad happens,” I told him, snapping my fingers when he focused back up. “Let’s do it, Am, before your stuff gets ruined. Then we can make sure it did get turned off.”

  That did it.

  Between the two of us, we carried the heavier equipment into the tiny bottom landing that flowed into the stairs that led to the second floor. We pushed the big cab up against the door to the outside to leave room and took turns taking the drum set apart and walking it up to my studio. It took us about six trips each to take all the equipment upstairs; we couldn’t put anything outside because of frost and the risk of snow. It was way too cold now.

  By the time we finished moving the most valuable stuff out from the garage—even though it was all valuable to Am because it was his—we were both back downstairs and staring up at the awful-looking ceiling.

  “What do you think happened?”

  “I think it might be a burst pipe, but I don’t know,” I told him, eyeing the damage. “Have you called your dad?”

  He shook his head, eyes still glued to the disaster. “I yelled for you as soon as I saw it.”

  I whistled. “Call him. See what he wants to do. I think we should call a plumber, but I don’t know. We should call him first.”

  Amos nodded, unable to do anything but stare in horror at the damage.

  It hit me then that the water was turned off; I’d checked before coming back down. But the water was off, as in I wouldn’t get water to shower or even fill my water filter to drink. I’d figure it out.

  The overhead light started flickering suddenly, a flash-flash-flash of light before it went off completely.

  “The breaker box!” I yelled at him before sprinting for the gray frame on the wall. That I knew exactly where it was. I flipped it open and literally flipped every switch.

  “Did that mess up the electricity?”

  “I don’t know.” I turned to him with a wince. A wince for him. For the amount of money it would cost to get this fixed. Because even I knew that electricity and plumbing issues were going to be a nightmare. “All right. Okay. Let’s go call your dad and tell him.”

  Amos nodded and led the way out through the main garage door, heading to his house. I patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay. We moved all of your things in time, and nothing was plugged in. Don’t worry.”

  The teenager let out a deep, deep sigh, like he’d been holding it in for hours. “Dad’s gonna be so pissed.”

  “Ye
ah, but not at you,” I reassured him.

  The look he sent me was one that told me he wasn’t totally convinced that was going to be the case, but I knew it would.

  And I’d be nosey and eavesdrop.

  We headed into the house. I went to the table in the kitchen, picking up a hunting and fishing magazine stacked neatly in the middle as Amos went for the house phone and punched in some numbers. His face was gloomy as hell. I pretended not to look at him as he held the receiver and let out a deep breath.

  He winced right before saying, “Hey, Dad… uh, Ora and I think there’s a leak in the garage apartment… The ceiling has, like, pockets of water, and there’s drops—what? I don’t know how… I just went in there and saw it… Ora turned off the water. Then she turned off the power when the lights started flickering… Hold on.” The boy held the phone out. “He wants to talk to you.”

  I took it. “Hi, Rhodes, how’s your day going? How many people have you busted for not having a permit?” I flashed a grimace-like smile at Amos, who suddenly didn’t look so sick.

  Rhodes didn’t say anything for a heartbeat before coming on the line with “It’s going good now.” Excuse me? Was that flirting? “And only two hunters. How’s yours?”

  He was really asking me about my day. Who was this man and how could I buy him? “Pretty good. A customer brought me a Bundt cake. I gave Clara half when she gave me the stink eye. I’ll give Am half of my half so you can try it. It’s good.”

  Amos was giving me the funniest look, and I winked at him. We were in this together.

  “Thanks, Buddy,” he said almost softly. “You mind telling me what happened over there?”

  I leaned my hip against the counter and watched as Am slowly moved toward the fridge, still giving me that funny-ass look before ducking in there to root around. He pulled out a can of strawberry soda before pulling out another one and turning to hold it up for me.

  I nodded, processing the drink for a second before answering. “What Am said. There’s a huge stain on the ceiling of the garage. There’s water dripping. We moved everything we could out and into the studio upstairs. We turned off the water and the electricity off at the breaker box.”