“Well, you’ve never done that to me.”
“Of course not, but you know, looking over your shoulder—that drives you crazy.”
He waved it off as if it were nothing. Then cursed himself silently for being a hammered man. Grow up Southern, and you just can’t help but do the polite thing even when you’ve already decided not to do it.
“Drives everybody crazy,” she said. “Lissy was just . . . difficult.”
She had been going to say another word. Something nastier.
“So why did you room with her?” said Don.
“Younger girl, took her under my wing,” said Sylvie. “She was a senior, and I don’t think she would have graduated.”
“Would have?” asked Don.
“She left,” said Sylvie. “She was never that serious about school.”
“But you didn’t finish either?”
Sylvie shook her head.
“So you were close after all? I mean, why else would her leaving cause you not to finish your program and go take that job?”
Sylvie shook her head. “My life story is too boring for anyone to waste a minute on it.” She smiled wanly. “I hated her at the time, but you don’t know how often I’ve wished I could just see her again. Now that she’s not annoying me, you see. I miss her a little. She was so exuberant. Headstrong. She found this place. The owner was going to close it down, but she was able to talk him into letting us stay here till we both graduated at the end of the next year.”
“What did your family think when you dropped out?” asked Don.
“They did what they always do. They stayed dead.”
It sounded like a joke, and then it didn’t. “Do you mean that?” he asked. “They’re dead?”
“I’m an orphan. Put myself through school. I had a scholarship, but housing and books and food and all that, I earned it all. And grad school, I worked for every dime. And I wasn’t in debt, either. I paid my way.”
Well, not anymore, Don thought churlishly.
“Dr. Bellamy and his wife lived here until they died in the flu epidemic in 1918. But they were so old by then it wasn’t sad, really, it was kind of sweet that they went together, so neither one had to stay behind and grieve.”
Don had nothing to say to that. How often had he wished he could have died in the same car that killed his baby?
“But how awful of me,” said Sylvie. “I was forgetting. Your wife and daughter.”
“What do you know about them?” he snapped at once. Then relented: “I’m sorry. I just don’t talk about them usually.”
“No, I just . . . your engineer friend told that realtor lady the first day you came here. How your ex-wife got custody of your daughter and then they died in a car accident.”
“What the newspaper didn’t tell you was that my wife was so drunk and drugged up she didn’t even fasten the car seat to the car.”
“Was it in the papers?” asked Sylvie. “I don’t get a paper.”
Don could hardly imagine how isolated her life in this house had been.
“How many years have you been living like this?” he asked.
“I don’t know. A long time.”
“What happened to you? I mean, you were in grad school, you were going somewhere. You had a job lined up.”
“They were expanding the children’s section of the city library, starting some new programs with grade school kids. That was my thesis project, kind of. The effects of competitive versus cooperative reading programs for children in community libraries.”
“So why didn’t you finish your degree and take the job?”
“For a man who lives and works alone, you sure have a lot of questions.”
“Look, I didn’t start this conversation,” said Don.
She glared at him, then turned and stalked upstairs. Don looked at the pizza box on the floor. Keep up your strength, even if you’re surrounded by hypersensitive crazy people. He got up and brought it back to the cot and ate another bite. It was cold now and tasted nasty.
Why should he feel bad because he offended Sylvie Delaney? She was the one who kept intruding on him.
Yeah, right, it’s always other people’s fault, isn’t that right, Don.
In frustration he took the biggest surviving piece of pizza and flung it against the wall. He had expected it to stick, at least for a minute. But it didn’t even leave a stain, just bounced off and fell down among his tools.
Got to stop throwing things against the wall.
He went over and found the piece of pizza, put it back in the box, and carried the whole thing outside to the garbage can. It was late. He had to get up and pay off an extortionist in the morning.
11
Hot Water
In the event it turned out to be no big deal. The lawyer was in a suit, a youngish guy who looked like his life was full of disappointment. As if his smile had once been eager, but now it was wry, and soon it would be cynical. He wasn’t going to live like the dudes in L.A. Law. He was just going to meet working-class guys in parking lots and take their hard-earned money from them as a payoff to ensure they didn’t get sued by some faceless jerk in Florida. Not much of a career, really.
The lawyer had the quit-claim. It said the right things. No tricks as far as Don could see. The lawyer didn’t even mention cash. Extortionists generally don’t want trouble. Nobody knows better than a lawyer how much pain a lawsuit can be. Twenty thousand without a court struggle is better than a hundred thousand with. Such was Don’s upbringing that when he handed over the cashier’s check, having satisfied himself that the quit-claim was legitimate, he actually said, “Thanks very much,” before he could stop himself.
Yeah, that’s why my mama taught me to say yes sir and no ma’am and please and thank you. So I could show grateful courtesy to a lawyer who’s helping somebody take away my independence.
Back in his truck Don found that for some reason there was a lump in his throat and his eyes were filling with tears. He had to pull into the parking lot at Eastern Costume and sit there till he could see straight.
It made no sense for him to cry now. What was this, just twenty thousand dollars? He’d cry over that? He’d lost a hell of a lot more than that. He’d cried when his daughter died, cried off and on for days, cried till he could only just sit there with bloodshot eyes wishing he could cry but there was nothing more. His diaphragm ached from sobbing. He couldn’t go out in the sunlight, his eyes were so raw. He honestly thought, when that time was over, that he’d never cry again, that there’d never be cause again for tears, compared to that. And now here he was, crying over twenty thousand dollars.
No. He was crying for his freedom. He had thought this was it, he was over the top. That house was his return to life. No debt. When it was done, when it was sold, he’d have enough, free and clear, to start a business, to start a real life. And now, what had he lost? Not everything. So he’d take out a twenty-thousand-dollar mortgage. That was nothing compared to the value of the house when he was done with it. Pay some interest, but he wouldn’t get the mortgage till it was almost ready to sell, so he could handle that, too. He’d come out of it OK.
Why did it hurt? Because he had been beaten. And how had he been beaten? Because he let himself go. He let himself maybe start to almost love a woman. She didn’t mean him any harm, and she didn’t even cause it, really. But it was because he was drawn to her and she to him that he was beaten today. Even though his romantic feelings toward her were gone he still felt protective toward her, and they had used that against him. The way this world worked, the decent people had to live by the rules of honor, while the sons-of-bitches could run around biting them on the butt every chance they got. And yet when he thought of becoming like them, becoming a real son-of-a-bitch himself, it just made him sick inside. It came down to this: If his daughter was still alive somehow, in heaven if there was one, and if she knew what he was doing, or if he was maybe going to see her again someday, he wanted her to be proud of him. A woman ne
eded him to protect her. A decent woman being treated badly because she dared to reach for love. Then she needed money and he had some, and so he shared. If his daughter lived with Jesus like they said, then maybe she knew he did that and she was proud of him.
So he did it for his little girl. And now that he knew that, or at least could talk himself into almost believing it, it was OK again. He didn’t feel like crying anymore.
When he got home the Carville Plumbing and Heating van was parked in front. This time, though, Sylvie hadn’t let him in. Young Jim Carville—young only compared to his seventy-year-old father—was sitting in the front of his van, smoking. When he saw Don, he put the cigarette out and sauntered over to the pickup. “Not many guys I’d wait for,” said Carville.
“Sorry I kept you waiting,” said Don. “You couldn’t possibly be early, could you?”
“Yeah, job fell through.”
“Well, mine didn’t, and if you got the time I’d like you to inspect the pipes and tell me what I need to replace.”
“Plenty of time,” said Carville. “You want to give me a hand bringing in the new water heater?”
Don went up and unlocked the deadbolt, then went back to help him get the water heater out of the van. It wasn’t really all that heavy. Carville could’ve done it alone, but why not help? On the way in, Carville said, “That girl you’re letting stay with you, you sure have got her scared to do wrong.”
“Oh?”
“I told her who I was, but she wasn’t letting me in without your say-so. Next time you ought to tell her when you got a contractor coming.”
“I knew I’d be back two hours before you were scheduled.”
“When you’re dealing with Superman, you better plan on him showing up early.”
When they had wrestled the thing down the cellar steps, Carville checked out the old installation and pronounced that this would be a breeze and no, he didn’t need any help till it was time to carry the old lime-silted water heater out of the building. “And for that you might need three more guys, a winch, and a thousand-pound chain.”
“It’s that old?”
“And none of the water ever softened. I’d be surprised if this old heater can hold more than a cup of water at a time. The rest of it is one big stalagmite.”
Don went back upstairs and thought of doing some sweaty job and then realized that when this one was done, there’d be hot water for a shower. So maybe he should go now, before he got himself all filthy, and buy a few little things like soap and towels and, since he had company in the house and the working shower was upstairs, a bathrobe.
Friendly Center had most of what he needed, between Harris Teeter and Belk. Then he trucked up to Fleet-Plummer to buy a couple of soap-dishes and a shower caddy and to get an extra key made. When he got home, he stocked both bathrooms with soap and laid out the towels, a set of them for her, a set for him. He put up a new shower curtain, laid down a bath mat. Downright domestic. Then he went in search of Sylvie to give her the key.
She wasn’t on the ground floor or the second floor, and she wasn’t in the cellar. But when he got into the attic he didn’t see her there, either. Not that the light was all that good, coming in slantwise through the filthy porthole windows in the gables. “Sylvie?” he said. “You here?”
No answer. Called again, no answer. Had she left? Just when she’d finally got it through her head not to let people in, now she slips out of the house when he’s downstairs or out shopping? It shouldn’t have bothered him, but doggone it, he’d just gone and bought some towels and a bathrobe he didn’t need if she wasn’t living there. People ought to be consistent, at least, even if they were consistently annoying.
He was about to head back down the steps when he heard her voice from the darkest of the four wings of the attic, the one with no window at all. He hadn’t looked real close back there because he didn’t think she’d be there in the dark. She picked her way through the scattered junk—even Helping Hands didn’t want this stuff—so quickly and deftly that it was like she could see in the dark. But come to think of it, she’d had plenty of time to memorize where everything was.
“You were looking for me?” she asked. He couldn’t blame her for sounding incredulous.
“I wanted to tell you the water heater’s being installed and after the water has a chance to heat up, you can get a real shower.”
“I bet I need one.”
“It’ll feel good whether you need it or not.” As if there was a chance she didn’t have years of sweat and grime caked on her. “Got soap there, if you don’t mind sharing a bar of it with me.”
“No problem,” she said.
“And you can take your pick of towels, I’ll just use the other set.”
“You got me a towel?”
“Can’t very well hang you out the window to dry, can I?”
“All I meant was. Thanks.” Again, that tone of surprise.
“Also,” he said, pulling out the extra housekey. “It isn’t safe for you to be in here with the deadbolt fastened and no key. Plus if you went out, you shouldn’t have to knock or wait for me to get home.”
She looked at it without taking it. “It’s not my house,” she said. “It’s yours.”
“I got title to it,” said Don. “But I could’ve lost that just now, if some lawyer really wanted to go to town with me. So the way I see it, we’re both squatters here, really. House still belongs to that Dr. Bellamy guy.”
“Oh, he’s forgotten all about it by now,” she said.
“I expect so,” said Don. “Him being dead and all.”
“Funny how he made such a strong house out of love for his wife, but that’s the thing, the house didn’t really have a hold on him at all, ever, because it was her that he loved. I think that’s romantic.”
“Are you taking the key or not?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s right for me to have it.”
“I say it is.” And as he said it, he found that he pretty much believed it. “Now that you’re following the rules. Not letting people in.”
“Would you mind setting the key by the door to my room?”
He looked at her for a minute. What was this game? Didn’t she recognize victory when she had it? Did she have to rub it in by making him deliver the key?
“Really,” she said. “I don’t know if I could even hold the key. I’m kind of shaking right now. I guess what I’m saying is, please take the key and leave it there for me because I don’t want to cry in front of you, I’m shy about that.”
“Didn’t mean to make you cry.”
She shook her head and turned her back. He went down the attic stairs and laid the key in front of her door and then headed on to the cellar to see how Carville was doing.
Only when he got down the stairs to the entry hall, he could see through the glass in the door that somebody was standing on the porch, pacing nervously. In the attic he wouldn’t have heard any knocking. He opened the door. It was Cindy.
“Hi,” she said.
“Sure,” he said. “Come in.” He had a sinking feeling that she had heard what he did for her and she was there to thank him and he didn’t want that scene. But he’d rather have that one than the scene where she tries to pick up the romance where it was when it got sidetracked back at her house.
“You can relax,” she said, coming inside. “I know it’s over between us.”
“I suppose maybe so,” he said.
“You have no idea how I’ve replayed that day in my mind, wishing I could . . .”
“No point in that, Cindy,” he said.
“And now I’ve cost you money.”
“They had no business telling you about that.”
“Ryan doesn’t know how not to tell what he knows. He doesn’t understand that that’s why he’s not a very good spy. It doesn’t give you any advantage to know a secret if you blab it as soon as you find it out.”
“Ryan needs to have his head shoved up his butt.”
br /> “Might as well,” she said with a wan smile. “It’s always up somebody’s.”
He couldn’t argue.
“Anyway, Don,” she said. “I’ll pay it back to you. You have to let me.”
“You’ve got other places for that money to go.”
“But I know what having this house free and clear meant to you.”
“It’s OK,” he said. “The thing is, I’ll only have to borrow for a few months and that’s nothing. And I kissed you for the camera as much as you kissed me.”
“But you didn’t know how I’d bullied him into dropping the price.”
“But see, here’s the thing, Cindy. You did it because you liked me. So when it comes right down to it, the owner was right. I was getting a special advantage. I would have bought this house anyway, even at seventy thou. It would have taken me a few days to decide, maybe, but I would have bought it. So in a way, the only loser is you, because you didn’t get your whole commission.”
“Don’t you dare even think of paying me a—”
“I got kissed by a beautiful lady,” he said. “I found out I could feel things I thought I couldn’t feel. That’s not about money.”
“That’s it,” she said. “That’s how I feel too. And please don’t think for a moment I’m upset that you already have a girl here.”
“There’s a girl here,” said Don, “but I don’t have her. She came with the house.”
“No, no, you don’t have to explain anything. I know whatever you did, it was the kind of thing a kind and generous man would do. For all I know, she’s just another broken-hearted woman like me. Maybe you’re just a trouble magnet, Don.”
“Or maybe there’s no such thing as a person without troubles, so I’m just lucky to know somebody like you.”
She shook her head, holding back tears. “You know too much about me to believe that, Don.”