Page 23 of Except Emerson (Detroit ABCs #7)

I t was such a shame that we had to do this now, when it happened to be the most sweltering day of the summer and also the day when the electricity had gone out.

“Damn,” Levi groaned. “I should say, hot damn.” He wiped his forehead against his sleeve, then picked up the front of his t-shirt to rub it again. When he did that, I could see that he really did get a lot of exercise. He had the nice rectangular muscles in his stomach that—

“? Hostia !” Hernán yelped from across the hall, and the word accompanied a thumping sound. “ Se me cayó— ? me cago en la leche !” There was a terrible crash, and then more muffled swearing.

Levi pointed at me. “Sit there,” he told me, and pointed to the couch that we’d recently placed in my living room, the one that had formerly sat in Hernán’s instead.

He strode off to see what was the trouble and I, gratefully but overheatedly, sank onto a cushion.

My neighbor had been doing a lot of packing, which I knew because I’d seen him and helped him, too, and we’d gone several times to buy more boxes and tape.

He’d gotten rid of a ton, donating it to several organizations and also selling some things online.

We’d sorted and marked what he would pass on to me, and as this day approached, he’d expressed a lot of confidence that his move would go very smoothly.

It had not. Hernán had planned to set off on his road trip fairly early, before ten AM for sure.

It was now…I looked at my phone. How had it gotten so late?

It was nearly four, and we still weren’t done.

His daughter, Lucía, was upset and worried about the delay, since she’d laid out a careful route for him and booked hotel rooms along the way.

She didn’t want him to drive at night, for one thing, and she didn’t want him to feel like he needed to speed.

She had texted and called many times, wondering why he wasn’t leaving. It wasn’t what she’d planned, either.

But there had been problems. Levi had arrived this morning to help load the car and carry large items into my apartment, and when he’d seen the amount of stuff, he’d shaken his head. “Hernán, ? en serio ?” he’d asked.“This won’t fit in your car.”

My neighbor felt strongly that it would but as they carried out boxes and bags, it became obvious that Levi had been correct.

Hernán had needed to rent a trailer, which had taken forever and had involved Levi lying on the ground under the bumper for a while to do something with installation.

It meant that, along with sweat, he was also covered with dirt and grease.

In the meantime, I discovered that nothing in the kitchen was packed, that the mattresses weren’t sitting on a frame but were instead balanced on more boxes of my neighbor’s possessions, and that the closet (which he’d promised was “almost empty, casi casi ”) was packed to the brim.

Then the lights had gone out, and the air conditioning had made a thumping sound and stopped blowing. The temperature had immediately started to climb.

“The outage covers several blocks,” Levi had said, checking his phone. “There’s no estimate for restoration.”

We’d kept going. Hernán had thoughtfully provided lunch out of the refrigerator that was nearly full because for some reason, he’d just gone grocery shopping and had bought out half the store.

“ Tenía hambre ,” he’d explained. “It’s a bad idea to go shopping on an empty stomach.” I’d started ferrying over food to my own fridge, but it was probably going to spoil due to the lack of power.

But now, hours later, it seemed like Hernán really was close to leaving, if he had survived the crash we’d heard.

His apartment was nearly empty and mine had been transformed with furniture, a brimming fridge, a full set of dishes, and even some pictures hung on the walls.

I was grateful but the changes also made me a little uneasy, like I wasn’t sure where I was anymore.

Coral was worse—she had been acting crazy in the bedroom and Levi had gone in to soothe her more than once, since he seemed to have that magic touch.

This hadn’t been the easiest day, and that wasn’t just because I was hyperthermic and unfamiliar with my own home.

My hip had also started to ache more than it had in weeks.

And as Hernán’s apartment got emptier, I felt worse emotionally, too.

I’d already realized that I would miss him, but it was more than that.

I had another realization: this had been an opportunity that I’d wasted, that I’d somehow overlooked.

Why hadn’t I recognized the relationship bonds that we’d established?

Soon, he would be driving to Nevada and I’d be out of sight and out of his life.

“The closet doors fell off on him,” Levi explained as he reentered my apartment. “Did you ever check the cupboard above the freezer?”

“No. I can’t reach that high and neither can Hernán. I assumed it was empty.”

“I got him some ice and I happened to open it. It’s full of books,” he said, and he looked pained.

“? Joder !” I got myself back up and mentally prepared to return to the equally hot apartment across the hall, which now resembled mine—or how mine had been before today.

All that remained in Hernán’s place were off-white walls, a grey plastic-wood floor, a dented fridge, cabinets that didn’t close exactly right, and general beige emptiness.

Well, there were also a few more things to shove into the car and, possibly, detached closet doors.

At least he didn’t have a yowling cat. “Please be quiet,” I begged Coral, and Levi stepped in.

“I’ll calm her down,” he told me. He patted my shoulder as we crossed paths in the living room that was now more difficult to walk through. Before, I could have danced in it, if I’d known how or had a partner.

“Hernán?” I asked as I stepped through his door. He sat on a box, one of the last, with a bread bag of ice held to his forehead. I didn’t envy the injury beneath it, but I did envy that coolness.

“I’m almost done.”

“Levi said there was still stuff in the cupboard above the refrigerator,” I said, and he let loose with a string of angry words in Spanish, most of which I now recognized. Both he and Levi had been doing a lot of swearing today.

“I can’t leave that. It’s important,” he said, and I told him to drag over the box. While he held me somewhat steady, I stood on it and passed down the contents of the cupboard, which was cookbooks and binders filled with sheets of paper.

“Are these recipes?” I asked as I gave him another of those.

He nodded and helped me down. “Yes, from my mother and my grandmother, but many are very old. They were the first to write them down.” He opened a binder and looked at a page. “I’ll bring all this to Lucía. She doesn’t care much for cooking, though.”

“But you enjoy it, and you guys can make stuff together. Like a father-daughter thing.”

“She and her mom like to go out to eat when María del Carmen comes to Nevada. They play tennis together, too.”

He seemed so sad about that. “Are you worried about seeing your ex-wife?” I asked him.

Hernán hesitated briefly before admitting, “A little. She already told Lucía that she wants me to leave the house when she visits.”

“What? That’s not fair.”

“My daughter doesn’t want to take sides, but she said no because it will be my house, too. But I don’t want to hurt their relationship.”

“María del Carmen can stay in a hotel when she comes.”

He winced. “Children should welcome their parents. If your father showed up, would you tell him to go rent a room?”

“He won’t,” I said with certainty.

“One day, he might want to have more contact.”

“No,” I answered, even more certain. “The first and last time I spoke to him—well, I emailed him, and it was to inform him that my mother had died.” I had also said that I was his daughter and that I would like to get to know him.

He had answered, saying thank you for the information.

Then I’d sent another message and it had bounced back as undelivered.

He had either blocked me or closed that account.

“You don’t have his phone number?”

I shook my head. “I only got his email address by going through my mother’s stuff.”

“They were still in contact about you, then.” He seemed slightly mollified, but I shook my head again.

“They rarely mentioned me. Anyway, I won’t be waiting for my father to drop by, and I’m glad that Lucía stood up for you.”

Levi came back in, now covered in cat hair as well as the sweat, road dirt, and grease. “Coral is shooting fur,” he said, swiping at himself. “She’s very, very angry.”

“Did she bite you?” I asked urgently, but he was unscathed. He found a bag for the stuff I’d taken from the cupboard, and we carried the last remaining items out to Hernán’s car.

“That’s it,” Levi said. He had to slam the trunk hard, putting his weight on it to force it closed. “I’m never moving anything ever again. You guys can quote me.”

“Thank you for your help,” Hernán told him, and Levi answered that it had actually been his pleasure. There was a pressured moment of silence as we all looked at each other, then my former neighbor spoke again. “ Pues, me voy . I’m on my way,” he said.

“Don’t stay on the road too late. You already did a lot today and you’ll get tired,” I warned.

“You sound like my daughter,” he told me, and I felt pressure gather in my throat and my chest. “I’ll be very careful.”

“Keep in touch with Lucía, and with us,” Levi said, and they shook hands.

Hernán looked at me and I nodded, trying to smile so that he saw how fine I was.

He thanked me for all my help, kissed both my cheeks, and got into the car.

We waved as he drove down the street and slowly turned the corner with the trailer bobbing behind him.