Page 44 of The Handyman
Lacing our fingers together, I turned my gaze past him and out the driver’s side window. I knew my mom and dad were home, and a dreary atmosphere descended on the car.
“Areyouokay, Riley?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” the confession slipped out before I could stop it, and I scrunched up my face in disdain. My parents weren’t flashy rich or anything; they’d moved here during a recession decades ago and could comfortably afford it, but their house was small. By comparison to the other houses around here, that were barely used and ignored, my parents must’ve seemed destitute.
But this was the place I’d grown up, spent so much time trying to get my mom to approve of me before giving up. This was the street I learned to ride my bike on— alone. I’d gone to the local high school, where I had okay friends, but never invited anyone to my house. My mom wasn’t someone I wanted to introduce anyone to, let alone the guy I was dating. . . who also happened to be the man she’d contracted to kill me.For pennies!
“Even trying to get rid of me, she puts in the minimum,” mumbling softly, I unfurled my fingers from Reece’s to step out of the passenger seat. My mom’s rose bushes were immaculately round, showing no signs of all the times I’d fallen in them. The path to the house was free of dead grass and debris, and the driveway housed my dad’s truck. I knew that if I opened the garage, my mom’s car would be sitting there, unused, the gas turning to sludge and the oil in the engine slowly seizing up.
Even in mid-March, there was something truly dead about this house. No matter how hard life tried to establish roots, they never took. Shutting the door to Reece’s car, I rounded the front to tug my jacket a little tighter around me. Despite the fact that it was nearly 7pm, the sun hadn’t fallen below the trees, and a golden glow encapsulated my childhood home.
Reece was a half-step behind me, his car beeping lightly as he locked the doors, and I had to work to get my knees to bend. So many thoughts raced through my head, scenarios I’d never thought I would have to consider flashing behind my eyelids when I managed to blink. The cold nipped at my cheeks and fingertips, so I stuffed my hands into my pockets with a frosty, calming huff of a breath.
I knocked on the door, a stranger that recognized this place but no longer felt welcome and stiffness slithered between the notches in my spine. For a flash of a second, I hoped my dad would be the one to open the door, but he never left the kitchen chair if he could help it. His paper was all he cared about, ignoring how ugly and fake his life was beyond those crinkled edges.
“Shit—” Murmuring under my breath, I flexed my toes in my heels before the door locks unlatched overly loud above the blood drumming in my ears. Taking a deep breath in preparation, I fixed a smile on my face as Reece pressed a palm against my lower back soothingly.
My mom’s surprised face appeared behind the screen door, brow wrinkling slightly in confusion as she pushed open the barrier. “Riley! What are you doing— here?” She caught herself noticeably, her eyes flickering to Reece behind me as she held the door in one hand and blocked the opening with her body. “You’ve been ignoring me for weeks— you couldn’t call first?”
“You said it yourself…”
Her blue eyes flashed, narrowing on me as a sickly sweetness invaded my tone.
I stepped up to force her back. “…You wanted to meet my boyfriend. Here he is.” Again, I stepped forward.
My mom backed up into the house fully as she huffed in displeasure.
My heart hardened, but I couldn’t back down, now. All my life, she’d treated me like she hated me, wanted me to fail, actively encouraged it—and I frowned at her. The interior of the house hadn’t changed at all, but all I could see with any clarity was her.
“Why didn’t you call first? I would’ve made dinner.” My mom stuck her nose up at me and flashed Reece a charming, friendly smile. “I’m Riley’s mom, Tanya. I apologize for the state of my home. I didn’t know you were coming.”
“No worries. Your home is very…rustic.” Reece’s distaste dribbled from his tongue thickly.
My mom’s expression tightened even as they shook hands.
“I’m Reece. When Riley explained you lived in Redding, I didn’t immediately think ‘quaint’— I’ll be honest.”
He’s really good at acting like a rich asshole.Of course, Reece probably had a few tax brackets on my parents, and I had to hide my small smile.
My mom was quiet for a moment before offering us a drink, gesturing us to follow her into the kitchen. “Charles, Riley’s here, and she brought her boyfriend.”
True to form, my dad was sitting at the kitchen table with a coke and rum next to him, and he glanced up from his paper uninterestedly. Slowly folding his paper, my dad lifted himself from his chair to show off the decades of factory work that toned his arms and thinned his face. His scruff was scraggly, and he had a bit of a beer gut since the last time we’d seen each other, but he looked basically the same. “It’s good to see you, sweetheart.” My dad hugged me, while he rubbed my back. “I missed you. How’s New York City?”
I smiled genuinely. “It’s great! I got a new job, way better job than I had. I just finished my first week today. I smashed it!” My excitement peeked in my tone.
My dad cracked a smile before his gaze trailed to Reece to narrow into fine points.
“Um— this is Reece, my boyfriend. Reece, this is my dad.”
They tersely shook hands, but the tension in the kitchen rose astronomically when neither of them let go. My dad’s frown became deeper etched into his face, and Reece obviously wasn’t expecting how hard the handshake was.
Glancing warily between them, I held my breath as my heart made a break between my ribs, my hands clenched tightly by my sides.
“You know about her.” It wasn’t a question as my dad cast me a shrewd side glance before releasing Reece’s palm to sit down again. “I knew it’d catch up to me eventually.”
“That you’re a pedophile? Yeah,” Reece replied casually.
My jaw nearly hit the floor when my dad just snorted and rolled his eyes, as if he’d heard that before.