He turned into the shop intending to finish some extra work when he spotted a light on in his dad’s apartment over the garage. Keith Thompson had moved into the place once Katy was old enough to live in the family home on her own.
Len paused. He’d never given it much thought before, how his dad chose to live in a cramped, one-bedroom space right over the shop instead of remaining in the house across the yard where the entire family had grown up—
His feet moved involuntarily toward the stairwell, and he found himself knocking on the door. There was no answer, but a low pulse of music carried through the wood, so Len opened the door cautiously and made his way inside.
“Dad?”
His father turned from the window, a tortured expression on his face and sorrow in his eyes. He didn’t answer, just shuffled across the room to settle in his chair. The single light in the room glowed down on the framed picture of Len’s mom and dad on their wedding day. Bright faces shining. Hope and love so clearly visible.
Shit. This could get rough.
A nearly empty bottle of whiskey sat next to the chair, and his dad tipped a little more into his glass, hands shaking as he raised the tumbler toward the picture.
“Meg said yes. On this day, all those years ago. I thought for sure she was smarter than that—thought she would tease me for a little longer before she agreed we should get married. I mean, I was this dumb hick grease-monkey, and she was so smart and beautiful, and she could have had anyone she wanted.”
“Of course she said yes. You were in love.” Len gingerly lowered himself into the chair opposite his father and prepared to babysit for a while—the man was drunk enough to need to be watched. “I can’t believe you remember the anniversary of the day you proposed.”
Keith sighed. “I remember it all, far too much, because memories are all I’ve got left.”
His voice cracked for a second, and Len swallowed hard.
Silence reigned before his dad started talking. Stories about courting Len’s mom. Dances and parties, and walks down country lanes. Len sat and listened. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with his hands as the bands around his heart tightened more with every moment of painful remembrance.
And then it happened. His father strolled straight into the fire, hauling Len with him. “I don’t know if I’ve ever said thank you.”
Len stiffened in his chair, staring across at his father as a sense of dread rushed in to fill his soul. “For what?”
Keith stared at the glass in his hand as if it held the secrets of the universe. “I know what you did. More than you should’ve had to at your age.”
Utter dismay washed over Len, a sense of nausea rising. “What are you talking about?”
“The night your mom died.” Keith took a long drink, staring out the window at the clouds gathered like dark omens over the mountains. He shook his head. “I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t.”
Len’s body shook as he waited, careful not to say anything out of place. Careful not to give any opening or assume what his father was talking about even as his emotions whirled in turmoil.
It was the same sense of fear and self-loathing he’d lived with for years as a teenager. The way his heart would stop beating every time the police would walk by, or someone paused and looked at him for too long.
He’d gotten past that, he’d thought. Past the nausea and the pain. But it was right back strong as the day it had first slashed him to the heart.
Keith shook his head, his lined face tight with emotion. His voice breaking as he spoke. “I miss her so damn much. Why’d she have to die, Len? Why’d she have to go and leave me without my heart?”
“She didn’t want to, Dad.” Len stared across at his father, a strong man broken by an event that had happened more than ten years earlier. And like back then, Len did what he could to bring peace. “She fought, she fought hard.”
“Fuck cancer. Stole the heart of our family. Stole my heart until I’m nothing left but a walking husk. If I could change places with her, I would, in a second.”
His father put his face in his hands and the tears began to fall.
Len wiped his eyes, fighting to stay in control. There was nothing he could say. Just like there’d been nothing he could do so long ago, nothing except be there and offer a warm body in the room.
He didn’t know the words, and he didn’t know how to cut out his father’s pain like they’d tried to cut the cancer from his mother’s body.
In the end, both were killers.
His mother hadn’t lasted past that summer. His father had never been the same, and once again a part inside of Len grew cold with fear and frustration.
He crossed the room and wrapped an arm around his father’s shoulders. The same way he’d done when his mom had died. Sobs wracked Keith’s body, and Len sat there, trying to offer something to bring back his father from the dark pit of despair.
In that moment Len’s resolve stiffened. The pleasure and joy he’d found over the summer in Janey’s presence was temporary and fleeting, and he needed to cut loose as soon as possible.
Because that’s all his soul could take.
Chapter Twelve
Her fingers were numb from clutching the phone so tight. “No way. You’re serious?”
Mr. Jons chuckled. “I joke about many things, but house sales are not one of them. Congratulations. If everything works out, you’ll be the proud ex-owner of your place by the end of the month.”
Shock and joy danced together all the way to her feet until Janey couldn’t keep still. She bounced down the hallway. “I thought you said the market was slow these days. We only listed the house last weekend, and I didn’t expect any serious offers for a few days if we were lucky.”
“Doesn’t take luck when it’s a great house and someone’s looking. They pretty much accepted your terms. I’ll bring by the paperwork to show you what’s happening, and we’ll take it from there.”
“You’ll come here? Or do you want me to come to your office. I can come to your office.” She could fly to his office she was so full of adrenaline.
Jons laughed. “You’re going to be out of a place to sleep. Now you really need to tell me if you want to consider renting that apartment.”
Janey resisted answering his question, because she and Brad hadn’t finished working out the details, but there was a good chance she would need to find a place to rent. “I’ll be at the office in a few minutes.”
As excited as she was, she resisted calling Len.
Something strange was going on with him. At first she’d thought it was her imagination, or an exhausted assumption on her part. The final week of getting the house finished had turned into a few near-twenty-four-hour workdays. Len had still come around and helped her, but they’d been swamped at the garage as well, so their moments together had been few and far between. They hadn’t once had sex during that time, either, which was kind of like going from a feast to a famine. Pretty much, they’d talked a few times, and once they’d gotten together to sit quietly on the deck.
Janey had fallen asleep in his arms and discovered herself alone in her bed hours later.
But everything, as confusing and unsettling as it was, could be pushed behind her now. There was no more rush, there were no more reasons they couldn’t go back to having a good time together, and maybe more.
She laughed with relief as she hopped into her truck, forcing herself to stay under the speed limit all the way to the realtor’s office. She couldn’t resist grabbing her phone and calling Katy, though.
“I got an offer, and he says it’s really good, and I’m going to the office to see if I’ve actually sold the house.”
Katy squealed loud enough to satisfy Janey. “That is so awesome. Do you know who bought it? Do you know when they’d be moving? Oh man, you haven’t figured out where you’re going to live yet. What you gonna do with your stuff? If you need somewhere to store it, you can stick it in my garage, or I bet there’s room down at the shop—”
“Let’s wait until things are actually in place before we worry about where my boxes have to go,” Janey warned. “But, yes, I am so excited. And I don’t know what’s coming next, but it’s like doors are opening.”
“This is when I start singing ‘The Sound of Music’ to annoy you, right?”
Janey didn’t think anything could ever annoy her again. “You can ‘Do-Re-Mi’ anytime you want. I’m at the office, I’ll call you soon as I find out the rest of the news.”
“Congratulations, though. You worked really hard, and I’m so glad it’s paid off.”
A cloud of warmth surrounded her as Janey floated into the office, the little bell over the door buzzing softly. Mr. Jons beckoned her from the back, and she walked straight in and sat down at the broad boardroom table.
“The offer is for your asking price, which is less uncommon than you’d think,” Mr. Jons shared. “The purchaser has financing in place with the bank, so all they need is your agreement with the price.”
“That’s it?” Janey hesitated. “There’s no house inspection as a condition?”