“Fuck it.” Snatching my phone, I scrolled through and found the number Orion called me from, and dialed back.
After a few rings, he answered, “Yeah?”
“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”
A deep sigh filled my ear. “Pigpen. You got my message. Thanks for listening, I feel a lot better getting that off my chest.”
“You don’t know me, and you know fuck all about my relationship with my father. I have done nothing but try to help that man, not that it’s any of your business. You’ve got some gall leaving me a message like that.”
“Yeah, I heard a thing or two about how you tried to help him. Like offering to move him into your fucking garage.”
I paused, frowning. “My garage?” I chuckled, nodding. “Oh, I see. I’m guessing he gave you no specific details about this garage.”
“He said the place is dirty and disgusting. That it isn’t even heated for winter and it smells like gas and exhaust. And you want to put him out there with nothing but a cot to sleep on. That’s your idea of looking out for your dad?”
I laughed long and hard, even as my anger escalated. This was too much. “Ah, yeah. Hate to break it to you, Sport, but Jasper’s been lying to you.”
“Right.” He scoffed. “Like I’m gonna believe you.”
“You want me to prove it?”
“Don’t need you to. I trust his word. He wouldn’t lie to me, unless it was for my own good.”
“Aw, that’s sweet. Listen, I’m texting you some photos.”
A long pause, then, “Why?”
“Because I’d very much like to show you the cold, dirty, smelly garage where I offered to house my father.”
I sent him three photos I’d taken of the finished garage. I knew how good it looked—my friend Brock called the place ‘fucking stellar’ and said it should be featured in a magazine or something. The photos I’d sent Orion highlighted the best features, a wide shot of the open living area, raised ceiling and skylights visible, gleaming wood floor, sunroom off to one side. Another photo showed the newly installed, modern kitchen. Another, the stylish little bathroom with the big window over the clawfoot tub. I waited, but Orion had gone silent.
“You there?”
“These photos could be from anywhere. You’re bullshitting me. I trust Jaz’s word, he’s always been straight up.”
I rolled my eyes. The pet name, ‘Jaz’ bugged me. I’d never heard anyone else call my father that, and it drove home that they had a unique relationship completely outside of me. “Fine then,” I said. “You want me to go take a selfie right now, standing in the garage?”
Orion chuckled. “You must think I’m stupid. I know you used to build houses. You probably have a million pictures of you standing in empty places.”
“This is insane.” I shook my head. “You really don’t believe me.”
“I really don’t believe you. I believe Jasper.”
“Wow,” I said. “My dad sure found a sucker.”
A moment passed, and I thought he’d hung up, but then he laughed softly. “Oh honey, I am no one’s sucker. Works the other way around in my world.”
I should probably have let it go at this point, but even over the phone, something about this guy made me combative. I wanted to meet his challenge. I wanted to prove him wrong and make him eat crow. “I’m texting you my address.”
There was a soft inhale, then, “What for?”
“Come on by and check out the garage yourself.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty busy, so...”
“You just don’t want to find out you’re wrong.”
“I said I’m busy. Some of us still work for a living.”
Ouch. That one stung a bit. Did my father have to give him so much detail about my current life? It pissed me off, and only made me more determined to spite him. “It won’t take long. Just come by when you have a minute.”
“Not sure Jaz would like it if I went to your house. He’s still pissed I taunted you at the park.”
“So what? I won’t tell him.”
“What if he finds out? He yelled at me for talking to you last night, he’s all pissed off. I’m gonna have to be way careful not to screw things up worse. Nah fuck it, I can’t risk it. I can’t.”
How the hell did my father have such influence over this person? Jasper was always mad at me, but I didn’t cry about it. That was just Jasper. He was a cranky bastard. “What the hell, Orion, stop being so intimidated. He’s an old man with a bad knee, what’s he gonna do, throw a fish at you?”
“Hey, that’s no joke. He catches some pretty big fish.”
I smiled in spite of myself. “That’s true. And he throws a mean tomato. I know from experience.”
“Jaz threw a tomato at you?”
“A rotten one, yeah.”
There was a moment of silence, then a soft laugh. “He threw a worm at me one day when I got on his nerves.”
“A worm?”
“From his garden, yeah.”
“I’d say you got off easy.”
“Nah it was gross. Landed on my neck and stuck there. I had to peel it off.”
I chuckled, feeling something soften inside me, a slight melting of my frigid resentment. I wasn’t sure how that had happened so fast; we’d shared a joke about my father, that’s it. Maybe I was simply exhausted from harboring too many emotions all day. Either way, my rage cooled, and I suddenly cared a lot less about proving my father wrong.
Without my brain swimming in anger and adrenaline, I was able to think like an adult again, and realized this nonsense about the garage wasn’t helping anything or anyone. My dad was right in that none of this was Orion’s fault, annoying as he was. “Okay, look, forget it,” I said. “Doesn’t matter. If you don’t want to see it—”
“I have a job later on,” Orion interrupted. “But it’s out in your area. I’ll stop by after that.”
My brows rose in surprise. “Oh. All right. I’ll be here.”
Orion hung up. I set the phone down and leaned against the counter, running my fingers through my hair. “Shit.” Had I just made a mistake? Did I even want him here? I thought of my reaction to him last night at the park, and my heart was suddenly beating faster, stomach jittery.
Trying to shake it off, I prepped my garlic bread, stirred the meatballs again, then went over to the garage and cleaned up the washer rings spilled all over the floor. I made sure everything was polished and gleaming. Jasper refused to even look at the photos I’d taken of the place, and kicked me off his property when I tried to show him, again accusing me of wanting to imprison him. So hell, if Orion followed through and came by, at least someone would get to appreciate my hard work.
I left the garage and returned to the house, tidying some, then I went to my room and cleaned myself up, changing my shirt, which was splattered with tomato sauce. I brushed my teeth and slapped on some cologne, then went back down to the kitchen and sat at the table with my laptop. Opening the ‘How Sweet’ page, I read through all the new messages I had from single women who wanted to meet me.