Chapter 8

When I got home, I took the boxes into the apartment and then took the beer up to the fridge. I never drank the hard stuff anymore, giving away the last of my collection to Mrs. Sanchez after that night. I showered and changed, coming down for dinner and letting her know that the job was done. She nodded and smiled sadly.

“I’m gonna miss you, Ham,” she told me. “If I was a little younger or you were a little older, I’d have been interested in playing horsey with you, like your guardian angel suggested.”

“I’m gonna miss you too,” I said, giving her a hug. “I don’t think you’re too old to play horsey though.”

“Old enough to be your mother,” she laughed and caressed my face. “Find your beloved,” she implored me. “She’s out there. You did your best to find her here, but you never managed to connect with anyone. You’ll find her though.”

“I will,” I promised and squeezed her tight. “Keep a bed for me in case I pass this way again?” I asked lightly.

“Always. Maybe mine if I’m not to old to play horsey,” she teased.

We laughed and made dinner together, I hadn’t made definite plans yet, but Mike knew I was coming soon. After dinner, I normally went out clubbing, but tonight, I was calling him to let him know what was going on.

We talked pleasantly through dinner and I promised to keep in touch by email and phone as often as I could. We’d become very good friends over the last few months since Linda’s visit.

After dinner, we cleaned up and then I went upstairs to start packing things up. The dishes, pots and pans were all hers. I was leaving my waffle-iron since they were relatively cheap and could be picked up anywhere. The furniture was hers, so the only things I really had to worry about were clothes, some personal belongings and the stuff from the bathroom.

I called the house and talked to them. I told them I was taking a week here to say goodbye and then I’d call them back the day before I hit the road. It was a two day stretch, so I wasn’t in any hurry. I told them I had the gear to install some automation in their house if they wanted it. Mike was skeptical, but Mary got her way and I was committed to spending the rest of summer crawling around and putting in new systems whether he wanted them or not.

I said goodbye to a few people I was friendly with at the hangouts I frequented. Some of the ladies at the strip club made sad noises. I was a decent tipper and never tried to grab what I wasn’t supposed to touch. Part of that was I saw one guy get creamed and arrested for doing it and partly it was because I wasn’t that kind of guy.

My last night in Austin, Mrs. Sanchez and I went out dancing like most Fridays. She liked to dance, but I’d been hopeless. She taught me a lot and I wished I could pay her back. She always seemed to enjoy her nights out with me, but she always made sure to end them at the door, no matter how flushed and clingy she was by the time I made sure she got inside. This night though, she was drinking a lot more than normal and she was touching a lot more than she usually did. I figured tonight was her last night with me, so she could drink to her heart’s content and be as affectionate as she wanted.

By the time we closed out the bar, she was ripped. I had to help her to her car, had to help her into it, which afforded me a very good view of her treasures as dignity abandoned her. I tugged her skirt back down from where it had hiked up, got her belted in and started home. My truck was mostly packed for tomorrow. I had the crew-cab packed with the boxes and most of my clothes. All I had was an overnight bag and my bathroom stuff to toss in the truck. My toolbox was an immense metal beast that I couldn’t lift. It was bolted in place and wasn’t moving without tools or super-powers. If someone was gonna steal it, they were welcome to it. I wasn’t gonna object to someone strong enough to move it.

So I made sure to park her car so that I could get the truck out in the morning. I brought her to her door, but there was no way that she could make it on her own. I fished in her purse for the keys and got the door open, but she was gonna collapse as soon as I let her go.

I sighed and helped her inside. I got her up to bed and was gonna leave her there, but I couldn’t. I sighed and got her shoes off and then looked around for whatever she wore to bed usually. I found a collection of night-shirts hanging on the back of the door, so I picked one and got her changed. By this point, she was mostly passed out, with the occasional mumble to tell me that she wasn’t completely asleep. I got her tucked in and then I decided to help out a little more. I got her a bucket from downstairs in case she got sick through the night and was about to leave when she opened her eyes.

“Don’t go,” she said and held her hand out to me.

She really was a beautiful woman and I’d been tempted to make a pass at her, but there was no part of me that wanted drunken sex. I took her hand and kissed it tenderly. “I don’t think either of us are in any shape to keep the night going,” I pointed out.

“No, just stay with me,” she asked. “It’s been so long since my Luis passed on. I sometimes miss his arms around me.”

I nodded and figured that it was harmless enough. I stripped down to my boxers and slid into bed behind her, The two of us unused to the feel of someone to hold onto at night.

I was awakened in the middle of the night by her heaving into the bucket I’d left for her. I sat up and held her hair for her while she was sick and then I took the bucket to the bathroom, got rid of the contents and rinsed it out before bringing her back a glass of water and a washcloth in case she needed to be cleaned up. She was grateful for both and was back to sleep before I took the glass and cloth back to the bathroom. I brought the bucket back just in case and then went back to sleep myself.

The next time I woke up, I was alone. It was morning and I could smell breakfast. I was just stretching when she came in with a cup of coffee for me.

“No, don’t get up,” she told me. “It’s your last day. I’m making you breakfast in bed.” She smiled and didn’t seem to be any the worse for wear after last night. “It’s almost ready. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I sipped my coffee and slowly woke up. I could get used to starting the day like this. She appeared a few minutes later with a steak and egg breakfast, toast, hash-browns and juice.

She put the tray on my lap and then slid back into bed with me. “You have a long drive today,” she reminded me. “You need a good breakfast before you get on the road.” She kissed my cheek. “Thanks for taking care of me last night,” she said, slightly embarrassed. “I don’t normally go that crazy.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I was glad I was able to be here for you. I kind of got the impression that you were going a little harder because I was leaving.”

She nodded. “I’m gonna miss you,” she admitted and took a piece of toast from the tray, nibbling on it. “Luis and I never had kids, but if we had, I’d like to hope they’d have turned out like you.” She smiled at me and I smiled back, touched.

I’d shed a lot of tears, but when my eyes misted over, it wasn’t out of pain or sorrow or loss. I was deeply affected by what she’d said to me. I carefully put the tray aside and then wrapped her up in a hug. “When everything happened with my brother, I sort of lost my mother. My father was never any great prize, but I’ve missed having someone like that in my life.”

She hugged me back just as tight. I remember that the last time I hugged my mother, I’d felt nothing. There was none of the love that a hug from a mother should be filled with. I found that feeling laying in the bed of a woman I’d have been happy to have called my lover if things had been just a touch different. We stayed that way for a few minutes and then she pulled back and kissed me on the cheek. “Eat up,” she told me with a smile. “You don’t want it to get cold.”

She ate most of the toast and I figured that her stomach was a little too tender for more than that. I focused on the rest and we shared the OJ. My life had started to mend this past year. I wasn’t dwelling on Sabrina, I’d found a woman that I could think of as a mother more than my own, I’d come a long way toward forgiving Linda and Billy, although I still wasn’t sure I could ever see him without wanting him dead.

When breakfast was finished, I gave her a longer, more lingering hug. “I would have been very happy to have you teach me how to please a woman again,” I whispered to her.

She laughed and bit my ear lightly. “I’d have ruined you for other women,” she assured me. “Don’t forget to call me often,” she begged. “I’ll miss you terribly.”

“You need to find a new dance partner yourself,” I told her. “I don’t want you to sit at home all the time.”

She laughed. “So you’re gonna be MY Guardian Angel now?”

“It’s time we both started living again,” I said ardently. “I want you to find someone and maybe come up with a last-minute ankle-biter of your own.”

She smiled at me and patted my cheek. “Being a mother is one that I missed out on,” she told me with a rueful shrug. “I stopped about a year ago. Maybe God was telling me that the son for me had already arrived.”

I hugged her tighter and she held me just as hard. I finally had to let her go, but I kind of wanted to delay my departure now that we were talking about it. “You’d better believe it,” I told her. “You’re stuck with me now.”

“Good,” she said. “When you meet your special lady, I want to be invited to the wedding.”

“You’d better be there,” I smiled and kissed her very gently on the lips. “I love you, Rosa,” I told her tearfully.

“I love you too, Peter,” she said. She’d always called me Ham, but this was a very special morning. She shooed me off to shower, change and finish packing while she worked around the house. She had some students that were coming in the next few days, so I didn’t have to worry that she’d be alone. She was only taking on women this year, claiming that they were less trouble. I was relieved about that. I didn’t like the thought of not being here if she had trouble with one of the tenants.

I showered and cleaned up the shower afterwards. I started the washer as soon as the towels were ready to go in and then got dressed and looked through the rest of the house for anything I might have missed. I knew Rosa would take care of me and send along anything I missed, but I wanted the place to be ready for her to move someone in right away. I put the towels in the dryer and then started taking the last of my bags out to the truck. I brought the keys back to the house and told her I’d left the dryer running with the last towels I’d used.

“You didn’t have to do that!” she said. “I was going in later today to strip the bed and wash the sheets anyway.”

“Crap! I meant to do that!” I berated myself. “Sorry to leave that with you,” I told her. “Also, I left my waffle-iron in the kitchen. Don’t send it to me. I left it here on purpose.”

She nodded. “Okay,” she said and kissed my cheek, wiping away the lipstick when she pulled back, just like a mother would. “Get on the road and call me when you get where you’re going tonight so I don’t worry.”

I smiled and hugged her one last time. “We should have had this talk months ago,” I said.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “But we’ll have plenty of time to catch up later,” she promised.

After that, I had to go. She had Mike and Mary’s new address and the phone number there. I got on the road and immediately wished I wasn’t leaving. I turned on the radio and listened to take my mind off saying goodbye to a sweet lady who’d become very important to me this past year. After a while, I stopped being sad about it and looked forward to seeing the kids again and their parents to a slightly lesser extent. I made it through to Jackson, Mississippi that night. I called Rosa to let her know I’d made it safely and then called Mike to let him know the same thing.

“You’re practically next door!” Mike told me. “You couldn’t drive another three hours?”

“I could,” I chuckled. “I’m taking my time though. The drive’s been pretty good. I’ll leave early tomorrow and be there for lunch,” I promised.

“Alright,” he said. “We’ll have your room ready when you get here and after lunch, I’ll put you to work.”

“So much for my vacation,” I said with a laugh.

“I’ve been waiting for you before I do a lot of the drywall,” he admitted. “The place looks like a disaster zone right now, but I’ve done a lot of the work already.”

“Okay,” I said. “Does Mary have a place to take the kids while we work? Sheet-rock dust can’t be good for them.”

“Of course,” he said, disappointed I hadn’t thought he’d think of it. “We’re still renting the old apartment for now. We’re hoping to be into the house at the end of the month with some regular help.”

“Gotcha,” I laughed. “Slave labor, reporting for duty.”

“Now you’re catching on,” he told me.

We hung up and I called Linda after a moment’s hesitation. She knew I was done in Austin, but not that I was on the road at the moment. I told her that and caught her up on a few things. I didn’t tell her how close I’d gotten with Rosa in the past couple of weeks, but she knew that I’d been closer to her since the weekend she’d come to see me.

We talked for about twenty minutes and then I settled back to watch some movies on my laptop and then I turned in early.

I was checked out and back on the road before the sun rose the next morning. I was glad to have my sunglasses because as soon as the sun crested the horizon, it was like a laser beam right into the back of my skull. I got into Birmingham and went to the apartment first to drop off my clothes. Mike and Mary were both surprised to see me so early and came to hug me tightly before I could collect hugs from the kids. I took a moment to call Rosa and let her know I’d arrived safe and she told me to keep calling her so she’d know I was doing okay.

I’d brought presents for the kids, but those were packed in my luggage, so they’d have to wait for tonight.

“We weren’t expecting you until later,” Mary told me.

“I got an early start,” I told them. “Mike was whining about how much work there was, so I’m here to save the day.”

He punched me in the arm and called me a name that Sabrina immediately copied. Mary was not amused. We got out of there and I followed him to the new place so we could start working. It turned out that the house was in good shape for me to wire everything. Mike really had ripped out most of the old sheet-rock to install new insulation, upgrade the wiring and replace anything that didn’t look right when he gave it the stink-eye. I’d also been doing this for a year, so the installation went pretty quickly. I had it wired in a couple of hours.

“Fuck!” he said when I was done. “That was fast.”

“We did three hundred houses this past year,” I told him. “I could do this in my sleep.”

He nodded and we got to work on the rest of what he needed to do. Mary called us for lunch and we locked up the house. We left my truck there and drove back together.

“You look like you’re more comfortable on the job site than in a desk chair,” he commented on the way home.

“Maybe so, but It’d be a nice change to do something with my degree,” I said lightly. I was taking the opportunity to look around as we drove, getting a first look at some of the things that had changed since I’d lived here.

“You also seem more relaxed than when you left. What’s that about?”

“That’s some news I have for after the kids go to sleep tonight,” I told him.

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay with them in with you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I haven’t seen them in ages. I want to be close to them.”

He nodded and we drove in silence after that. We had a nice lunch. Mary had made soup and sandwiches for us, she’d strained the kids’ soup so there was nothing for them to choke on and she was feeding them when we came in. The kids were generally well-behaved, but the arrival of Daddy made them hyper and Mary had a Hell of a time getting them to settle down and eat. Fortunately, that wore them out for their afternoon nap, giving Mary a little time to relax before they resumed their siege.