Chapter 26

"Well, the cookout is off," Walt said as he sat wearily beside Mary in Adam's car. Sean was riding with Adam in the van and Rachelle was transporting the other three in the SUV she had appropriated from her father. Adam was insured on the company vehicles but not on those that were set aside for personal use.

"Tomorrow," Mary promised as she reached over to hold his hand. "I think today was more worthwhile than lounging at the pool and eating burned steaks."

"Me, too," Walt admitted. "It was really fun to fix up that old car. I think Arthur is going to have to have the smile surgically removed from his face."

Mary squeezed his hand affectionately.

"It was sweet of you to do that for him," she said with a glance toward her boyfriend.

"Well, if I'm honest, I did it to fuck with Kimble more than to help Arthur," Walt said. "That man rubbed me the wrong way from the get-go. I thought of something else while I was tinkering though. You know those mechanical bulls at bars and stuff?"

"Uh, yeah," Mary said, unsure of where Walt's fertile mind had led him.

"I think I could build one pretty easily," he said, his eyes closed.

"And that would be why?" Mary asked. "I mean, do you want to learn to ride a mechanical bull?"

"What?" Walt asked in distraction. "Oh, no. I was thinking about the movie they want to make. I was thinking how much it might cost to rent horses and a place to shoot such a thing. How much it might cost for lighting and stuff. I think I can build two or three mechanical horses, cover them with blue screen and you can add the real horses later digitally. It would really push the cost down a bunch, don't you think?"

Mary cast an appraising glance at her lover.

"You could do that?" she wondered.

"I'm pretty sure," he said. "We would need footage of horses moving and stuff to make sure the actions are correct. But, yeah, with used parts and stuff, I could probably make it for less than a grand if we didn't need a real plush seat or anything. I was thinking of a pillow, honestly. I'll have to see what I would need. It would be helpful if I had a machine shop, though."

"What brought this to mind?" she asked.

"I popped the wheels off, you know to check the brakes and the suspension," Walt replied. "I saw the control arms and it got me to thinking. The set up wouldn't be much different than those rides kids use at the store. Walk, trot, gallop. Three speeds. It shouldn't be much of a problem. If they could find someplace decent to shoot those scenes it could be done in a day or so. You can add the forest and stuff, right?"

"Of course," Mary said with mock indignation. "A five-year-old with Windows could do that."

"Oh," Walt said. "Well, I was positive you could do it even if it were really hard."

It was a good save, Mary had to admit.

"If it looks like that company is leery of the costs, we'll offer it," she said.

"I was thinking about building it anyway," Walt replied. "I mean, Sarah said she was thinking of a western, too. I think they'll get used and if we offer it now, it might make the difference of it getting done at all."

Mary considered his point.

"True," she said. "We'll talk it over tonight or tomorrow. On a wholly different subject, tomorrow is a pool day. Wait until you see what we'll be wearing."

Walt was completely confused.

"I didn't think you made it shopping today," he said.

"We didn't," she said and went silent.

"So you'll be wearing something I've already seen you in," Walt pointed out.

"Will I?" Mary asked. "You'll just have to tell me tomorrow if you've seen what I'm wearing."

She pulled into a spot near their building and jumped out, leaving Walt to ponder what she was talking about.

Sean was mostly silent on the ride back, which Adam didn't mind. Neither man found constant noise a necessity. They were only a few minutes from the apartments when Sean spoke for the first time.

"How committed are you to living where we live now?" Sean asked.

"Uh, committed?" Adam wondered. "Well, uh, are you asking me to move out?"

"Oh, no," Sean said quickly. "Not at all. I'm talking about leaving the apartments not kicking anyone to the curb. I know Shelly is planning to move in with Allie and Sarah. I overheard that today. I also overheard that they want you to move in there, too. I wouldn't blame you if you did. But today got me thinking a little more about things. You know I've been helping Rachelle's Dad on the real estate side, right?"

Adam nodded.

"Well, between us for now, we might have a better option than where we are," Sean said. "Most certainly it will be cheaper. It is definitely nicer and more spacious. Plus, well, the distance is a little farther to campus but it is closer to where you do most of your work. I just wanted to gauge your interest before I brought it up."

Adam took a deep breath.

"Honestly, I can see myself living with the girls before the summer is out," Adam said. "I probably would have made the determination when the lease is up. So I shouldn't really be a consideration."

"Allie's lease ends in June, too," Sean pointed out. "And I wasn't just talking about the five of us. I was talking about all eight of us. I watched the way everyone chipped in to help Mrs. Patrick. To me, that is the mark of someone's character: how they treat others who need a hand. I need to talk to Mike, uh, Mr. Cunningham, before we can do much more. But I'd rather stay where we are and all be close than to split up and maybe lose a part of our friendship."

"I think we are all smart enough to listen to options," Adam said. "Particularly if they are going to be nicer, cheaper options."

"Then I'll give Mike a call when we get back to the apartment," he said. "Do you think anyone will mind if we wait until tomorrow before unloading this shit from back?"

"Unless they want to do it themselves, I don't give a rat's patootie if they mind or not," Adam laughed. "I want to shower, eat and sleep in that order. How in the hell you and I got roped into carrying shit for every single buyer, I'll never know."

"I thought you agreed to it for both us," Sean said. "It sort of pissed me off for a while."

"Oh, hell no," Adam said. "I helped that one old guy with the wingback chair. Next thing I know, I'm being summoned to help someone else."

"Same here," Sean said. He chuckled and put his head back on the seat. "We got snookered. I saw you doing it and you saw me doing it and the next thing we know, it's our freaking job."

"You noticed no one rushed up to tell us what we were doing wasn't necessary, didn't you?" Adam asked.

"And you noticed that Walt took one look at all the work we were doing and ran to the garage to play with that car, didn't you?" Sean replied. "You'll also notice he didn't ask us for our help except for when he took the gas tank off and put it back on."

"Then Rachelle followed us out and shooed us back in the house," Adam pointed out.

Sean shook his head.

"I got $38 in tips," he joked.

"Yeah, I got somewhere around there," Adam replied. "I wrapped it up with what we gave to Edna."

"Me, too," Sean admitted. "She was really sweet, you know. I didn't mind helping her out. But it sort of rooked me a bit when some of those people tried to wheedle her down farther."

"And gave us a dollar each for toting a ton of shit to their cars," Adam added.

"That, too," Sean agreed. "Oh well, we had enough good things happen over the past few weeks that we shouldn't bitch too much."

"Go ahead, take all the fun out of riding alone with another guy," Adam laughed. "Cause God knows any bitching done in a female presence will not be tolerated."

"My bad," Sean joked.

The girls in Rachelle's SUV were a lot less lively than they had been on the way out to the sale. They had been run ragged, and each of the five of them had to fend off unwanted advanced on more than once occasion.

"Doing something halfway human really takes it out of you," Sarah lamented from the back seat.

"It's why most people don't bother," Allie offered. "If we had any sense, we would have taken our good fortune and ran off like thieves into the night."

"You noticed no one else offered to help," Rachelle pointed out. "They were happy enough to feel like they fleeced an old woman out of her inheritance but only one or two mentioned that the price they were quoted was way too low."

"I didn't hear anyone mention that," Shelly said. "Most just grabbed what they could carry, tossed their money on the table and ran before someone figured out it was almost a crime what they paid."

Light laughter filled the vehicle.

"Still, it was nice to see Edna get a break," Allie said. "She seemed like such a sweetheart. I've always heard Southern people are really polite and friendly. If she is any indication, I think it's true."

"Man, her mother-in-law must have been a bitch, though," Rachelle said. "I'm glad Sean's mom likes me. I can't imagine getting married to a guy whose family despises me."

Rachelle blushed when she realized what she said. Of course, Shelly picked up on it immediately and started needling Rachelle.

"Getting married?" Shelly asked from the front passenger seat. "Is this a new development?"

Rachelle shot her friend a look but nodded.

"Relatively new, I guess," she admitted. "The last few weeks anyway. Dad is integrating him into the businesses. I think he might have noticed before I did. But I guess it's really been the past few days that have gotten me thinking about it more and more. First off, he was willing to stand up to Adam. I was surprised at that. He rarely says much of anything and he and Adam are really tight."

"Stand up to Adam about what?" Sarah asked from the back.

"Well, uh, about you, I guess," Rachelle said. "Not you two in specific but the whole bringing girls he works with home in general."

"She and Sean were worried about him bringing home someone of less stellar character than you two," Shelly said, with a wink toward the girls in the back. "They worried he might hook up with a skank and start bringing them around."

Neither girl in the backseat seemed upset.

"I can see that," Allie admitted. "There are some girls who would make a play for Sean or Walt. Particularly since both are nice guys who stand to have good careers ahead of them."

"It was more than that," Rachelle protested. "It's also the lifestyle you hear about. Sean's uncle is a drug dealer. He has been in and out of trouble for as long as Sean has been alive. Sean's parents divorced because his Dad always took his brother's side. He let him stay with them for a while and the guy stole from them. He would spend a thousand dollars on a plane ticket to go visit the man in prison for an hour. He posted their house as collateral for bail and the guy skipped out. We were also worried that Adam might introduce someone who does that stuff into our group. I hope you understand."

"I smoke pot every now and then," Sarah said. "Is that a problem?"

"If you bring it into the house with you, it might be," Shelly warned before Rachelle could speak. "We drink every now and then. Not often but occasionally. I know Eric smoked pot and I've tried it a few times. But never at the apartment. Sean doesn't like it and Adam and Walt back him all the way. I don't think Adam likes anything like that. I haven't even seen him drink since that first party we had. Walt will drink but I don't think he or Mary do anything more than that."

"Mary does," Rachelle said. "Or she did. Nothing heavy. Like Sarah, she smoked pot. She did some coke once when all of us were out together. I don't think anyone knows but her, Adam and me. Adam was somewhat displeased but he just stared the guy down and didn't say anything to Mary. I've done the same things. I've tried pot and coke. I even tried crystal meth once. I've stayed away from crack and heroin but I've taken X and other pharmaceuticals. But I don't any longer. I decided about six months ago that it wasn't worth losing Sean over."

"It's not worth losing Adam over, either," Allie pointed out. "So far, I've stayed away from all that stuff since I came out here. First off, I really couldn't afford it and I didn't trust the guys who would offer it for free. Back home, I used a lot of stuff. I don't like needles and I'm scared to death of becoming a crack whore. I've seen too many girls who would fuck a rancid dick for a hit and I never wanted to be that girl. So I've stayed away from the hard stuff too."

"Hey, I don't do it every day or anything," Sarah protested vehemently. "I don't even do it every week. It's just something that I've done once in a while since I was 16 or so. It's been five or six weeks since I've smoked. I'm not turning tricks to get it, either."

"We didn't think that," Rachelle said. "And I didn't mean to imply that either Sean or I thought you were. I was just saying how adamant he is against all of it and using that to illustrate that he was willing to stand up to Adam about it. The fact that Sean is so friendly to you should show you that he likes you and accepts you. I doubt he is naïve enough to think that you never do that and that you never have. He is not a Puritan. He wouldn't care if you continued to do it so long as you didn't do it around him or ask him to join you."