Page 99 of Irons

She smiled. “I do now. How do you feel about a shopping trip into the city?”

It sounded fun but there was one problem. “I would love that, but I don’t know when Travis will be back, and the doors will be locked.”

“That’s not a problem. We’ll just leave the inside garage door unlocked and you can text him the code to the big garage door.” Heather was as bright eyes and bushy tailed as ever. Especially when talking about a shopping trip.

I gave her my best smile. “That sounds great, shopping it is then. We’re meeting Jill and the girls at the tavern on Saturday night and a new outfit would be perfect.” I grabbed a donut and sat down at the table and looked at my dad. “Do they do anything like frequent flyer miles at these donut shops or do you have to pay full price?”

“Shut it.” He chuckled. “I get the public servant discount.” He mumbled.

My dad, I loved him so much. He was a good cop, one that passed up several promotions to become a detective, but declined the crazy hours so he had more time to spend with me. Even quit the SWAT team so he wasn’t always running out on me.

“I can’t remember seeing you so happy. He’s a good man, Wrenly. Tony would be extremely proud.” Dad said.

I smiled as I chewed. “His kindness reminds me of someone else I know.” I winked at him after I spoke with a mouth full. I laughed to myself because it wasn’t the first time today I had a mouth full. That shower was definitely hot.

Brotherhood

Travis

As soon as I pulled into Brock’s driveway he came walking out. My grandparents house was just a shell of what it once was, years ago. It was a brick cape cod, and my grandparents took pride in their yard and flower gardens. What I saw now was an old truck in front of me, an old broken down minivan next to it, and there was a lot of plant growth close to the house, but it looked like he did mow it at least. The porch had a bunch of junk sitting on it. The kid probably didn’t have the time to keep up with the place.

He opened the passenger door and took a seat. “Nice car.”

“It’s a rental.” I put the Tahoe in reverse as he snapped on his seatbelt. “I thought we would go to a place outside of town to eat, hopefully we will have some privacy, and nobody will know us. Any recommendations?”

“Yeah, there’s a diner just west of here, about five miles out of town. Over by the old school house.”

I knew exactly what he was talking about. There was an old school our grandparents attended, but it shut down way before our time and sat vacant when I was a kid. “Sounds perfect and I think I can remember how to get there.”

“Thanks for picking me up and spending time with me. I took the day off and my boss was pretty cool about it.” He said.

“Good, we can do whatever you want after breakfast. I have most of the day but would need to be back before dinner.”

“So, you never did tell me what brought you back to town.” He said.

“My girlfriend, actually. I knew her dad pretty well growing up and we came back to visit her family.” I explained.

“Wow, so you met a girl from your own hometown? What are the chances of that?” He asked.

“Well, I grew up with her and we just reconnected a few months ago. So, it really wasn’t a coincidence.” I turned left on the old highway.

“So, you’re not home to meet me or see Paula?” He asked.

I sighed. “I won’t go out of my way to see my mom and as far as you, we’ll I don’t know how I felt. You have to understand my dad was still married to my mom when he had you, then he kind of abandoned me to stay with you guys. At least that’s what’s been told to me.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s true. That’s what I was told by grandma and grandpa. Also, Aunt Tricia. I don’t think they talked to him for a few years after they learned about me. I was like eight when I met dad’s family.”

“So, dad wasn’t on drugs or anything, was he?” I glanced at him then looked at the road ahead of me.

“Not as far as I know, I mostly remember a drunk guy, but I never saw or heard of any drugs. He worked for the National Weather Service. I mean, to the outside world he put on a good façade, and I guess he was functional at work. Hetraveled, there were conferences he would attend, and he took off with Paula sometimes. They never stopped looking for their oldest son. Mom told me he was gone to a conference and met a woman that was foreign, had a one night affair then got a call from the woman a year later saying she might have gotten him sick. He was already having symptoms but he such a drunk he thought he just had a bad immune system. They kept it from me for a long time and said I had to be careful around dad if he ever bled, they told me it was his liver, something like hepatitis or something. Told other people it was cirrhosis of the liver. Then when he went onto full blown AIDS they lied again and told people it was pancreatic cancer. He was still drinking and got fired from his job, so that’s why we moved. I knew about it because of my parents fights. Dad was sick and got some kind of government assistance, but he was spending what little money we had on booze. Mom had a job waitressing, but dad blew threw her money too. By then he started gambling, trying to double his money as an alcoholic would do. He spent most of his time on the computer when he was home. He wasn’t just looking for you but his other son as well. He would stare at your picture for hours and cry, get so fucking wasted he would pass out with it. I heard all about it every damn day. He wasn’t there for you so that’s probably why you turned out so good. All kinds of self-pity bullshit. He would rub it in my face that you turned out so well, and I was only sixteen when he died. I think he resented me. He got my mom pregnant and that obviously took a toll on his marriage to Paula.”

I glanced at him. “My mom didn’t realize what was happening or try to help?” I was so confused about their relationship.

“Paula came around a lot. Dad would go from cold toward me then soft warm and fuzzy for Paula. He was UncleRobert to her kid, and he would always say how much she looked like you, more than I did, obviously. I took after the Trenton’s, except I’m a skinny little shit like my Uncle Beau. You know, my cousin is in the NFL.”

I turned on a country road. “I knew Matt well, we went to school together and we were friends through elementary and middle school.” Yeah, he also dated my girlfriend and knocked her up.

“Cool, when I was little he dated a really pretty girl, and her parents were friends with dad and Paula. They almost got married too. She’s really nice and hot as hell.”

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