Page 58 of Rat Park
“No. That’s whatyourfamily does. The first time I got locked up I was seventeen and my mom didn’t even let me stay at hers when I got out, so…thanks.”
Dominic didn’t look at them. He couldn’t stand to see their expressions. But then Cat got up, bending over Dominic and pulling him into a hug.
“Well. You’reourfamily now.”
**********
The first time Dominic returned to therapy with Ian, he felt like a dog with its tail between its legs.
“Sorry,” Dominic said as he sat down. Ian shook his head.
“No need for that. I’m glad to have you back.”
Dominic took a long, deep breath, letting it out slowly. “This feels like starting again.”
“On a new journey, maybe. But we’ve learnt from the last one. Beginnings are always difficult, but now we can know we do have the skills, that we are capable of moving forwards, of making it far, so. Let’s begin.”
**********
Dominic hadn’t realised how much the Romeros were holding back until they didn’t. Flor had just returned to college for the second semester of his second year. Dominic had again avoided spending the holidays with them, but he couldn’t escape being over at the Romero house often. Cat and Esteban would ask him to run small errands and help around the house as if he really was one of their children, with the associated chores in tow.
Monday dinners at their house had become sacred once again, Dominic playing sous chef to Esteban’s lead role. Unlike Flor, Esteban was not particularly talkative. The bubbling, chopping, simmering silence whilst they worked would be comfortable as they concentrated on the task at hand. When Esteban did speak, it was because he had something to say.
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” Esteban started. They were out on the porch, sodas in hand as the meal cooked in the oven.
Dominic made a questioning noise, ignoring the trepidation tightening his gut.
“I’ve got a job opportunity for you,” Esteban said with characteristic Romero bluntness. Dominic stared at Esteban, who went on. “I’ve got a friend, her daughter’s a mechanic. She’s got…two, I think, people working for her, but she’s looking to hire another person. Someone hardworking and professional, and, well, I mentioned you and told them a little about you. Hope you don’t mind.”
“I…” Dominic tamped down the initial urge to become immediately defensive. “I don’t know anything about cars.”
“She—Fiona—knows.”
“And I’m a junkie,” Dominic added, ignoring the look Esteban threw him at the use of the word.
“I told her a bit about your past. She knows you’ve been in jail a few times. Truth is, this friend of mine, her dad got hooked on pain pills for a while. Got in an accident during the divorce…anyway. As long as you do the job well and are a team player, she doesn’t care about anything else.”
“That…”makes no sense, Dominic wanted to say. Why waste time and resources on an ex-con when she could hire someone with actual experience and a clean record in a heartbeat?
“It’s an opportunity. You would still have to go to the interview, same as anybody else. You’d get the job off your own merit. She’s looking for good people. You’re good people. But you can take it or leave it. It’s up to you,” Esteban said, taking a sip of his drink.
Dominic sat there for a while, his brain trying to play catch-up. He hadn’t been expecting anything like this. Truth was, with his record, it was almost impossible to get a good job. What Esteban was proposing, the opportunity to learn a new trade which utilised his hands and brain both, had deep appeal.
Dominic wanted to say no. To say, ‘No, I don’t want more to lose. I want to stay safe’.
Dominic looked at Esteban, who calmly looked back.
“Okay,” Dominic said. Esteban smiled and reached out to squeeze Dominic’s shoulder. The contact felt good.
**********
Dominic was so terrified, his face could barely emote. He sat stiffly in the small office at the back of the mechanic’s shop, Fiona, the shop owner, sitting in front of him behind the desk. She was broad-shouldered and tall, her Mexican heritage tinting her skin a light brown. Her face was square and beautiful, cheekbones high and as sharp as her eyes, which were assessing Dominic coolly.
Dominic hadn’t known what to expect going into the interview. He didn’t have any experience to talk about and didn’t exactly want to give a blow-by-blow account of his past if she asked. Instead, however, the majority of the interview consisted of her giving him hypothetical situations and asking how he would react. She posed imaginary disagreements with co-workers, realizations of mistakes just as the customer drove off, difficult clients who demanded a discount for imagined wrongs.
Dominic didn’t know what she was getting out of the questions. It would be easy to lie and tell her what she wanted to hear even if he were to do something else in reality. Dominic didn’t want the job if he didn’t deserve it, however, and answered all the questions simply and honestly. Fiona watched him carefully as he talked, as if she were getting more out of his demeanour than his words.
Eventually, Fiona sat back with a nod. “All right, that’s all the questions I’ve got for you today,” she said but paused from going forward as Dominic frowned. “Have I missed something?” she asked, eyebrow raised.
