Page 117 of Healed
“That’s amazing, Dad.”
“If it wasn’t for you losing yourself, I’d have never known they were there. They need help, we can help.”
“I’m glad something good came out of it,” Remi said.
“It’s going to need someone to be there, to oversee the houses as they get built and placed according to our plans. Someone to oversee all stages of the community. We’re in the process of applying for permits from the parish now. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of months to start accepting the first people that want help. With just me, Kaid, Maverik,Bane and Bam, we can build three tiny houses a day, electricity and water included in that. We’ll build more as they’re needed. Hopefully, we can help people get back on their feet and find jobs, eventually they can move on. I was wondering if you’d be interested in helping us oversee this project. You know some of them. They might be more open to accepting help if you offer it. And it pays. It could be the job you’re looking for.”
“It sounds perfect. I’d really like to help people. I know how fast you can slip and not even realize it until you’re at the bottom.”
“Great. You’re hired,” Daniel said.
“Don’t you need to clear it with Kaid?” Remi asked.
“No. It’s my idea, Kaid is funding it, but I’m running it. Everybody is helping because they want to.”
“I’m in,” Remi said, gratefully.
“Good. Eat and get you some rest. You start tomorrow morning.”
Remi sat, his mind wandering instead of eating.
“Remi, are you alright?” Avaleigh asked.
“Yeah. Just thinking about Cristie driving all the way home alone.”
“Are you sure you’re alright with Cristie leaving?” Avaleigh asked.
Remi shrugged. “I have to be, don’t I? I burned that bridge personally. But I have to go on regardless. I can’t do that until I start fixing the mess I made of things, and of me, too. This opportunity Dad has for me, I think might be just what I need to start healing.”
“No better way to heal than helping other people,” Avaleigh said.
~~~
A few days later Remi sat in his car, parked on the shoulder of the highway just before the turnoff for the neighborhood Brandt and the rest of his clan had established. It was well past the three days he’d been given to get off their property, and the last thing he wanted to do when trying to apologize for his behavior was to offend Brandt again. It didn’t matter that his own house was still technically on Brandt’s property. It was understood that it now belonged to the clan because he’d, like an ass, chosen to walk away.
Remi tried for the third or fourth time to reach out to Brandt telepathically, to request permission to be on clan land, but he’d been blocked. There was no one there to make a connection with. So, instead, he picked up his brand new cell phone he’d just bought earlier that morning, and dialed Brandt’s number from memory. Remi’s brain worked like that, once he heard a number, or a sequence of numbers, it was there forever. He listened to the rings for a few seconds, before Brandt finally answered.
“Yeah?” Brandt demanded, not being familiar with the number Remi was calling from.
“Hey, Brandt. It’s Remi. I was wondering if you might happen to have a few minutes to talk to me. I’m outside the road leading into the neighborhood, but I didn’t want to offend you by coming onto it without your permission.”
There was a momentary pause before Brandt finally replied. “You alone?”
“Yes, absolutely. Completely alone. And I’m not here to cause any trouble.”
“Tempest is close to delivering. If you’re here for any kind of drama, it’s not gonna happen today. Put it on hold and I’ll catch up with you later,” Brandt said.
“Nothing like that,” Remi said.
“Alright, you have permission to be on the property. Today,” Brandt said.
“Thank you,” Remi answered. “I’ll be there in a minute or two.”
Remi waited until Brandt ended the call, then ended it on his phone, pulled forward and took a right onto the property. His stomach was threatening to empty itself, and his hands were less than steady. This was not something he looked forward to doing, and he knew it was only the first of many times he’d feel like this. He drove down the main road through the property, and glanced just barely down the cross street his own house was down, then quickly to the left where Havoc’s and Hellen’s were, but kept going until he ended up in what could be described as a rudimentary cul de sac, with Brandt’s home to the left and a slender road that was little more than a path leading to the right and eventually to Barron’s house.
Remi pulled up in front of Brandt’s home, and took a deep breath to settle himself. “A grown ass male cleans up the messes he makes,” he reminded himself aloud. With that spoken reminder, he got out of his car and started toward the steps leading up to Brandt and Tempest’s raised, wrap around porch. As he made his way up, he wasn’t surprised at all when Brandt didn’t come out to meet him. He knew full well that Brandt would treat him like an outsider. That’s what he was. He’d made that choice while wildly out of control, but still, he’d made that choice.
When he reached the top of the steps, finally standing on the porch, he looked out over the river taking a second to take a deep easy breath before turning to the front door. He knocked twice, then stepped back from the door and waited.
