Page 15 of Glass & Groundwork
After a while, I caught Jasper chuckle a few times at the antics around the table. His shoulders seemed to have relaxed and some of the strain he walked in with dissipated slightly. He'd even made eye contact with me and offered an appreciative smile. It wasn't as lively as his first dinner with us, but I didn't need it to be. It made me happy to see some of the life come back in his eyes.
After dinner, Jasper offered to help me with the dishes. He washed and I dried. Something about doing the simple task together gave me butterflies, which was ridiculous. It was a chore, nothing special.
Jasper bumped his shoulder into mine and slid a glance to me. “Thank you for tonight. I really needed this.”
“Of course! I'm glad you came here instead of going home.”
The man beside me sucked on his teeth and set the sponge down. “I am, too. I couldn't imagine being alone with my thoughts right now. Speaking of which… Do you mind if we talk? Maybe somewhere private?”
“No, not at all.” I looked around to see Eduardo wiping down the table as Frankie was putting the leftovers away. “Eddie, can you finish up here for us?”
“Sure, Papa, no problem.” Eduardo came over and held his hand out to Jasper who handed off the sponge. As we started to walk away, I caught Eduardo giving Jasper's hand a reassuring squeeze. The simple gesture made my heart swell with pride.
Jasper followed me to the living room where Nicky and Noah were settling in to watch a movie. It was how they often decompressed at the end of the day and I wasn't going to take that from them. I clicked my tongue as I turned to face Jasper.“Privacy is a little hard to come by around here. I think our options are the bathroom or my bedroom.”
Jasper laughed softly. “Do you mind if we go to your bedroom? I'm not really sure this is bathroom talk.”
“Sure. It's back here.” I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, even if having Jasper in my room felt very…chalant.
I led him down the hall and pointed the other rooms out along the way. “Nicky and Noah are sharing the first room right now. The second room acts as a guest room, but whoever needs it is welcome to it. Depending on their schedules, Frankie and Yahir might use it. The couch in the living room is a pullout, so there's another sleep option, as well.”
“Wow, it really is a full house, huh?” He asked as he followed me past the smaller bedrooms to the door of the primary room—myroom.
“It can be. Nicky and Noah are the only ones living here full-time at the moment, but they all know my door is open for them and they are welcome anytime and for however long they need. Sometimes, I'll go days or weeks without seeing some of them, and other times, every bed is occupied or even doubled up.”
I leaned against the door frame and found Jasper staring at me with misty eyes and a look of awe. “Wow.”
Not knowing how to respond, I simply shrugged and pushed my door open, inviting a man into my room for the first time since, well… since the primary room became mine. Long before that, really.
“I'm afraid I don't really have a good place to sit. I just have the one arm chair, or my bed, or we can sit on the floor.”
Jasper responded by walking into my room and sitting on the side of my bed. The sight of him on my bed made my pulse accelerate. I hesitated in the doorway, not really sure what to do with myself. I’d had plenty of late-night talks with the kids, but Iwas at a loss at the moment. At least until Jasper exhaled loudly and fell back on the bed, covering his face with his hands.
“Fuuuck!” He groaned beneath his hands.
Seeing him so distraught pulled me out of my frozen state, and I crossed the room to sit beside him. I lowered my voice and asked gently, “What happened?”
He kept his face covered as he said, “I fucked up. Like royally. The biggest fuck-up in the history of fuck-ups, and I don’t know what to do. And if I never see another scallop in my life it will be too soon.”
I fought a smile even as my heart tugged toward him, wishing I could comfort him. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so deeply offended by shellfish. Do you want to tell me what the scallop did? Or what you did toit, for that matter?”
At that, Jasper, peered between his fingers at me, before lowering his hands. “They just sat there on the plate like little sea testicles and stared at me. I don’t mind being stared at by testicles, per se. I’ve had many deep, meaningful connections with them, but not these little ocean blob bastards. They stared at me and simply watched as my entire world fell apart.”
“Bastards,” I replied flatly.
Jasper cracked a half-smile, a speckle of light shining through the darkness he had sunken into. But then the darkness returned and his expression fell. “I think I’m going to lose the studio.”
“What!” I couldn’t contain my shock at hearing the last thing I expected to hear. “What do you mean? I thought everything was on track. They’ve been making great progress.”
Jasper turned onto his side, facing me, and propped his head on his hand. “Yeah, it’s on track so far, but they’re not going to be able to finish the job.”
“Did they cancel on you? I don’t understand.”
He huffed out a breath and his voice shook when he spoke again. “I… put down the deposit, with the expectation that Iwould be able to get access to the funds to pay the remainder. But it seems I put the cart before the horse.”
Feeling weird about being at a different level than him, I laid back and matched his position, facing him. It felt more intimate, smaller. Only a foot away from him, I studied the bags under his eyes and the dimness in them, missing the spark I’d seen many times with his excitement for his work.
“How so?”
