May
“So, what happened that you had to bring a truck full of your things back?” Sitting at the dining room table, I grimaced at my mug of coffee as my dad’s gaze landed on me expectantly. “You didn’t call first?”
“I didn’t exactly have time. On Friday, while I was at work, the sewage in my apartment backed up, and I’ve been a mess. It’s so bad that no one can live there anymore, and I have to stay somewhere else. I need Sarah to stay here just until Saturday, but Mom’s being unreasonable.” My dad’s bushy brows rose high and I turned my mug absently on the table as I sunk into my chair. “I have nowhere to live and I might lose my job. I can’t handle worrying about Sarah, too.”
“Oh, May, that’s an awful situation to be in.” I lifted my head and my eyelid twitched as my ears rang with thebutthat balanced on the tip of my dad’s tongue. He frowned, the lines around his mouth and eyes deepening, and I clutched the mug handle tightly. “I’m sorry, May, but we have a lot going on right now. As much as we want to help, we just can’t. We have too much on our plate right now with your brothers, and I’m working a lot of overtime.”
“How much will it cost a day for you, her own father, to let Sarah board at her own childhood home, huh?” Oran leaned forward, that familiar businesslike lilt in his tone and gravity dragging down his features. I held my breath, my heart pounded, and disbelief draped my shoulders as my dad tore his eyes from me to Oran. “$250,000? Or is that not enough? I can keep going up. Let me know what number is good enough for you. After all, since you don’t want responsibility of your own children, and someone has to foist them on you and your wife, I assume you’ll need to be persuaded somehow else. How’s $500,000 a day?”
“I-I don’t think—”
“You don’t think that’s enough? $750,000 a day? That’s about how much this house is worth, isn’t it? Surely, you have an extra room here. I’ll even do you the favor of having someone come in and specifically make Sarah’s meals and deliver them to her, and then clean up. It’ll be like she’s not even here.” This was too outrageous to believe, and my mouth dried as Oran deadlocked eyes with my father and cocked his head quizzically. My chest tightened, the blood drumming in my ears as the silence stretched, and my dad licked his lips heavily before nodding.
“I suppose that would be good enough.” My stomach dropped to my ankles and the blood drained from my face as Oran stood up and extended his arm. They shook hands, a devil’s bargain, and a violent shiver lodged between my shoulder blades. Disbelief hollowed my lungs and my chest concaved as my vision blurred and air invaded my head.
“May, come help me with your things.” He put his hand on my shoulder and the hairs on my neck stood up when he practically wiped his palm on my back. I stood up, my knee cracking when it straightened, and I followed Oran out of the dining room, through the living room, and out the front door.
“What the hell was that, Oran?” Hissing through my teeth, I punched him in the arm, and he smirked as he held up his phone to flash the display. Blinking hard, I tensed and sucked in a sharp breath, and he paused the recording to jerk his chin at me. “What the hell is that?”
“Ammunition. Like I said earlier, a threat is always empty. It’s the feelings of the person being threatened that matters.” My cheek twitched, and Oran slid his phone back into his pocket as he took the stairs to the pathway. “You know your parents, May. I don’t. Obviously, I’m not going to pay shit, but your father agreed to it, only after I assured him Sarah wouldn’t be noticed.”
“I’m going to give you such good road head on the way home. Oh, my God.” He smirked, and I reached to scratch the back of his head, just to touch him, to show him how grateful I was. “My relationship with my parents has never been so damn bad. I don’t get it.”
“The difference is you don’t have a mental illness getting in the way of your future, May.” We reached the driveway and Oran turned to me with distaste dribbling from his sharp features. “You’ve done plenty of research, I’m sure. Having a diagnosis, even as mild as hers, is an obstacle Sarah will have to work very, very hard to overcome. You said her birthday is on Saturday, and she wants to go to the Carolinas. You can hire a chaperone for her, someone with experience with this particular kind of autism who will follow your rules in a way that can bend with Sarah’s . . . impulsiveness.”
“I never even thought of that.” Crossing my arms under my bust, I frowned at the comforting hands on my shoulders, and Oran cupped my cheeks.
“You’re not the one who’s supposed to think of it. On the outside, though, it’s pretty obvious to me. Just like getting Sarah a job at a restaurant was not the best idea. If she’s as stubborn and introverted as you say, she’s not going to do a job she doesn’t want to do. So, clearly, she needs to have a passion for whatever she wants to do, right?” It took me too long to realize what Oran was getting at, and my brows rose as the connections finally made themselves in my head.
“Oh-h-h . . . I get it. You’re saying she should do something with birds. Anything else is just a waste.” He stroked my cheekbones with calloused thumbs and I tilted my head into his touch and closed my eyes. “I’d probably be a snotty mess right now if it wasn’t for you, Oran.”
“You can show your appreciation another time. We’re going to head back to Seattle and find you a nice hotel room with a nice bath and a nice massage therapist, okay?” Humming softly, I covered Oran’s palms with my own, and he ducked to kiss my lips tenderly. His lips were warm and slightly chapped, and I caressed up his taut forearms to sigh in a brief, blissful moment of content.
“Guys . . . ” Twisting to see Sarah standing awkwardly at the lip of the driveway, I frowned slightly when she shuffled in discomfort. “Can we leave? I’d rather be homeless than be here.”
“We’re not going to be homeless. Hop in the truck. We’ll get a hotel room with room service and find some great movies. It’ll be like when I was in college.” It was saddening how excited Sarah was— the emotion just burst out her chest and flushed her face and brightened her eyes. Rushing around the front of the truck, she disappeared from view, and my frown saddened. “It’s been a long time. College seems so long ago.”
“It’ll get better.” Squeezing my jaw gingerly, Oran turned to open the driver’s side door for me, and I inhaled a deep breath. Oran charged in and fixed everything going wrong so fast that I could barely comprehend it. The fact he could so seriously talk about three-quarters of a million dollars a day— my dad might’ve questioned if he was bluffing, but I knew Oran was fully capable of holding up that bargain.
My whole body ached when I sat down, but I buckled my seatbelt and slumped deep into the seat. The over-worn seats were almost as comfortable as Oran’s bed, and I closed my eyes to lean my head on Oran’s shoulder. I was heavy and I exhaled a sigh as the truck rumbled to life.
“Hey, Oran?” I was really thankful Sarah wasn’t talking to me. Oran grunted lowly as the truck rolled back out of the driveway. “Why did you help me that time at Hansen’s?”
“Because it was the right thing to do, Sarah.” Oran must’ve drove with one hand because his other arm slung over my shoulders, and I shuffled a little closer while he played with my hair. “The only thing you should count on is karma— you do good, you get good. Whether you do good by other people or yourself is entirely up to you, but good is good regardless.”
“I can see why May likes you. You’re really practical. Just like her.”
