He trailed after the two firefighters as they headed to the front door. An elderly woman with her puffball dog stood on the sidewalk, gawking at them, while her dog shit on Avery’s lawn.
His lawn. Shame tried to swamp him. Last week, he’d been so excited to live in a place where things could behis, even if he was sharing with the tenants in the two other units of the converted house. As he’d picked up the keys, he’d asked the landlord whether he could do some landscaping. Not that he knew much about landscaping, but he wanted to plant a few flowers or something, because then they would be his too.
Except he’d just proven he couldn’t even be trusted with a microwave.
The fire truck took five full minutes to pull away and disappear down the street. Avery made himself stand there the whole time. This was his mess, and he’d own it right to the end.
Also, the lady firefighter had told him to hang out until the smoke cleared.
His phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Sweet pea, how was your day?”
Avery closed his eyes at the cheery sound of his aunt’s voice. No doubt anyone standing within a hundred yards would be able to hear the kiddy nickname she insisted on using. He was twenty-six, for goodness sake. He was no one’s sweet pea. “Hey, Aunt Brenda, how are you?”
“Oh, good, good. Monday, you know?”
For her, Mondays were the same as every other day of the week. She woke up with Uncle Theo at six-thirty every morning. They made breakfast and drank their coffee together. Uncle Theo read the newspaper, and Aunt Brenda checked her social media while Theo grumbled about not understanding the point of social media. Then, once her husband left for work, Brenda would go to her studio for a few hours before she went downtown for any number of committee meetings and bridge games, or to do the shopping. By the time Uncle Theo came home from work, dinner would be staying warm in the oven, and Aunt Brenda would be sitting by the fireplace or on the porch—depending on the weather—with a glass of Pinot Grigio and a book.
A wave of homesickness swept over Avery, even thoughhomewas only eight blocks away.
“Theo said you had to leave work early?” Aunt Brenda said.
He flushed. “Yeah, migraine. It wasn’t too bad.” A few hours with the blinds drawn and the nausea had subsided enough that he’d felt hungry. Hence the sweet potato.
“Well, you sound better. Make sure you eat something, okay?”
“I will.” The heat crept up his ears and into his scalp. He couldn’t tell her what had happened. When Avery said he wanted to move out, she’d taken it the hardest. If he admitted he’d already managed to get the fire department to his front door, she’d be over in a heartbeat.
She must have heard something in his voice, though, because she said, “Are you okay, Sweet pea?”
Avery glanced up and down the street again, then back at the entrance to his smoky apartment. “I’m fine. I slept a lot. Still waking up.”
“Do you want to come over for dinner? It’s almost ready. Theo should be home any minute.”
The cozy image of them gathered around Brenda’s perfectly set dining room table made his chest hurt. “No, I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure? I made chicken and rice. Your favorite.”
Avery sighed. He didn’t live there anymore. He couldn’t go crawling back any time something went wrong.
Down the street, a door opened, and an elderly couple and two little boys appeared. Avery had met the woman the week before. She’d been very friendly and only too excited to tell him about the two grandsons she babysat after school every day. Now, as her husband loaded the two boys into a small SUV, she waved at him.
Avery waved back, feeling defeated.
“Chicken and rice?” he said into the phone.
“And green beans. I could make a salad too, if you wanted.”
She would too. He could get in his car, and she’d have a perfectly mixed salad in an equally perfect bowl on the table when he got to the house three minutes later.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“So you’re coming?” Her excitement made him smile at least. If he could make his aunt happy, that had to count for something.
“I’ll be right over.”
Hopefully, by the time he got back to his apartment, the smoke would have cleared.
