“Oscar,” Jay said, “drop the dirty stuff in the laundry room on your way to the shower.”
“Yes, sir,” Oscar said, looking at the money.He also was looking at Apple who he'd never seen taking a drink before.Men who drank became mean.He didn't want to be around a man who drank and got mean.
Jay looked at the money on the table and asked “Interesting weekend?”
“Fax machine went off,” Helen said.“The money is for my wedding dress and our sexy honeymoon.”
His eyes went to Apple's hand.The man responded, “My fist met with a resisting face that proved to be harder, but I did have the pleasure of putting an arrow in the issue you wanted me to be here to keep in check.”
“Here?”
“Detroit, up around Grosse Pointe,” Apple replied.
“Good enough; be back in a few,” Mustang said, leaving the room.
Apple watched him go.“Girl, I am not mad at you.I need to stop drinking because I am, again, not mad at you.Is he going to ask for explanations and shit or is that it?Later, he's going to oil you up and grunt in your ear?Lord, let me shut up.”
“Yeah, put that damned glass down,” she said, laughing.
“Can I ask how you met, or was that from Cherry and his brother?”Apple asked, watching the boy carry the laundry to the room off the kitchen.The funk from the clothes wafted into the room where he sat, leaving his nose upturned in distaste.
“You heard about the women who were rescued from the Collector?Well, that was me and Jay,” she said.
“Seriously?You guys and The Collector?Did he take someone you knew?”
“He took someone Cherry knew, which was me,” Helen said.She unbuttoned two buttons of her blouse showing him the scars.“I have the scars from my two weeks of captivity.Jay and Cherry rescued me.I promised the ladies I would come back for them and I did.”
Apple couldn’t connect the pieces.“And that morphed into all of this?”
“No,” she said, flipping a grilled cheese sandwich.“A night of tenderness to help me erase a bad memory, and that led to a friendship.When Azrael gave me the three weeks off after leaving you, I flew out to Oregon.The connection deepened, he got a job offer here in Indiana, we picked this place, he put this house on it, and here we are.He married me because he didn’t think it was right for me to have the duties of the lady of the house and not the title.”
“Again, Sis, I’m not mad at you,” Apple said, rising to wash his glass.He polished off the last of the dark spirit and popped in a breath mint from a container on the counter.
The entire house had so many little touches here and there and it felt like a home.She’d done the same for him at the farmhouse and for once, both he and Ricky felt as if they had a place, they could truly call home.Apple used a knapsack to bag up his half of the money.Helen placed hers in a canvas bag and moved it to her sewing room.The cases of liquor went into Jay’s office.Apple returned, taking a seat at the table again, not certain why since he wasn’t hungry.
Oscar returned first, smelling much better and took a seat at the table.The money was no longer there, and the cases of liquor were moved to the office.Mustang arrived a few moments later, also taking a seat at the table and blessing the hearty meal.Bowls of warm comfort came to the table with oozing cheese sandwiches, and Apple also ate a bit more.
“Oscar, how was the father-son weekend?Did you learn a lot?”Apple asked.
“Camping is not my thing,” he confessed, biting into the cheese sandwich.“Aunt Helen, nature called in the middle of the night, and I went to water a tree but walked into a spider web.Yeah, those clothes smell like pee.”
Everyone at the table laughed but Oscar.“I loved canoeing, but the other stuff, sleeping outside, brought back a lot of memories of walking from Teguce.”
Apple sat up in the chair.“I’m sorry.I didn't think about that aspect of your life and how triggering this weekend could have been for you, Oscar.”
“Sleeping in a tent on a cot is a world of difference than sleeping on the ground next to a Coyote who is counting how much he can get for your organs,” Oscar said.“I wouldn't have gone if I didn't think I could handle it.We had a good time roasting weenies and marshmallows, but I wanted to get back here to the cobbler.Is there any left?”
“Of course,” Helen said, looking at Jay's head.“Must have been a challenge being in a new situation with your co-workers out there in the woods?”
“No, not really,” he said.“They were more curious above all else.Anything I need to know?”
“I spoke with Yield, and he still wants to be your best man,” Helen said.
Oscar looked up and asked “What does a best man do?”
Mustang said, “Well, he makes sure I get to the church on time for the wedding.He is in charge of the wedding rings that day of the ceremony.The best man is also responsible for the bachelor party,”
“What's that?”Oscar wanted to know.
