23
Ryder - Clean Up on Aisle Three
Denise cries herself to sleep while I hold her. After the day she’s had, I can’t say that I blame her. The things I heard Andrew say to her should never be said to the mother of your child. How could he not want to have a baby with this beautiful, smart, strong, amazing woman? I know if I were lucky enough that Denise was having my baby, my reaction would have been a lot different. I wouldn’t have screamed at her or called her a slut, for starters. Nor would I have broken anything in her house.
Speaking of things that Andrew broke, now that Denise is asleep, I’m going to take care of that stuff for her. She has enough going on. The last thing she needs to worry about is cleaning up all the shit that Andrew broke. I slip my arm out from under hers and slide off the bed, careful not to disturb her.
Grabbing my clothes from the floor, I tiptoe out into the hallway and close the bedroom door. I pull my clothes on before going downstairs to the kitchen. I find a small closet near the front door which yields the cleaning supplies I’m looking for and pull out the vacuum, a couple garbage bags, and an empty cardboard box. I put my shoes on and get to work.
Andrew really did a number on this place. I clean up the glass from the lamp, then I get to work picking up Denise’s artwork. None of the prints or string art pieces are damaged, I’m sure Denise will appreciate that. But there are a few pieces of what looks like a ripped up picture. It’s mostly black and white and I have the feeling that I’ve seen it before. I collect all the pieces and put them in the office along with the other artwork.
Most of the frames themselves are fine, but the glass panes are all broken. After putting the wooden frames in the box, I tidy all the large glass shards and finish up with a vacuum. Lastly, I vacuum the furniture and wipe all the tables and bare floors with a damp rag to get any tiny shards that might be left behind. I really don’t want Denise getting hurt from Andrew’s stupidity.
When I bring the garbage out to the big garbage can, I see Devon is hanging out in the Escalade in the driveway. That’s odd.
I go to knock on his window, but he’s already seen me coming and gets out of the truck to talk.
“How’s she doing?” he asks.
“She’s finally sleeping.” I tell him. “I just finished cleaning up all the broken glass and crap from the shit that Andrew broke. Not sure if you’ve ever noticed, but Denise has lots of artwork up on the walls? Well, it looks like Andrew tried to knock all of it down. There must be like fifty different pieces that he ripped off the walls. Plus, he broke a lamp.”
“Fuck. What an asshole. Denise works really hard on those embroideries that she does. He had to have known that he was ruining something important to her.”
“She makes those? That’s amazing.” At least now I know where I can get something like that for my place.Ifshe would make me one. Not that she’s going to have much time for that, with a kid on the way. “What are you doing here, anyway?” I finally get around to asking.
“There’s a bit of a problem.” Devon clears his throat and rubs a hand on the back of his neck. “Andrew lost us on his way home.”
“What do you mean, he lost you? He went all Fast and Furious on you and gave you the slip?”
He laughs, but nods at the same time. “Essentially, yeah. That’s exactly what he did. Who knew he could drive like that? Math nerd’s got skills. Aiden is driving around, hoping to catch sight of him. I figured I’d come back here and wait, just in case he shows up.”
“You really think he’d come back here? He knows I’m here, he can’t think that I would actually leave tonight after what he did?”
“I don’t know, man. I never thought he’d do half the shit he’s done lately, if what Aiden tells me is true. Did he really accuse Denise of sleeping around? And say that her baby is probably yours?”
“Yeah, he did. But look, Denise doesn’t want everyone to know yet so don’t say anything, OK? She’ll tell everyone when she’s ready.” I don’t think she’ll care that Devon knows already, but Denise asked me not to tell yet. This is going to change a lot of things for her, and for the band, and knowing how she likes to plan everything out, this probably has her freaked right out. We’ll all be here for her, but I think she’s a little worried about how everyone will react.
“Of course, man. Aiden only told me because he asked me to come help deal with Andrew. I won’t say anything to anyone else.”
“Thanks. And thanks for keeping watch on her tonight. I’m going to go back in, and I will be here until morning. You want to come in? You can probably sleep on the couch and still protect the place.”
“I don’t know, man. I don’t fit so well on couches.” He laughs. He is bigger than most couches by quite a bit. Luckily Denise has a nice over sized couch. When I remind him of that, he agrees to come in.
“Let me grab some bedding for you.” I tell him as I head up the stairs. “Grab a drink from the fridge if you want.”
The linen closet holds extra sheets, blankets, and pillows, so I grab Devon everything he’ll need and go back to fix up the couch.
“I cleaned this pretty thoroughly,” I tell him as I put the sheets on. “You don’t need to worry about glass or anything. And you should be warm enough with the blankets, but if you need more the linen closet is upstairs, past the bathroom. There’s a half bath just over there.” I point to the bathroom under the stairs. “But for god’s sake, don’t flush if you hear the shower upstairs running. I nearly boiled Denise alive last week when I did that.”
Devon quirks an eyebrow at me, a little smirk on his face.
“What?”
“You’re pretty comfortable here,” he says. “Want to tell me what’s up with you and Denise?”
“Nothing is up. At least, nothing that we’ve had the chance to talk about yet. I was hoping to talk to her tonight, after she talked to Andrew, but you know what happened with him, so…”
“So you put her to bed and cleaned up down here. And now you’re playing host to me, in her place, and what? You’re going up to sleep with her, in her bed? That doesn’t sound like nothing.” He smiles. “Sounds like maybe you two are finally figuring out your shit. Just be sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. You can’t just mess around with a pregnant woman, you know.”
