Good Wood (27 page)

It was almost unheard of for Tamryn to call me and ask for help. Even before I became the stellar human being that I was after the accident she only asked me for help a dozen or so times. So no one was more shocked than me when my cell rang and a voice resembling a troll rasped at me from the other end.

“Joe?”

“Yeah? Who is this? Mac? Is that you?” A huge bout of coughing blasted out of the phone making me pull it further from my ear. Sitting up I rubbed my face and glanced at the clock. 7:00 A.M.
So much for sleeping in on a Saturday
.

“Joe. It’s Tamryn. I got a cold.”

“God Tamz, you sound like shit.”

“Thanks. I hadn’t noticed. Look, I hate to ask but Robbie is out of town and I feel like death. Can you come over this weekend and help with the girls. I wouldn’t ask but...” I knew what she was going to say. She probably had already gone through her available list of hopefuls and ended up with no other choice. I wasn’t going to make her admit to it.

“No problem, sis. Just let me get a shower and grab some stuff and I will head that way.”

I had to call Molly and cancel for the weekend. She was pretty cool about it and I was grateful again at how understanding and patient she was. It was hard to imagine anyone being able to put up with my shit. But there she was and I was aware of how lucky that made me.

The weekend was much more difficult than I thought it would be. Tamryn was laid out the entire weekend by her cold. The girls went crazy having Unky Joe all to themselves and I loved having the time with them. It was bittersweet as always, but somehow I found the strength to examine my pain instead of burying it like I usually did.

Watching those beautiful, sweet girls at play tugged at my heart. A small dark part of me that I held in check roared in pain. Being with them forced me to think about Jack and how he might have been. The girls served as a living reminder of all the memories I would never have with him. We’d never go to a baseball game together. There would never be swimming lessons or forts built out of blankets.

I only got to see his face for a little while, holding him in that room. It is burned in my memory like a brand upon my soul. His delicate features: those tiny fingers: a perfect mixture of Jess and me in a little package. I saw the same thing reflected in the girls who looked equal parts Tamryn and Rob.

The first night, after I had tucked the girls in and read them a library of bedtime stories, I sat out on the back porch. The stars were easy to see this far outside of town. It’d been years since I’d sat and looked at them. The entire day came crashing down on me and I found myself close to tears.

I thought about Jessica and everything we had lost. I thought about Jack and all the things he’d never get a chance to see or do. I had a new found respect for Tamryn. Being able to keep these two little girls cared for was more of a full time job than any work I had ever done.

Strangely I mostly thought about Molly. I wondered what she was doing at that moment. I wished she could take in the clear night sky with me. The urge to call her was intense. I wanted to talk to her…to hold her…to tell her what was on my mind. I looked at my phone and saw that it was 10 p.m. Knowing she had to work early, I refrained. It took all of my self-control not to call and disturb her. I staggered off to the guest room and crashed, both physically and mentally exhausted.

The next morning the girls bounded into my room before the sun had even cleared the horizon. Thankfully, the pantry was fully stocked with cereal. Tamryn wouldn’t have appreciated me burning her house down trying to make eggs. By the time Tamryn appeared, the girls were coloring at the table and I was eating my fifth bowl of cereal.

“You do know that I have bacon and sausage in the freezer right?” She stumbled over to the coffee pot and poured herself a mug. I nodded.

“I figured you liked your house in one piece.” She looked at me and half-heartedly snorted.

“I would think that you would have learned to cook for yourself by now.” A second after she said it her smile faltered and she glanced uncomfortably at the floor. I waved my hand at her. I knew what she meant by it, and that it wasn’t said to hurt me.

“See, in the civilized world we have drive-thrus. Normal people can just jump in the car and go get hot food. They aren’t living on cereal in the wilderness.” She sat down and gave me a wry look.

“Normal people? I don’t think you would make the cut Joe. Normal people go to the store, buy ingredients and then cook it.” Something on my face made her give me a sharp look. She crossed the room, analyzing my expressions. “Okay, little brother…what the hell is going on?”

“What do you mean?” She narrowed her eyes at me.

“Don’t even try it. You have been acting odd lately.”

“More odd than usual?”

“Not necessarily in a bad way. But you have been different…more approachable…happier. One might even go so far as to say
sociable
. So what is going on?” I should have known. It was next to impossible for me to hide anything from Tamryn.

“Well, I started carving again.” A look of abject amazement replaced the look of suspicion.

“Oh Joe,” she said softly. I saw tears welling in her eyes. “When did you start?”

“A few weeks back. Nothing major. I made a spice box and some figurines.” I leaned forward with a proud smile and whispered to her. “I made the girls each a dollhouse for Christmas. I’m working on some little furnishings for them now.” The tears spilled out of her eyes and she came out of her chair and grabbed me. Hugging me hard she buried her face in my shirt.

“They’ll
love
them,” she said fiercely. Pulling back she stared into my eyes intently.

“I’m so glad to hear you are carving again. What made you take the plunge?”

I paused and looked away. I could tell my hesitation was going to cost me, and figured it was time to level with her anyway. Sitting back in my chair I took a drink of coffee and then blurted it out “I met someone.” I think she’d been prepared for almost anything to come out of my mouth but that. She actually looked a bit faint.

“What? Who? Where?”

“You forgot when and why.” She blinked at me then leaned across the table and punched me in the arm. Hard.

“Don’t be a smart ass. Who is she? Do I know her?”

“You remember Mac and Mason’s sister?”

Her tired eyes widened. “No. I don’t think I ever met her.”

“Oh. Well, her name’s Molly. She moved back from Seattle a while back and we ran into each other. We’ve been going out for a little while now.”

“Huh.” She continued to blink at me, as if her clogged sinuses were affecting her ability to process this news.

“Tamryn…” I began, sitting down my coffee cup and leaning forward on my elbows. “She makes me feel good. Happy.”

For a full sixty seconds she seemed stunned silent. For my sister, that’s a world record.

“JoJo…that’s all I care about.” She touched my cheek and the overwrought expression she wore almost choked me up too. “So tell me about her.”

“She’s a chef. Her food…it’s epic.”

“Really? What’s the name of her restaurant?”

I grinned and told her. She gasped and then laughed. “Wrapgasmic? That sounds something a Hildebrandt kid would come up with. Where is it at?”

“That depends on the day. It’s a food truck. She actually is opening a second one pretty soon.”

Her grin lit up the kitchen. “So she’s a talented chef, a successful small business owner, what else?”

I felt a ridiculous grin of my own spreading across my face.

“She’s my girl.” I shrugged.

Tamryn stammered for a couple of seconds. “J…JoJo. I don’t know what to say.”

“Unky Joe has a girlfriend!” Little Jamie called in a sing song voice from her spot at the table. She and Tressa burst into fits of giggles. Tamryn tried to cover a smile but she soon started in as well. I grabbed Jamie up in one arm and started tickling her.

“Oh…you think that’s funny? I’ll give you something to laugh about.’

By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, Tamryn was feeling better so after promising to bring Molly to Christmas, I hugged my nieces and headed back to my apartment. I had a lot of laundry to do and had just installed a washer and dryer in each apartment. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get laundry soap and dryer sheets. Once they were in my cart I wandered around for an hour.

What the hell do normal people buy at the store?

By the time I gave up and headed for the check out my cart contained frozen pizza, some Slim Jims, Double Stuff Oreos, and some coffee. And a new coffee pot since Molly had made fun of me for my ancient Mr. Coffee the last time she’d come over. I had remembered Molly saying she only ate fruit and yogurt when she wasn’t cooking for other people. I went back down the aisle and tossed a bag of Braeburn apples and several Greek yogurts into the cart. I’m sure it wasn’t Tamryn or Dr. Greene’s idea of great strides, but it was something.

I YAWNED AS I turned into the lot on SoCo where Sanchez had parked Wrapgasmic 2. We’d decided to take the new truck out for a test run with ‘the dream team’ before I turned it over to Dirty S. and the newbies. It was necessary to make sure we’d stocked it well, the layout worked, and everything was functioning properly.

I put the car in park and blinked tiredly at my reflection in the rearview mirror.

“Thank God it’s Friday.” I blurted to myself. I’d had considerable trouble sleeping over the past week. Draven kept texting me about realtor negotiations, and Joe had cancelled our plans for the previous weekend, adding to my apprehension about the two of us as a couple. He claimed it was because Tamryn had the flu and she needed Joe’s help with the girls. I assumed it had more to do with my outburst outside of Bourbon Girl the week before, though we’d still ended up back at his place screwing each other’s brains out that night.

It wasn’t like he was ignoring me. He called me as soon as he got back from Tamryn’s Sunday evening. After comparing schedules, we made plans to go out on Tuesday and Thursday night. He’d pick the place on Tuesday and I’d plan Thursday.

Tuesday came around and he took me to dinner at an outdoor café down the block from his place. We drank a bottle of Riesling and he pressed me for details on my time away from Texas. I explained about life at the culinary institute and how cut throat and cliquey it was. Joe looked blown away when I explained that Wrapgasmic was the first job I’d had since high school that didn’t expect me to work every night and weekend.