Maid to Order (7 page)

“Is he your best friend too, Amy?” Danny prompted again when she didn’t respond.

“I don’t know about
that
… but we do need to call him since he’s watching
Grudge
for me so that I could come and get
you
,” Amy said, trying to ignore where her mind went at the mention of Rusty possibly being her ‘best friend.’

“We can use my phone. I have Rusty’s phone number in my phone now. I programmed it in all by myself and I can call him if I ever need anything,” Danny replied with a smile.

“You have Rusty’s phone number?” she asked in surprise. “Since when?”

“Mr. London called you but you didn’t answer. Mr. London said it was an emergency. Were you busy at the store… busy at AmyCakes shop?” Danny asked. Then remembering her question, he gathered his thoughts and continued. “Rusty said he had your phone because you were busy. Then he gave me his phone number in case I needed anything until you came to get me. That’s what he said. Anything I needed.”

“Okay…” was all she could manage as Danny slowly found the phone number he was looking for in his list of contacts which had only consisted of Amy and her mother… up until today. Then he put the speaker on and she heard Rusty answer.

“Is your sister not there to pick you up yet?” Rusty asked upon answering the phone. Amy could hear the concern in his voice. Did he really think her so uncaring or irresponsible that she wouldn’t have picked Danny up already?

“I’m riding in the car with her, Rusty,” Danny laughed. Amy could swear she heard Rusty sigh with relief.

“Rusty, I’m on my way back now. I just wanted to let you know. I wasn’t sure if you had already left yet or…” she prompted.

After a heavy sigh of exasperation Rusty said, “How many times with ‘Rusty’,
Ms. Carlton
…?” After a brief pause he continued, “I’m actually attempting to get your obese animal to use the restroom
outdoors
at the moment.”

“I should be there in like fifteen minutes. If you want to wait I can go ahead and pay you for this weekend when I get there,” she replied. “I really appreciate yesterday and today.”

“Did you work at AmyCakes, Rusty?” Danny asked. “I want a job too. I have an application to work at the bus stop. Can you help me fill it out?”

“It’s kind of late tonight, but how about I stop by tomorrow and we’ll look at it together. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. We’re old men now, but it’ll be good to see you,” Rusty replied with a light laugh. “In fact, I was thinking of doing some fishing tomorrow… would you want to go with me?”

So Danny could call him by his first name… and even got invited to go fishing. Yet Rusty scolded her for calling him by his given name and scowled at her rather than inviting her anywhere. What made him think she would even allow him to just take Danny somewhere without her there to make sure he was safe?

“I can make a lunch sandwich all by myself now. I can even make one for you too and we can eat them like a picnic and then go fishing,” Danny replied, smiling from ear to ear.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you in the morning then, Big D,” Rusty said.

This made Danny smile even bigger.
Seriously?
All she ever managed was arguments with Danny most of the time and only the occasional smile. Rusty managed a look of complete adoration from her brother. How fair was that? She only realized that Danny and Rusty had ended their call when Danny put his phone in his pocket.

Deciding to veer the conversation away from
Mr. Hawkins… Sir
, Amy simply smiled at Danny and said, “So what happened today? You knew I had to bake for the festival today. I thought we agreed that you would have to stay at the home this weekend…”

“He called me Big D,” Danny smiled. “All the kids at my school call me Big D. The D is for Danny.”

Danny’s smile was so big she could practically see the glow from it, even in the darkness of the car. Reprimanding Danny for his behavior rarely made any difference and, besides, she was tired. Having decided she didn’t really want to argue, she decided to let the subject drop for now.

“Was Rusty in your class at school?”

“No. I was in another class but he was in my grade,” Danny replied with a smile.

Amy could only smile since that was what she meant but Danny had actually answered the question she’d asked him quite literally. Suddenly she was interested in what her brother’s life had been like… not just while living with his mom… but his childhood. School.
Anything
.

“Did you like school?”

“Some of the kids were mean sometimes but Rusty Hawkins and Greg Sanders were my friends. Greg moved away to New York to be a police officer when school was over. Then we weren’t the three musketeers anymore. Rusty didn’t move away… he went into the Army instead of being a policeman,” Danny replied. Then he was quiet for a few moments as though remembering something and finally said. “People just grow up sometimes and aren’t able to call you anymore. Rusty’s a grown up too now but he’s still my best friend… even though he didn’t call me.”

She wanted to ask Danny if
Mr. Hawkins, Sir
was as moody back then as he was now but kept that one to herself. Danny seemed lost in thought as he sat staring out the window into the dark. It was perhaps the only comfortable silence she could remember sharing with her brother.

“Renee that works with me at AmyCakes was my friend in school,” she said in attempt to keep Danny talking.

“You can go fishing with me and my friend Rusty tomorrow if you want to Amy,” he said. “Renee can go too maybe.”

“Maybe next time. You and Rusty should go… just the two of you. Catch up with each other,” Amy said, eyeing him curiously.

Maybe she should go with him? Martha at the home was always telling her how much Danny needed independence though. This could maybe be a test. Rusty knew him and appeared to be a responsible man. So why not? She had to clean the bakery tomorrow morning anyway and would be open in the afternoon. She could just tell Rusty where she’d be and see how it went for Danny.

Danny smiled again and simply said, “Thanks, Amy.”

Something in her knew this single moment had changed things between them somehow. The rest of the trip back home was spent listening to ‘hippie music’ and singing along. Danny was as bad a singer as she was but enjoyed it just as much.

Parking outside her duplex apartment, she was surprised at how disappointed she felt that Rusty’s car wasn’t there. She let herself in the door, with the spare key she kept hidden on the porch. Surprise filled her upon finding a takeout box of food with her name in marker on the top lid sitting on her semi-cleaned off kitchen table. It was from the same restaurant she and Rusty had eaten at the day before and was accompanied by two beers. Next to her box of food was another box that had Danny’s name on it and was accompanied by a root beer. The bottled kind. Danny’s favorite.

Danny made a beeline for his food and the root beer after being greeted by Grudge. She set her things down on the box containing the bench seat she’d ordered online to sit in front of the big bay window right inside the front door and followed Danny to the food. Grudge headed to his normally unused doggie bed, flopped down with a grunt and closed his eyes.

Rusty Hawkins wasn’t just good at delivering baked goods or washing dishes. He was also good at remembering little things she realized upon opening her box and finding the exact same thing she’d ordered the night before during her dinner
date
with Rusty.

Amy was also shocked to find Grudge sleeping soundly in his doggie bed within minutes instead of still barking and going crazy. A simple meet and greet and the fat little dog was done… not like his normal spastic antics.

She’d been gone a little more than an hour picking up Danny. However, in that time Rusty had managed to deposit the money from the festival according to a note that was pinned beneath one of the beer bottles, pick up food for her and Danny and bring it back, and wear out Grudge somehow… all before leaving.

She couldn’t keep from wondering what else he might be good at…

Chapter Six

The following morning Rusty knocked on the door to Amy’s apartment and waited. A few moments later Danny swung open the door. Upon seeing him standing there, Danny’s whole face lit up with an ear to ear grin Rusty remembered from high school. It was hard not to smile back at the man regardless of the pissy mood Rusty was in.

“Amy made the sandwiches but I packed the chips and cookies,” Danny advised him proudly

“Good deal. You ready to get going?” Rusty asked.

“Can I interest you in some breakfast first, Rusty?” Amy asked, approaching the door wearing yoga pants and a loose fitting shirt that hung off one shoulder. Her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail that, rather than looking unkempt, only made her cuter.

“No thanks. We’re meeting the guys at the lake and we don’t want to be late,” Rusty replied, attempting to keep from ogling Amy who only smiled at him as if she knew what it was costing him to keep his gaze upward and on her face.

“Yeah, we don’t want to be late, Amy,” Danny replied, moving around her and out of the doorway. “I’ll get my backpack and then we can go.”

Danny disappeared back inside, leaving Rusty standing on the porch staring through the screen door at the very definition of enticing. Amy stared back at him for a second before opening the door and stepping out on the porch.

“I’m going to spend an hour on the apartment but then I’ll be heading down to the shop to clean up there from the past two days so I can open up for the afternoon church crowd,” she said in that husky voice of hers with a matching grin that he wanted to kiss right off her face. “So if I’m not here, you can drop him off at the bakery.”

“Great… perhaps we can fill out an application for the bakery as well, while we’re at it. Two applications will double his chances at a job… so to speak,” Rusty said, eyeing her thoughtfully.

Her beautiful face scrunched into a frown… or worry. Rusty wasn’t sure which but instead of telling him what was on her mind she turned away as Danny stepped outside to join them on the porch.

“Got your application for Mr. London and a pen?” Rusty said, trying once more to get Amy to respond with whatever thoughts were filling her pretty little head.

“Have fun, boys,” Amy said and escaped back inside without giving anything away.

“Ready to meet some of my friends from the Army?” Rusty asked Danny.

Danny nodded and soon enough they were headed to the lake. The car ride was filled with Danny singing along with every song on the radio. The man’s knowledge of music was astounding… he could name almost every song, the artist who sang it along with the year it was released. At least he had been able to while they were in high school.

“Still got your vinyl record collection?” Rusty asked in an attempt to strike up conversation when the music ended and commercials came on the radio.

It had been a long time and Rusty couldn’t help but wonder if Danny had forgotten how close they’d been at one time. The three musketeers… Rusty, Danny and Greg. All for one and one for all.

Danny had the single biggest record collection of anyone Rusty knew, or at least he had back when they were all in high school. He and Greg Sanders had one hell of a time convincing Danny to let the school use them for their Senior Prom since he preferred to play an entire record at a time, not just a single song or two.

Cindy Lancer, the Prom Queen, offering to dance with Danny to any song he chose in return for letting them use the records, had gone further in convincing him than anything he or Greg had said.

Danny had spent days afterwards cleaning imaginary fingerprints and smudges off every single album, putting them back into their proper paper sleeves and then into the cover. Even when CDs became popular, Danny had refused to switch over from the vinyl records. He said the sound quality was better and he’d been right. Their prom had been a huge success, largely in part to that record collection since their class didn’t have the money to pay for catered dinner and hire both a photographer and a DJ.

“Les at the home is going to sell them,” Danny replied, his face growing angry. Then he folded his arms across his chest which spoke of his frustration.

“Sell them?” Rusty prompted in amazement.

There was no way Danny had agreed to that. No possible way. As far back as Rusty could remember, Danny would go and sit in his bedroom, in his favorite rocking chair and listen to a full album before going to bed each night.

He could remember Danny’s mom telling him it was music time occasionally when Rusty would call too late in the evening. It was a ritual for Danny that couldn’t be interrupted and he and Greg had both respected that. Twenty three years in the military and now Rusty even understood Danny’s need to decompress. Danny had been on to something, even way back then.

“He says a retard like me shouldn’t have shit that’s worth so much money just sitting around the Tard Hut, let alone be playing them,” Danny said and then looked out the window.

Surely he’d heard Danny wrong. Anger filled him quickly, making it hard to even breathe, so much so that it made Rusty want to find this Les character and just ground and pound the asshole. He had to take several calming breaths for fear Danny would pick up on his mood by the tone of his voice, like he’d always been able to when they were in school. When he finally felt like he was back in control of himself he sat forward a little.

“Who’s Les?” Rusty asked.

“He’s one of the caregivers at the home where I live now. He takes over for Martha and Rick on the weekends. Martha stays with us during the day and Rick stays with us at night. I like Rick and Martha but not Les,” Danny replied, his face giving away his total dislike of the man. “When Martha leaves he jerks the needle off my record and makes me go to bed. He’s going to scratch one of them and I can’t replace them. They only make CDs now.”

Cute or not, when he dropped Danny off this evening, he and Amy were going to have some words. Being the man’s guardian didn’t give her the right to put Danny in some home where the caregivers essentially disrespected him in such a way that it bordered on abuse. All her concern for Danny being downtown by himself last night must have just been an act. How could she leave him in that place and allow him to be mistreated like that?

“Did you say anything to Martha or Rick?” he asked.

“No, that would just make it worse,” Danny replied.

A small twinge of guilt climbed up Rusty’s spine. He’d been so wrapped up in his own misery these past few years, he’d forgotten that there were in fact people out there who had it worse than him… and occasionally they needed some help.

Danny was one such person. It may have been more than two decades since he’d seen him last but they were still friends because Danny was forgiving like that and would pardon in an instant twenty three years spent apart.

Rusty didn’t really even know what to say to Danny. How did you apologize for someone else’s stupidity? Besides, Danny had dealt with those types of people his whole life, so it wasn’t like Rusty had any better suggestions or personal experience to impart. Danny knew loads more about being grouped by a type rather than being seen as an individual and having to overcome other people’s lack of knowledge.

Back in school, those who had been brave enough to ask about Danny had often been met by the wrath of Danny’s mother, Sylvia. It was a double-edged sword Danny had lived with his entire life. Having people either pigeon hole him because they didn’t understand, or worse, the person having to face Sylvia’s indignity over them asking questions the wrong way. Those options had made things especially difficult for Danny growing up.

Hell, Rusty and Greg had been only two of the many unlucky souls who had been verbally lashed by the woman about her son’s ‘condition.’ She’d lightened up considerably after the three of them had been caught by the police for skipping school their sophomore year. It was that one single incident that made him and Greg realize that Danny was often smarter than them in ways.

Danny had told his mother on no uncertain terms that they were his friends and that he’d wanted to go with them. Neither Greg nor Rusty had
made
him do anything. School lunch or McDonald’s? To three fifteen year olds, the choice had been a no-brainer. In fact, it had been Danny’s idea… Rusty and Greg had just gone along to make sure he didn’t get lost or messed with.

When Rusty asked Danny about it later he’d said they were less likely to get in trouble if his mom thought it was his idea. Not only had he been amazed by the brilliance in that logic but impressed with the cunning involved to get them all off with nothing but a detention at school as well. Deciding they could both use a change of subject, Rusty decided to bring up that very memory.

“Remember the ride in the cop car back to the school?” he asked with a light laugh. Danny laughed and his infectious smile returned.

They talked about what had happened to some of their classmates since graduation. The fact that they’d both aged along with their other classmates hadn’t passed Danny by. He might be a little slower to understand some things but overall he got the fact that none of them were as young as they used to be. All too soon they made it to the lake and joined Ronnie, Seth and Ian by the water’s edge.

By the end of the afternoon Rusty was sorry for having jogged Danny’s memories. Every stunt, trick and bit of mischief they’d ever gotten into was rehashed. His brothers in arms enjoyed Danny’s stories immensely and Danny was eating up being the center of their attention.

Much as he knew they would, anytime one of them didn’t understand something Danny said, they simply had him repeat it until they did. They didn’t treat him differently or special… instead they pumped him for information on Rusty.

Rusty tried not to be impacted by the stories Danny told but with each one his mind kept going back to the fact that Amy was making Danny stay at the group home when he obviously didn’t want to be there.
And for good reason.
He had to do something to help his old friend.

Even if Danny hadn’t been his friend he couldn’t just sit back and look the other way now that he knew what was going on there. There had to be something Rusty could do. The trip to take Danny back was filled with more singing along to the radio while Rusty found himself stewing over what he would say to Amy.

“Are you staying at Amy’s house tonight?” he managed to ask Danny, keeping as much of the growing agitation out of his voice as possible.

“She’s supposed to take me to the library tomorrow to check on a movie I requested. We were supposed to go on Saturday to check,” Danny sighed and his face suddenly turned sad. “She’s so busy that she lives in a pigsty. That’s what she said… a pigsty… that’s a home for pigs. That means that her house is messy, Rusty. Did you see it?”

When Rusty remained silent, Danny continued, “She’s too busy right now so I’m going back to the home so she doesn’t have to worry about the library tomorrow either. Maybe next time.”

By the time they made it to the shop, Rusty was full blown angry. Not only did she not make time to properly exercise her obese and disobedient dog, she obviously didn’t make time for her brother either. Where were her priorities at? Upon entering the shop he found Amy behind the counter.

“Go sit at one of those tables and write the answers to the application questions on a blank piece of paper first. Once we have all the answers on the blank paper then we can write them again…
nicely
… on the application,” Rusty said.

“That’s a good idea, Rusty,” Danny smiled. “That way I don’t have to use my eraser on the nice application paper.”

“Exactly. You got it, man. Just take your time and think before you write it down,” Rusty said.

“Just like school, huh, Rusty?”

“Yep, just like school.”

Once Danny was settled at a table and had started in on writing things down on the blank paper Rusty turned to look at Amy. She smiled her most devastating smile yet but he wasn’t having any of it this time.

Glancing at the display cases, it appeared they were nearly empty so it must be near to closing. That was good. Forcing himself not to stomp, he approached her and leaned down to quietly say, “In the back…
now.
”

Then he walked past her and into the bakery area. She followed him and her earlier smile was replaced with a worried look. Taking a few calming breaths he faced her.

“Are you aware that Danny doesn’t like staying in the group home?” he ground out.

She suddenly leaned back on the heels of her feet and crossed her arms underneath her breasts, raising them up as if to show them off. He refused to allow his gaze to drop to the perky mounds of perfection, so he didn’t miss it when her facial expression changed to a self-protective one.

“As a matter of fact, I
am
aware, Rusty,” she said defensively. “I’m looking for another place for him but the two assisted living communities I called don’t have any vacancies right now. It’s not like I have that kind of money right now anyway. This past weekend helped but last I checked I don’t have an extra
four grand
for all the initial move in expenses, including the first month’s rent and deposit, registration costs, testing and actual placement, just stuffed down in my purse. I got about twenty five hundred but it’s going to take a minute to get the rest. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Not my business?” Rusty asked in disbelief. “I’ve known that man since we were both five years old. We started kindergarten together, graduated high school together and were friends every day in between. So when my
friend
tells me he doesn’t want to stay there anymore… I listen… and when necessary I
make it
my business. Why can’t he stay with you until you find him an apartment?”

“This conversation is over! I don’t have to explain myself to you! I don’t even know you,” she said angrily.

“You’re right… I don’t know you either! Which begs the question, how the hell can you be his sister if I’ve never seen you before in my life?” Rusty asked.