Stories Beneath Our Skin (10 page)

"
And Gene won't care that you're opening up his house?"

"
To an uncle taking care of his nephew?" Liam offered a lopsided smile. "I think he'd get a kick out of it actually."

Ace went quiet, his right knee bobbing up and down in restless frustration. The air was too thick, laboring in Liam
's lungs as he waited. He busied himself counting the heavy inhalations and the ragged exhalations. A motorcycle tore by, shattering the night's peace with an angry clatter of the engine.

"
I'll help you pack everything up. Help out." Ace offered into the silence. "If you need it. Kind of like an exchange or whatever."

"
You don't have to. I mean, Cole is going to need you a lot these next few weeks."

"
There's plenty of me to go around. Besides, I have to do something, or I'll feel like a worthless freeloader." Ace smiled tightly. "I appreciate it, Professor. You're a good egg, you know that?"

Liam flushed and dropped his attention to the toes of his sneakers. Across the street, a neon light gave an irritated buzz before snapping off abruptly. The world went incrementally darker.

"Do you think Frankie is avoiding Goose?" It was a flimsy subject change on Liam's part, but to his surprise Ace took the question seriously.

"
Probably. I don't remember what all we put in that note, but it probably put her back to the wall." Ace licked her lips. "She's never actually told him no. Not once. He would have never kept trying if she did. You know how they met?"

"
I figured at the bar."

"
Nope. Roller derby after party."

"
Seriously?"

"
His big sister is the captain of the Brawl Busters. Frankie was a blocker for a while, pretty good at it too. She dropped out when her Dad retired and left her the bar, not enough time for it. Back then though she was something to see. Famous for her after parties with cocktails that could knock a grown man to his knees. Goose brought some of his home-brewed moonshine to this one party. I think it was his sister's birthday. He ever give you some of his stuff?"

"
No." Liam had seen one or two jam jars in the back of Goose's car, but never thought anything of it.

"
He's always tinkering with the recipe, but no matter what it'll take the enamel off your teeth. Apparently Frankie had one sip, told him that he was her new best friend. Everyone talks about that party now. It's a legend, the two of them soused on moonshine, making eyes at each other and starting a riot. Somehow she got his name out of the mess and managed to remember it. She showed up at the parlor a week later looking to get inked. That was three years ago now."

"
And he's been chasing after her that whole time?" Liam shook his head. "That's a long time to be determined."

"
I think it really was only flirting in the beginning. Frankie was with someone back then. Some asshole... Andy maybe? Something like that. I met him once and wasn't impressed, but she was crazy about him." Ace shrugged. "Once they broke up, Frankie wasn't really the same for a while. She didn't come around, hired someone else to man the bar. Goose was like a puppy waiting for his owner to come home. Guess it struck him then, how much he really liked her."

"
So why didn't he go after her when she got back?"

"
He did. But I think he's been flirting so long, she just takes it as a part of him, you know?" Ace laughed. "Until you had him write a pretty little love letter. Must've shook her up good if she's running away from him again."

"
Oh. Shit." Liam groaned. "Is the estrangement my fault? I was trying to help, not make it worse."

"
Nah. They'll sort themselves out. Or not. The path to true love never did run straight or whatever."

"
Smooth," Liam corrected absently.

"
Well that just goes without saying."

"
Do you believe in true love?"

"
Like Disney style?" Ace laughed. "No. I think love is like anything else. Messy and complicated. Worth it though."

"
Is it?" Liam pressed his hand to his stomach. "Even when it goes rancid?"

"
I can't speak for you with whatever demons you let talk in your ears all day." Ace kicked at Liam's sneaker lightly, the heavy press of steel flirting briefly with the upturned runner's sole. "But yeah. When it's all over, it's usually worth it. I'd be someone different now if I hadn't gone through it."

"
So would I," he admitted. "But different isn't always better."

They stayed out awhile longer, the moon cracking over the hazy horizon as they watched. Liam slapped down a few mosquitoes
, and Ace told him about an ill-fated camping trip from the year before. When his phone rang, Ace took it out and stared at the screen for a long tense moment.

"
I have to take this," he said regretfully.

"
I'll be downstairs if you need me," Liam told him as he stood.

"
Thanks." Ace clapped him on the shoulder as he walked away, and the imprint of his hand stayed warm longer than it should have.

Chapter Seven

Waiting on the sun
-warmed steps of the house, Liam had a visceral memory of being nine and playing with matchbox cars while Gene tended the small garden. Frequently the cars would get in explosive crashes, careening into the roses. There were probably one or two still tangled in the roots of the overgrown bushes.

Ace
's car pulled into the driveway. Liam stood, brushing crumbled cement from the back of his shorts. There were a few garbage bags piled into the backseat of the car and a cat carrier. George's face was smushed up against the bars, a series of irritated meows audible through the car doors.

"
Sorry I'm late," Ace said as he got out. "Landlord saw me going and wanted to know if I was moving out. Took him ten minutes to get that I was coming back."

"
It's okay. I just got back from St. Francis. Do you need help?"

Together they carried in four bags, dropping them into the master bedroom. Gene hadn
't actually slept there in years, preferring his armchair in the living room. Liam had stripped the bed and put on fresh sheets the night before. An open window had killed most of the scent of disuse.

"
I cleared out most of the closet space and the drawers." It had taken him fifteen minutes on the band-aid principal: Rip it off and don't think about it. "I'm not done with the office yet though."

"
I can help you with that." Ace opened one of the bags and pulled out a dark blue comforter, throwing it over the bed. A newly freed George sniffed out the far corner of the room then disappeared down the hallway. "If it's okay, I thought I'd bring some of Cole's furniture over, too. Goose has a van I can use this afternoon."

"
Sure. Kid should have some familiar stuff."

"
Why don't I help you out with the office then?"

The office was more a collection of piled papers stacked strategically around an ancient desk th
an a room. Liam had started going through them a few nights ago until he'd come across faded paperwork for bail bonds for his aunt. He'd abandoned the project and seriously considered getting drunk on the questionable box of red wine that had been hanging around in the back of the fridge the day he moved back in.

"
Sorry," he said as he swung the door open. "I figured I could just move everything into the basement for now. Sort through it later."

"
Might as well do it now." Ace picked up a handful of documents off the top. "Should go fast with both of us. Make three piles -- keep, maybe, and shred."

"
How will you know what's what?"

"
Everything older than six years that isn't crucial financial or identification information can go. If it seems like something personal you might want I'll put it in maybe." Ace was already sorting, accessing documents with a rapid glance. "I culled my mother's stuff last year with her. Got an eye for it."

"
Anything that looks like it belongs to Horizon Shipping needs a fourth pile. He sold the business, but I think they'd appreciate anything that didn't get to them." Liam reluctantly reached for the stack the seemed to hold most of the personal records.

"
Want to put on some music?"

Liam dug out Gene
's radio from a drawer in the desk and tuned it to the classic rock station. It seemed like a reasonable compromise between Ace's heavy metal and his own preferences.

"
That work?"

"
Sure."

They sorted along with
The Who and Led Zeppelin. Occasionally, Liam would catch softly sung snatches of lyrics from Ace's side of the room. The "keep" pile never grew much, while the "shred" pile soared until Liam had to fetch some empty boxes to pile it into.

"
He visited you in California," Ace remarked, tossing the tickets into the discard box.

"
During my freshman year. He could still travel back then. Barely knew he was sick yet, just started going to doctors to figure out why he was tired all the time. We spent most of the trip on the beach, avoiding all the parents' weekend events." Liam tossed a stack of credit card statements into the shred box. "I visited him after that. Came home at holidays. I got into a school that was closer by, but Berkley offered me a good scholarship and Gene told me to go. Sometimes I wish I'd stayed."

"
What'd you have to keep you here?"

"
Aside from Gene?"

"
No one can live at home forever. So yeah, aside from him."

Liam tucked Gene
's passport into the keep pile and thought about it.

"
Nothing." Which was depressing in its own right.

"
Better you went then." Ace chucked a pile of papers into the shred box. "I keep thinking that if you grew up around here, then whoever taught you to ink must have been pretty close by."

"He
wasn't from around here." Resting both hands on the next pile, Liam closed his eyes until the sick feeling receded.

"
You all right?"

He could say yes and retreat. But Ace had listened before. Listened and not judged. For the first time in years, Liam thought he might have actually made a friendship worth working on. But he
'd have to earn it.

"
I took some classes as the city community college during high school. There was a program -- the details don't really matter." He stared blankly down at a bank statement, slowly crumpling in the too hard clutch of his hands. "One of the guys in my art class saw my work and liked it. He worked at a big place down the street, and he got me in as his apprentice. Gene was happy I had some part-time work, so I went out a few nights a week."

"
And then you got so turned around so badly you didn't go back to it for three years."

"
Sort of." Liam opened his eyes back up. He was steadying himself on tax returns. "Another story for another day."

"
You will tell me though?"

Turning, Liam found Ace paused at his work and staring at him. The sun caught the stray gold strands of his hair and his eyes, washed out in the brightness, were impossible to read. Was it simple curiosity? There was nothing gossipy about Ace, nothing prying. Liam had no idea why he would want to know all the ugly little details that amounted only to old pain and sorrow.

"Maybe." Liam's voice had gone raspy and low without his permission.

"
I can take a maybe. I've got old birthday cards here, you want 'em?"

The job went quickly after that. Liam hadn
't realized how much easier it would be to have a dispassionate partner working alongside his own sentimentality. Whenever he found something that took him off guard or overwhelmed him, he could take his time coming back to himself while Ace kept working. Sometimes Ace took the papers straight from his shaking hands. All of the boxes wound up in the basement, the discarded ones waiting for a dull afternoon for shredding.

"
Want a sandwich or something?" Liam offered when the last box rested downstairs.

"
I'll pick something up for both of us on my way back. I want to get the van before it gets too late. How do you feel about tacos?"

"
Fine by me."

While Ace was out, Liam vacuumed the wood floor of the study. An unnerving amount of dust emptied out of the canister afterwards. He
'd been ignoring large swaths of the house for far too long. The carpet should probably be washed, but there wasn't any time for that. Instead, he muscled the desk out of the room and down the hall into his own bedroom. That left the office open and welcoming.

He was wiping down the windowsill when he heard the truck putter into the driveway. He
'd left the front door open, and it was more than a little strange to hear someone else's footsteps echoing through the house.

"
Where are your plates?" Ace called out.

"
Over the sink!" He finished up and headed into the kitchen to find a wide spread of taco shells, ground beef, black beans, sour cream, and salsa. "I'm not even going to put a dent in that."

"
No problem, most of it's for me anyway. Skipped breakfast."

"
Where'd you buy it all disassembled like this?"

"
I didn't. Goose's mom made extras last night and sent it along with me. Sit down, you're looming."

"
Does everyone cook for you?"

"
Man lives on his own, people assume things." Ace shrugged, stuffing a taco shell with meat. "I've never gotten around to correcting them."

Liam ate some of the salsa, a few tablespoons of ground meat
, and a taco shell. Ace watched him break the shell into neat bites with a half-smile.

"
What?"

"
Nothing. Your food thing. It's sort of cute now that I'm used to it."

The back of Liam
's neck flushed hot. "I'm not cute."

"
Uh-huh. Can you lend me a hand getting the stuff inside when we're done?"

It took about an hour to wrestle in the twin bed, low set of drawers
, and a few boxes. Liam noticed there were no garbage bags among Cole's things. Care had been taken folding clothes and tucking beloved toys into boxes.

"
Joy is on the way to the rehab place now." Ace pushed the bed square with the wall, wiping a bead of sweat off his forehead on the arm of his t-shirt. "The program director said she'll be there at least six weeks, but probably more like eight or ten."

"
However long you guys need." Sheets with rocket ships emerged from a box, and Liam set about stretching them over the mattress. "What are you doing with him on your late nights?"

"
Mom wants him on the weekends. He's used to staying with her. I'm going to cut back my hours on weekdays. Kid needs some stability, you know? It's not exactly our busy season anyway."

"
If you need me to work more--"

"
Already told Deb to add on the extra hours to your schedule. I figured you'd want 'em."

"
Yeah, I do. Thanks."

"
Least I can do, man." Ace shrugged away Liam's gratitude. "Pass me that teddy bear?"

Liam left once the room was set up to try and catch an hour or two with Gene. It wasn
't much, but he knew if he didn't at least try then he'd feel guilty all night. Gene had taken a nap earlier in the day and seemed bright eyed for the first half hour before lapsing in out of sleep for the rest of the visit.

"Sorry about today,"
Liam told him, smoothing down the wrinkled sheets.

"
It's important," Gene murmured. "Don't be foolish."

He stayed at Gene
's side until the dinner hour had slid by. The tacos from lunch were already sitting heavily in Liam's stomach. Instead of going to eat, he listened to Gene's breathing, no longer easy or even. No doctor had been forthcoming with an exact timeline, only hemming and hawing around the question.

The average hospice stay was ninety days, a factoid he
'd stupidly Googled and instantly regretted reading. Gene had already been in for sixty. Eight weeks ago, Liam had been preparing for summer classes and trying to decide when he'd squeeze in a visit home. He'd been planning a trip to the Grand Canyon with a few friends and worrying over the B+ he'd gotten in Physics for Poets. He'd been a different person without Death tapping on a wristwatch.

Who would he be eight weeks from now?

The buzz of a text disrupted that line of thinking.

At the grocery store with Cole. Why are there so many kinds of mac and cheese? Anything you need?

Liam's lips twitched into a smile without his permission. He ran his thumb over the keys before typing out,
Because the white cheese kind is fancy. Pistachios and paper towels, please.

Ace
's car was in the driveway by the time Liam made it back. Evidence of Cole's arrival littered the halls: an abandoned sock, a sticky pot in the sink, and an army man standing guard at the bathroom door. The pinprick of a night light shimmered under the former office door. The shower ran in the bathroom. Liam retreated to his bedroom, picking through his broken-spined copy of
Watership Down
and listening to the soft hum of life beyond the walls. There was something satisfying in the creak of footsteps in the hallway and the fresh-scented humidity issuing from the bathroom.

Still
, Liam lay awake long after Ace had stopped moving through the house. The insomnia was his constant companion, attending his bedside with smothering concerns. He gave up tossing and turning after an hour, then rose as soundlessly as he could and padded out to the living room. Taking a blanket from the back of the couch, he nested into one corner and flicked the television on. A black and white movie with a doe-eyed actress took center stage. He watched it, sinking in and out of a restless doze.