Firestone (9 page)

“
Just because
you
have to go to a
meeting, doesn’t mean I . . .” Charlie caught a look
at Aden’s face and stopped talking. Under his breath, he muttered,
“Just saying.”

When he was sure Charlie was up, Aden turned
away and grinned at Charlie’s grumbling. He went into the kitchen,
where he made a couple travel mugs of coffee and warmed up a couple
of muffins. Charlie came out a few minutes later.

“
You’re chipper today.”
Charlie scowled.

Aden shooed him through the apartment, down
the stairs, and out to his Saab. He gave Charlie the coffee mug,
and Charlie smiled. Charlie took both muffins, and Aden grinned. He
started the car. They turned up Colfax Boulevard toward York
Street.

“
I have to go to work
after this,” Charlie said.

“
I know,” Aden said. “I
figured I’d drop you off when we’re done.”

“
Cool,” Charlie
said.

Charlie drank some of his coffee.

“
You hear what happened
yesterday?” Charlie asked.

“
With Jeraine’s son?” Aden
asked.

“
That was wild, but no,
that’s not what I meant,” Charlie said. “I mean, who would be
stupid enough to put all that crap on television?”

“
Exactly,” Aden said.
“What did you mean?”

“
Oh,” Charlie said, and
put an entire muffin into his mouth. He tried to talk, but Aden
stopped him. After a bit of chewing, Charlie said something that
sounded like, “Tink’s brother.”

“
Tink has a brother?” Aden
asked.

“
A few years younger than
her,” Charlie said. “Her stepdad finally figured out he was gay. I
mean, it’s been obvious forever, but he’s such a pretty kid. We
think the stepdad liked to show off the good-looking
kid.”

“
What happened to Tink’s
brother?” Aden’s voice rose in an effort to get information from
Charlie.

“
Oh, he got kicked out
last night,” Charlie said.

“
Where is he?” Aden
asked.

“
That’s a whole other
mess,” Charlie said. Aden turned right on York Street.

“
How so?” Aden
asked.

“
Oh, sorry, I’m not really
awake yet,. Charlie rubbed his eyes. “Tink’s brother wanted to be
with Tink, of course, but Heather just took in Jabari. The house is
full. He got placed someplace, and get this—”

Charlie put the second muffin in his mouth.
Aden scowled, and Charlie said something that sounded like, “You
woke me up at the crack of dawn. I’m hungry.” Aden smiled.

“
Get what?” Aden
asked.

“
He told the social
worker, you know Tink’s social worker, Risa?” Charlie
asked.

“
I know her,” Aden
said.

“
He told Risa that the
other kid? The one they adopted?” Charlie nodded. “She’s autistic.
She’s never been to school or anything because the stepdad is
embarrassed of her. He says if she’s going to act like an animal,
she should live like one. Tink told Risa that before, but it kind
of got lost in all this stuff with the rape case.”

“
What
happened?”

“
Risa took the kid,”
Charlie said. “Man, don’t fuck with Risa. She was pissed off about
Jabari and went on the war-path with Tink’s mom and stepdad.
Anyway, it’s a big mess.”

Aden turned on Thirteenth Street and found a
parking spot near Garfield.

“
They call you Pan,
right?” Aden asked.

“
So?” Charlie finished off
his coffee and eyed Aden’s mug. Aden gave him the
coffee.

“
You just spent time with
the fairies, right?” Aden asked.

They got out of the car and started walking
toward the York Street Club, the AA meeting house on the corner of
Thirteenth Avenue and York Street.

“
What’s your point?”
Charlie asked.

“
Lost boys?” Aden smiled.
“You’ve got Jabari and Keenan. Now Tink’s brother. What’s his
name?”

“
Chester,” Charlie said.
“He goes by Chet.”

“
Now Chet,” Aden said.
“You are the Pan.”

“
You mean all the lost
boys are coming to Never-Neverland because the fairies were here?”
Charlie nodded, thinking about it. “You know what I
think?”

Aden turned to look at Charlie.

“
I think you need a
meeting,” Charlie laughed, and went up the sidewalk to the
clubhouse. On the porch, he turned to Aden and said, “We’ve been in
Never-Neverland this whole time.”

“
See why I think you need
a meeting?” Aden said under his breath.

Charlie grinned and followed him into the
clubhouse.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday morning — 10:35 a.m.

Heather looked up when she heard a knock at
the front door. Blane had taken Tink to see her brother, Chet.
Jeraine had taken Jabari to Dionne and Bumpy’s house. Mack had
spent the night at Heather’s mother’s house. She was going to meet
Jill, Sandy, and Tanesha at mass. If it was possible, they were
going to grab lunch before heading back to their families.

The doorbell rang.

Heather wasn’t expecting anyone. She stuffed
her swollen feet into her shoes and went to the door. She looked
out the peephole and frowned.

The guy who worked for Ava in the crime lab
was standing at their door. Heather opened the door.

“
Hi,” Heather
said.

“
Uh . . .”
The guy swallowed hard.

“
I don’t remember your
name,” Heather said. “You’re welcome to come in. I need to get
ready for mass.”

“
Oh,” the guy said.
“Nelson.”

“
Nelson?” Heather
asked.

“
My name.” Nelson
smiled.

“
Nice to see you again,
Nelson,” Heather held the door open. He came in after her. “What
can I do for you?”

“
Well . . .” His head went up and down in a
fast nod.

“
Blane’s not here,”
Heather said. “Tink’s brother got kicked out of the house last
night. He took Tink to see her brother
and . . .”

Heather turned to look for the man. He was
standing next to the door.

“
What’s going on?” Heather
asked.

“
I . . .”
Nelson’s voice croaked. He cleared his throat. “Um.”

Nelson glanced at the door.

“
What is it?” Heather
asked.

“
You remember when Blane
and I bartended at the Church?” Nelson asked.

“
When Jeraine was trying
to figure out if his record company was drugging him?” Heather
asked. “Sure.”

“
I kind
of . . . um,” Nelson nodded. “Fell for
Blane.”

“
Oh,” Heather
said.

“
He made it really clear
that he doesn’t want anything like that in his life,” Nelson said.
“He’s really happy with his life
and . . .”

“
I think so,” Heather
said.

“
I mean, I knew
him . . . uh . . . before,” Nelson
said. “Then my life changed, and his life changed and anyway, I’ve
been kind of whining about him and well . . . all of
this, and O’Malley . . . uh.”

“
Seth?”

“
He said if I was really
interested in Blane, I should get to know you,” Nelson said. “He
said that you’re a package deal with Blane and . . .
Seth told Ava who told us about Blane’s liver
and . . . everything.”

“
And?” Heather’s eyebrows
pinched together.

“
I thought that maybe I
could . . . Oh, I don’t know.” Nelson smiled. “I
feel pretty stupid.”

“
I can see that.” Heather
smiled.

Nelson grinned.

“
I suppose that if Blane
got involved with someone, I would be in the mix,” Heather said.
“We’re really dedicated to being partners and parents —
family.
He’s
really dedicated to being a family.”

“
I know,” Nelson said. “I
think that’s pretty neat.”

“
And our
situation?”

“
I think it works,” Nelson
said. “I mean it obviously works. He’s really happy.”

“
Are you thinking that
once he gets well, he’ll go back to his old life?”

“
Oh, no.” Nelson shook his
head. “I don’t think that’s really likely. Do you?”

“
No,” Heather
said.

“
I just realized that Seth
meant to be a little more subtle than this,” Nelson stuck his hands
in the pockets of his jeans.

“
Probably,” Heather
laughed. “But you’re right. If you and Blane started dating, or
whatever, I would have to get along with you too. I hadn’t thought
about that.”

Heather gave Nelson a long assessing look
before she shrugged.

“
You seem nice enough.”
Heather smiled. “What were you thinking?”

“
Oh,” Nelson blushed. “I
wasn’t really thinking anything. I
just . . .”

“
You must really like
Blane,” Heather said.

“
He’s . . .
amazing,” Nelson said.

“
He is,” Heather said.
“Why don’t you let me think about it? The last few days have been a
whirlwind of activity, with Tink’s brother and Tanesha’s step-son,
and Keenan and Ivy and . . .”

“
That’s a lot.” Nelson
nodded.

“
We haven’t made a plan
for Blane to start this new treatment they’re talking about,”
Heather said. “If you want to help, you could probably help us then
— or at least get a good idea of how weird and wild it is
here.”

“
Okay,” Nelson moved
toward the door.

“
Maybe you won’t want to
get involved,” Heather said.

“
I don’t think so,” Nelson
said.

“
Why?”

“
Because I really like you
too,” Nelson said. “I feel this . . . desire to
fight for what you and Blane have and that’s . . .
new.”

Heather smiled, and Nelson grinned.

“
I’m off to mass,” Heather
said. “Do you want to talk later?”

Nelson nodded. He turned and walked out the
door. Heather stared at the door for a moment before laughing. She
grabbed her purse to leave. She was at the front door when there
was another knock.

“
My number.” Nelson held
out a business card. He grinned, realizing he’d forgotten to give
it to her. “My cell is on the back.”

“
Thanks,” Heather said.
“I’ll call.”

Heather followed him out and locked the door
behind her. Nelson walked to his car. Heather waved when she drove
by. She had already reached Colfax Boulevard before she realized
what had just happened.

For a second, her heart caught with
panic.

This Nelson could ruin everything.

Stopped at a light, she worked to catch her
breath. As she did, her son kicked, and the truth came to her.

No one was going to take Blane away from
her. They were family.

Smiling to herself, she continued on her way
to the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.

Sunday afternoon — 3:30 p.m.

“
Go ahead,” Delphie said.
She gave her new charge, Keenan, a nudge. They were standing at the
door to Jill and Jacob’s loft.

“
What do I do?” Keenan
asked. The boy shook with anxiety. His transition from Kirk
Maughold, elderly monk, to Keenan, young boy, had left him anxious
and unsure of himself.

“
Just knock,” Delphie
said. “Like this.”

Delphie raised her hand and knocked on the
door. Keenan raised his fist to imitate her, but Katy opened the
door before he could knock. She watched him knock on air. She
knocked back. Keenan gave an embarrassed laugh, and Katy
giggled.

“
Go on,” Delphie
said.

She shooed Keenan into the loft. Keenan’s
eyes were huge as he looked at all the space. Jacob was in the
little kitchen getting their snack together. Katy slammed the door
after they came in.

“
Katy!” Jill said from the
nursery.

Katy ran into the nursery.

“
Keenan!” Jacob said.
“Glad you could make it.”

He hugged Delphie and made a gesture to hug
Keenan. The boy looked at him as if he were crazy. Jacob put his
hand on the boy’s shoulder, and he smiled.

“
Nice to see you,” Jacob
said, and went back into the kitchen. “I thought we could have our
snack here.”

He gestured to the kitchen bar. Delphie
helped Keenan up onto a bar stool and sat down next to him. Keenan
looked terrified.

“
Why am
I . . .” Keenan started. He looked at Delphie.
“Ma’am said you wanted to speak with me.”

“
Delphie,” she
corrected.

“
Yes, ma’am,” Keenan said.
He was becoming more embarrassed by the moment. “Have I done
something . . .?”

Katy laughed, and Keenan looked over at the
nursery. The stars Mike had painted on the ceiling were dancing
around. Keenan smiled.

“
The babies?” Delphie
asked Jacob.

“
Bladen,” Jacob said.
Since there was already a Michael in the house, their son Michael
Bladen had almost immediately become Bladen. “We don’t think he
knows he’s doing it. What would you like to drink,
Keenan?”