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This was true.
However…
“We don’t have a bad relationship,” I said quietly. “We just don’t have…well, much ofanyrelationship.”
“Let’s talk about it over dinner,” he bit out.
“Are you angry?” I asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“I know more than enough about shitty parents who take that job and then fall down on it in every imaginable way. With the one-two punch of this Dream chick getting knocked up when she doesn’t have the resources to care for her children, and your father showing, when he let loose the bonds he should do everything in his power to keep strong…yeah, Raye. It pisses me off.”
He was in foster care and then adopted.
I probably should have had a mind to that.
Damn.
“Sorry, I should have been more sensitive,” I said softly.
“I’m not pissed about me,” he returned. “I’m pissed for you.” A pause then, “And just generally, because this shit is fucked up.”
“You’re right.”
“I know.”
I fell silent.
He offered, “You want me to look into your new landlord?”
I turned to him again. “Seriously?”
“Are you worried about it?”
“I’m worried they’re going to raise rent. They said no. But there are a couple of tenants we might lose who couldn’t afford another increase so soon after the last one.”
“Can you afford it if it happens?”
“Depends, especially considering how much work they’re putting in. Though, my electrical is gonna go down, since they’re putting in solar panels, and that might help. Even so, any rise is gonna suck.”
“Yeah,” he muttered.
“Thanks for the offer, but let’s see how it goes. We’re a tight-knit bunch at Oasis Square. Bill and Zach are kind of our community organizers, and they’re on the case with this landlord. They found out a lot of the work is starting on Monday, and now they’re gonna ask for some sort of official assurance that rent is gonna remain steady. I mean, it could just be they take better care of their investments than Campos did. The place needs a paint job, and I think the pool is in its original form from when it was built during our nation’s bicentennial.”
“All right, baby. I’ll leave it. For now.”
Why did I like him calling me baby?
First, it was too soon.
Second, dudes had called me that before, and I’d always found it a little skeevy.
With him, it not only came natural, it made me feel all warm and squishy and…
Safe.
“And just to say, I’m okay about this visit with Elsie Fay,” I assured him.
“Raye—”
