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Once everything was carried off the truck, Sean thanked Jamie and Brian for their help, shaking both their hands, which I think was the first time the three of them had ever conversed.
While this happened, Syd tugged on my elbow and whispered in my ear, “He needs to come to family dinner.”
I smiled at her. I couldn’t have agreed more.
The boys and Syd took off in the truck. I drove separately and got to work on saying my goodbyes.
First, to Mac and Cheese.
“You guys seem to be settled in,” I said, bending down in front of the pretzel barrel. The fish swam about, their mouths opening in search for food. “Be good to him,” I whispered.
I stepped out of the kitchen.
Sean was glancing around his fully furnished living room, hands on his hips, the shake of his head coming every few seconds.
“Am I more than you bargained for yet?” I asked him.
He turned to me and rubbed at the back of his neck, eyes squinted in confusion. “What?”
“Being my friend,” I explained, walking over to him. “I just basically forced a truckload of furniture on you. You already admitted to thinking I’m bossy.” I reached his side and smiled up at him. “Just wondering if you’re regretting helping me yet, now that you see what all you got yourself into.”
Sean looked all over my face. “I don’t regret it,” he answered, which made my heart skip and beat wildly. “But I ain’t used to this.”
“Friends doing stuff for you?”
“That. And friends…”
I frowned.
Sean looked at my mouth, then shook his head. “Don’t feel sorry for me.”
“You never had any friends? Not even when you were a kid?”
“I would’ve been a shitty friend when I was a kid,” he answered. “I was lookin’ out for me back then. I didn’t give a fuck about anyone else.”
I tried to picture a younger version of the man standing in front of me—Sean as a child. Alone. Never feeling love. Never knowing how to give it.
He was never shown kindness. He was never taught any morals. He wasn’t guided or tended to. He said it before—he took up space.
And still, coming from that, from nothing, Sean had good in him. A lot of it.
I thought that said more about the man he was than anything he could tell me.
“Well, I’m glad you don’t regret me, but I wouldn’t let you back out now even if you tried,” I said, feeling the need to remind him of my bullheadedness, in case he was forgetting about it.
“Can’t say that surprises me. It ain’t like you ever give me a choice in shit.”
I narrowed my eyes at his profile.
He smirked, then slowly looked down at me without moving his head. And because Sean smirking was damn near close to Sean smiling, I smiled back.
Then, side by side, we both got back to admiring all that furniture.It was Wednesday night, twenty after nine, and I was pampering myself with a rose-infused sheet mask while posting client snapshots on my Instagram and Facebook feed.
To my delight, I was up twenty-some followers on my Facebook page, and over fifty on my Instagram account.
This put me in a fantastic mood.
I had also discovered, when I planted my butt on the coach after applying my mask, that Comcast had put all episodes of Shameless On Demand, free for subscribers to watch at no charge.
My fantastic mood elevated to tremendous status. I fucking loved Shameless.
I was halfway into episode one, season one, and enjoying myself immensely when a knock sounded on my door.
It was late. I wasn’t expecting any visitors; however, I was still getting walk-in hair cut appointments from fellow Pebble Dune residents, so the knock didn’t surprise me.
In fact, I looked forward to these knocks.
Nevertheless, I had plans this evening involving Lip Gallagher and some pampering, so I was prepared to tell whoever it was to come back around tomorrow, or another day that worked for them.
Pressing close to the door, I peered through the peephole and saw Sean standing on the other side of it.
I gasped.
Not even Lip Gallagher showering me in Korean sheet masks would keep me from opening this door right now.
I hadn’t seen Sean in two days. I’d missed him.
As a friend and more.
But Sean never came to visit without the intention to help. And I knew I didn’t need any help…
So why was he here?
“Hey!” I called through the door, reaching for the deadbolt, then, remembering the current state of my face, I yanked my hand back and gulped. “Uh, just a sec!”
Dashing to my one and only bathroom, which was on the other side of the apartment by the kitchen, I glanced at the timer I’d set on the counter.
I still had two minutes left before my mask reached full oxidizing potential.
You have got to be kidding me.
