"Yeah, Rach here has put us on the map.We can’t keep up with the business," Uncle Robert answers."We’re opening a second location because of her videos.I don’t know what morons find watching this entertaining, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth?"
TJ’s face fills with color.
"Okay, Uncle Robert, let’s get going," I say, pulling his elbow and walking him back toward the truck.
Ninety minutes later, the Doyles’ septic tank is empty and their yard is torn up by deep tire tracks.Joey and his kids are clean and almost dry.
"Rachel, darling, we can’t thank you enough for getting us help."Maureen pulls me into a big hug.This is what I always imagined a mother’s hug to feel like."Promise me you’ll come back again."
I glance at TJ.He’s never going to want to see me after this.
Chapter 18: TJ
"Well, that was amazing," I say on the drive home.I’m still in awe of how Rachel handled that whole mess.Also, I’m amazed that I’ve been following her ClikClak without knowing it was her.She’s one of my favorite accounts.
"It’s not really.It’s just sewage removal."
"No, you don’t understand, I love your videos."
She shifts in the passenger seat of my SUV."It’s literally shit removal.The only glamorous part of the job, if you want to call it that, is the grinder pump installation on new construction, but those videos don’t do anything.I don’t know what it is about septic tanks."
"There’s something fascinating about it.Also, until I saw it on the side of the truck in person, I didn’t put it together.Cramer-Romero Associates Pumps.C.R.A.P."
Rachel twists her hands together in her lap."Yeah, Gramps was quite the clever one with that.Ironically, he hates poop jokes.No one’s allowed to make any in his presence."
"No wonder you knew so much about ClikClak.You have a big account."
"Well, the videos practically shoot themselves.I still can’t figure out why people want to watch them," she mutters, shaking her head.
I can’t explain it myself.Instead, I say, "Yeah, coming up with content ideas sucks.It stresses me out.I’m not bright enough to have a good platform or pitch, so I end up taking my shirt off."I shrug."Works okay for now."
"I’ll say.You have over four million followers."
"Yeah, but it’s all I have."My words hang in the air between us.
"That’s not all you have," she says."You have a family.A loud family.A very loud family.Are they always that loud?"She laughs.
"Yeah, pretty much, though there was a little more panic this time.You know, Ma has already said you have to come back again when there’s not a crisis."
Rachel is quiet.I steal a glance.She’s looking out the window.The sadness is back.I’d seen it lift when we were washing the girls, but now it’s like a heavy curtain has dropped over her face.
"I’d like you to come back too."
She turns to look at me, her face getting harder and harder to see in the fading light."Why?"
"You seem like you need a friend."It’s probably the wrong thing to say, but it’s the truth.What I don’t say to her is that I need a friend.
"And you want to be my friend?"She’s turned her body to face me.
I pull into a parking space in her building’s lot.Shutting off the car, I angle my body toward hers."Yeah, sure.It makes sense.We live in the same neighborhood.We’re bound to run into one another.It’d make more sense for us to be friends than for me to keep accusing you of stalking me."
Rachel laughs."Richie would absolutely die if she knew this was happening."She looks up at the ceiling of my SUV and yells, "TJ Doyle and I are now friends.Stick that in your pipe and smoke it."Then, sheepishly, she looks at me."I still have to talk to her.I know it makes me crazy."
I shake my head and put my hand gently on hers."No, it doesn’t.I’m sure you have a lot to tell her."I try to think of what my mom or dad would say to comfort someone in a situation like this.
"I keep waiting for her to answer me."Rachel’s eyes are beginning to glisten.
"Well,thatmakes you crazy," I say deadpan.
