"Today is a day for staying indoors," Matt told him.
"And playing video games," Joey said and held up the bag with his tablet and also some snacks.
"Go set up in the living room," Bailey told him as he unlocked the door.
"It's nice that he still wants to go swimming when he has video games as an option," Matt said.
Bailey agreed but he didn't expect it to last. "He probably won't in a few years. I would have picked video games any day."
"Where do you want to get started?" Matt asked as he and Bailey stood in the hallway.
"My grandfather's office. I want to go through his papers, shred what needs to be shredded. We'll see if we have time left for anything else," Bailey told him and they went into an office which had one too many filing cabinets in it and not enoughspace. "We might not both fit. Especially you," Bailey said. He was mostly kidding.
In a small space, Matt's physique was even more imposing, but he got in there anyway. "I'll manage," Matt said and he wedged himself between the desk and the window leaving room for Bailey to make it over to the office closet. He found too many files and boxes of papers in there too.
Matt was wondering where the shredder was, but Bailey was afraid no shredder could handle what they were dealing with. They got to work and found mostly stuff that didn't need to be shredded because it shouldn't have been kept in the first place.
"It looks like my grandfather didn't throw away a single receipt in his whole life," Bailey noted as he dumped another shoe box full of them into a trash bag.
"He didn't live here that long, right?" Matt said.
"No. It was after my grandmother died. He moved into the beach house just in time for me to come here for spring break," Bailey said. The wind was rattling the window panes and rain was hitting the glass. It was stormy out there and Bailey thought about him and Grandpa sitting on the porch in the rain, Grandpa fiddling with something and Bailey on his phone.
Matt was thinking about the past too. "I remember you hanging out with Gwen. I thought you were into her," he said with a smile.
Bailey was surprised he remembered him. "Were you spying on us?"
"Of course. That's what little brothers do," Matt said and his smile turned a little sad. "I was always afraid someone was going to steal Gwen away from me. She was the only good one in our family. I thought you might be the one to take her away. I used to call you 'that college boy'."
"That's you now," Bailey said.
"I just need to earn a little more money and I'll be back at it and finally get my degree," Matt said.
"What are your plans after college?" Bailey wondered.
"I'm getting a business management degree, so I hope to be managing something," Matt said but then he sighed. "I just hope I won't have to move too far away from Gwen for some job."
As he said that, Bailey realized that Matt might have been able to earn money for college faster somewhere else. Laurel Beach wasn't as busy as some of the other beach towns.
"So Gwen is the reason you haven't gone to one of the resort towns to earn money?" Bailey asked.
"I did try it, but... people get grabby," Matt said. His frown deepened and he kept looking anywhere but at Bailey.
"Sorry," Bailey said. Matt must have had some unpleasant experiences and that must have been another reason he stayed close to home.
Bailey felt like he should say something but he didn't think Matt wanted to talk about it. Then Joey came to the door.
He looked around the office then told them, "I was just checking that you aren't having fun without me."
"And I thought you might be looking for food," Bailey said.
"Do you have some. I ate my snack," Joey said.
"I was going to order something," he said then looked out the window. "I feel bad making someone deliver to us in this rain."
"They're probably already out there making deliveries, just give them a good tip," Matt said.
Bailey remembered that Matt told them he had done that kind of work so he would know. "Then we're ordering in."
