Page 7 of Fish Out of Water

“I have a different chore for you right now.”

“Fine.” The word came out as little more than a breathy pant as he dragged the numerous heavy bags into the kitchen. Carting around beans and flour was not for the weak. He set them down on the counter, then returned to the living room.

Isabel was still sitting on the couch, but she’d set her book down on the coffee table and was leaning forward. When Jake approached, she patted the spot next to her. “Sit.”

Jake quickly obeyed. “What’s up?”

Isabel picked up the rag and cylindrical yellow spray bottle. “I want you to start cleaning this house from top to bottom with me. Most of it I can manage, but it’s just so overwhelming to start, you know?”

Jake nodded. He did not, in fact, know, as he rarely cleaned his last apartment beyond what was necessary to live in and bring guys home to. It might have been overwhelming to him had he ever tried, but Jake never worried much about little things like that.

“If you could just start by cleaning off that built-in,” Isabel continued, “and then maybe the coffee table and any other surfaces that look dusty, I would feel much better about picking up where you leave off later in the week.” She smiled. “The last time I dusted properly, Marcus was still up and about helping me.”

“That has to be tough.”

“Not nearly as tough as it was a few months ago when I still woke up every morning to get him his medication before remembering he was gone. But that’s neither here nor there. We all have to move on from what once was, right?”

She patted Jake’s arm. Jake nodded again, forcing a smile. “I guess we do. I’ll start on the dusting, but if you need any help in the kitchen, just call me. That’s what I’m here for. Oh, and if you want me to, I’ll take all that stuff on the built-in and pack it in a box while I’m at it.”

“No,” Isabel said quickly. “No, I think I’ll leave it for now. I’d like to enjoy it a little while longer.” She walked over to one of the framed photos and picked it up.

Jake turned around to look over the back of the couch. He could see from there that it was a photo of his aunt and uncle’s wedding many, many years ago. Isabel looked the same but younger, and Uncle Mark had been full of life—a far cry from the photos Isabel had sent the family when he was dying a year ago. He was skin and bones the last Jake had seen, with an ashy cast to his once deep brown skin and a thin, scruffy beard. What remained of his hair was still black, though. He’d never gotten a chance to see it gray.

“You don’t have to sell the house,” he said.

“I do, dear,” Isabel replied. “I have to leave sooner or later, and it’s best to do it now while I still have the energy to pack up my life and go.”

“You don’t need the money, do you?” Jake got up from the couch, rag hanging limply in his grasp, and joined Isabel over by the built-in.

“Certainly not,” Isabel said. She was still looking down at the picture fondly, her gaze drifting much further away than anywhere in Eventide. “Marcus had a good job, and he left me with more than enough to live off for the rest of my life. There’s simply nothing keeping me here anymore. It was our house before, but it’s not mine now. Honestly, it was Marcus who loved this place from the very beginning. It’s grown on me over the years, but it was never my first choice.”

I can see why. Jake didn’t dare speak the words aloud, but he thought them loudly enough that he was pretty sure Isabel could read his mind.

“And so all I can see here is Marcus,” she continued. “I want to move on from that. We had a very nice life together, and now it’s time for a new chapter. I want to enjoy the family I have left rather than dwell on who’s gone.” She set the picture down, adjusting it so it looked out at the rest of the living room again. “I have to stop wallowing.”

“You really loved Uncle Mark, didn’t you?” Jake asked, surprising even himself with the sincerity of his question.

“I did.”

Jake kept staring at the wedding photo. “I guess not everyone’s cut out for that kind of life, huh?”

“Maybe not.” Isabel didn’t seem too concerned with Jake’s sudden shift in demeanor. If anything, she still seemed a little distracted. “But I can tell you one thing, Jakey: you’ll never be happy if you settle for the wrong person. It’s better to be alone and have other fulfilling relationships in life than be stuck with someone who makes you miserable.”

“I won’t have to worry about that, Aunt Isabel.”

Isabel chuckled. “Never say never. If love like that is meant to be, it will find you. In the meantime, get to work before this poor old house collects any more dust.”

Jake worked in sweet, solitary silence while Isabel put away the groceries. As he dusted with one hand, he pulled his phone out with the other to search for something to do over the weekend. The best days of the week were fast approaching, and he needed something to occupy his mind—and his body. There was a theater, but it looked worse than dilapidated inside based on the pictures in the handful of one- and two-star reviews, and it seemed to only play movies that had been out for months, atthe earliest. There was also a bar, but it looked sleazier than any of the places Jake cared to frequent back home.

“If I went in there and tried to hook up with a guy, I’d probably get myself killed,” he muttered to himself, pausing to spray cleaner onto a shelf.

Last, and certainly least, there was the bookstore where precious little Robbie Eaton said he worked, but Jake never wanted to have to cross paths with that man again in his life. It was bad enough that he’d accepted his help in Sandway. He couldn’t bear the thought of handing money over to him for some book he wouldn’t actually get around to reading.

There was only one other option, and once Jake finished cleaning the built-in, he wandered back over to the couch and sat down on the edge, eyes glued to his phone screen. He opened MatchdUp, the dating app he’d used for almost all his hookups in the past. He updated his location and held his breath as he waited for the results to refresh. There had to be at leastonenon-straight man in Eventide. It was statistically impossible for there not to be.

A single profile popped up. Jake stared for a moment, mouth dropping open slightly. It wasn’t possible. He refreshed the page again. There was still only one profile.

“He’sgay?” he murmured, swiping his thumb up to read the rest of Robbie’s bio. “No. Absolutely not. Fuck that simpering little prick.”