Page 13 of Housesitter

Who he’d have been.

Kel tipped his head back against the wet headrest and snorted. The problem with that was, he couldn’t shake the suspicion he’d still be him. Just with better clothes.

Maybe better knees.

It wasn’t like he didn’t appreciate the difference money could make, but same gran, same dad, and it wasn’t like the Maddens were rich enough to make it worth whatever woman got roped into being his mom sticking around.

You couldn’t buy ‘asshole’ out of a bloodline.

“Goddamn,” a rough voice said. “Now that is a blast from the past.”

People used to say she had a ‘smoky’ voice, but these days they just went with ‘smokers’. Kel straightened up in the driver’s seat and twisted around to look at his gran.

“Want a ride?” he asked.

Ruby Laker put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips as she looked the car over. There were a few decades of hard living between her and the girl in the picture they’d dug out, but her hair was still as red—if anything redder since she’d had to change her dye—and her expression still as calculating.

“Does it still run?” she asked.

Kel pressed the clutch down with one foot and tried the ignition. The engine coughed, spluttered like gran on a cold morning, and then grudgingly caught.

“More or less,” Kel said, over the labouring engine. It gave a particularly aggressive rattle and died again. He gave the wheel a sympathetic pat. “It tries, at least. But I can hook it to the tow truck and drag you through town if you want?”

Ruby threw her head back as she laughed. “That sounds about right,” she chuckled. “Two old wrecks.”

“I don’t see Bubba complaining,” Kel said.

Ruby gave him an exasperated look. “He’s not called Bubba.”

“You sure?” Kel asked as he got out of the car. “Earl?”

Ruby tched. “I can still give you a clip around the ear, boy,” she warned him. “All I need is something to stand on.”

There was a long, scraped dent in the door. It was about the width of an electricity pole, but it was curved. Kel ran his hand over it, the cracked paintwork sharp against his fingers, as he tried to work out what could have done it.

He supposed it didn’t matter; he could still pop it out and sand it down.

Ruby gave his hand a slap. “Don’t get attached,” she said. “Just ‘cause you want something don’t mean you’re going to get it.”

For some reason that made Kel think of Shepherd, with the scruffy hair and camp counsellor outfits that didn’t hide how ridiculously pretty he was. He decided that didn’t mean anything and forced the Mustang’s door shut, the impact-warped hinges scraping.

“A man can dream,” he said.

“Yeah? Like that pro-football career you dreamed about?” Ruby asked. She jabbed her thumb against her chest. “Or me getting out of here and becoming a movie star? Dreams are for children and dumbasses, Kel, and you’ve been too damn tall to get a kid’s discount since you were twelve. Even when I tried to get you to slouch.”

It was Kel’s turn to roll his eyes. “If you don’t think it’s going to work,” he said. “Why’d you call in that favor to get Laurie to print out a new birth certificate?”

Ruby just snorted at him. “I didn’t say it wasn’t going to work,” she said. “Or that it will. Just that dreams ain’t a line of credit, so don’t go spending anything yet.”

He let it go. It was pointless to argue with Ruby. She had an answer for everything, and if she didn’t, she’d start a fight about something else to distract you. He unbuttoned his mechanic's overalls and shrugged out of the sleeves, letting them dangle down to his knees.

“You sound like Doncaster,” he said.

“Well, fuck you too,” Ruby shot back at him. She brushed her hand over the back of his T-shirt fastidiously. “Did he buy it?”

“Course not,” Kel said. “It didn’t seem like he could prove otherwise, though. It sounded like they’ve not had much luck finding Dio’s next of kin.”

Ruby sucked her teeth as she had to reluctantly accept that was a positive step. She tapped her fingers absently against her leg as she ran the scenario through in her head. “It took, what, a decade to track Dio down after his Aunt Vanna died? Never had anyone come visit him here, never talked about going to see family or not going to see them. That bloodline was always fighting for its life the way Maddens loved a bad decision.”