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If she planned on making me take her as often as we’d fucked when Jack and Anna were away...I definitely needed to drink more water.
Chapter Twelve
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Aslan
*
(Heart in Thai: H¯?wci)
IT TOOK ME A MONTH TO COMPLETE the kitchen renovation.
An embarrassingly long time but, in my defence, I’d literally never used a crowbar, drill, or hammer in my life. The first week, I did what Griffen had suggested and took time to get our life sorted before work became my top priority.
I bussed with Neri to the university on her first day, kissed her goodbye, waited until she’d vanished into the sprawling campus, then hopped back on a bus to head to the closest supermarket.
We’d both agreed I wouldn’t drive her Jeep unless necessary. Not having a license already put me at risk, but couple that with the whole illegal thing, and it just wasn’t worth it. The buses would do, and the Cherokee could hang out in its carport until we returned to Port Douglas for a visit.
At the huge supermarket, I bought as many cleaning supplies as I could carry and got to work disinfecting the apartment. By the time Neri had finished her first week, going through orientation, meeting her professors, and getting the feel of how her life would be for the next three years, I’d ensured our home was clean enough to fuck on every surface and even eat off if we were so inclined.
The second week, Griffen paid me a visit one afternoon as I raided his shed of tools in the corner of the small communal garden and did my best to dismantle the forest-drab kitchen.
I’d ripped off the doors, the drawer fronts, and somehow managed to remove the sink and countertop by the time he popped his head in, carrying a massive box of paperwork. He’d laughed at my misuse of his tools, given me a crash course on what did what, then helped me remove the rest of the cabinets and gross linoleum from the floor.
It’d been nice working side by side.
Nice to meet another guy who seemed just as kind and friendly as Jack.
Once most of the mess was in the skip he’d hired outside, he’d patted me on the back, cracked open two beers, then dragged me to the dining table Neri and I had bought at a local thrift store for a hundred bucks. He’d sat on one of the mismatching chairs that needed reupholstering and upended the box of papers.
For three days, I’d gone through each tenant’s contract, stolen one of Neri’s empty workbooks, and made my own notes on renewal lease dates, payable rent, overheads of rates and insurance, and all the maintenance issues that needed attending to.
To think I’d been afraid of being bored moving here...
Fuck me, I missed Jack and Anna’s dawn starts and long days at sea. That was hard work but this? This responsibility of learning how to run payments, budgets, and oversee a building that needed a fair bit of work was both brain-taxing and body-breaking.
My mind finally had something to wrangle.
I found myself sinking into the joy of playing with numbers, working out depreciation, and how much it would save Griffen on his tax bill if he installed a new roof this year instead of next.
Neri had bought me a calculator, but I didn’t use it.
I preferred the colours in my brain and the satisfaction of an answer given to me through whatever gift I’d been born with.
The days apart from Neri went blessedly fast, and the separation didn’t hurt too much as she shared her nights with me and I shared mine with her. We ensured we ate dinner together every evening—sometimes I cooked, sometimes she did, and sometimes we got takeaways and broke all our rules to eat it in bed. We’d indulge in pizza and watch a shitty movie on the second-hand TV we’d hung on our bedroom wall after I’d patched the holes and painted the room a nice calming grey. The paint was called Seafog, and I liked to think it reminded Neri of the early dawn starts as mist shimmered in the rising sun, making the entire ocean glimmer with water magic.
At least we’d deflated the air mattress on our third night here, trading it in for a king-sized dense piece of foam that fit perfectly on the teak bedframe with elephants carved into the headboard that we’d found behind a bunch of other unwanted furniture in a local Sallies.
I’d never been more content.
Hard work kept me sane.
Numbers kept me happy.
And having something to do while Neri went off to study gave me something to think about without worrying too much about her.
After that first month, once I’d reassembled the kitchen with white glossy cabinets, brand new oven, stainless sink, and matte black tap, I’d felt like I’d accomplished something.
