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“You’re telling me,” she laughed. “Anyway, if it’s Victor, maybe I can help,” she said. “I’ll talk to Camden and Mark tonight and see what they think about him buying the store. How serious he is and whatnot. And if they think he’s making an investment just to make an investment in general, maybe we can find a way for him to get out of it and get you your store back.”
“Oh, could you?” I asked. “That would be so helpful.”
“Of course,” she said. “Anything for a friend. Now, what’s on the number four?”
“I… don’t know,” I said. “I ordered it because I was flustered, and then I handed her my menu.”
“Shit,” she said. “I swear I eat constantly now, and all I’ve been thinking about all morning was coming here and ordering everything on the menu.”
“Well, you can have some of mine when it comes,” I said. “I don’t mind sharing.”
“Yes, you do,” she said, giggling. “Otherwise, this situation with Victor wouldn’t bug you so much.”
“Not the same,” I laughed. “Not the same.”
7
VICTOR
“That… can’t be right,” I muttered to myself.
I was sitting on the floor of the empty garage, surrounded by parts of what used to be my home gym, beginning to believe that Sarah had kept a few small, key pieces that kept things from being able to be held together.
I took the Phillips head screwdriver and put a couple pieces together, and after some mild cursing and frustration, I found a missing piece that could at least put my weight bench together properly. Once it was up, I pushed everything else out of the way, put together enough to do some chess presses, and decided to be okay with that being enough.
Lying down on the bench, I took an hour to just work up a sweat and make my muscles sore. It felt good to finally have the chance to do that. I hadn’t had a good workout since before I’d left Maryland. And frankly, it was starting to wear on me. Aside from jogging, I had barely exercised at all.
It wasn’t much of a sweat, but at least it was something.
Getting up from the bench, I checked my phone for the time. It was nearly six.
A television I had mounted on the wall was playing a sports replay package, and I reached for the tiny cooler to grab a cold bottle of water.
I sat on the bench and drank my water, cooling down while I watched TV for a bit. When I tossed the bottle into the recycling bin, I headed back inside.
The living room at least looked like a real human being who wasn’t around during the Nixon administration lived there. A couple of walls had been painted, some vinyl flooring had been added in a room that used to have carpet, and the furniture had gotten a big update. Now that everything had a look more clearly suited my tastes, I felt like I could breathe in it. It also helped that the place didn’t smell like mothballs anymore.
The last couple of days had been stressful to say the least, but after a workout and a shower, I figured I would be seeing things a lot clearer. Grabbing some clothes, I turned on the hot water and prepared to let my now sore muscles relax.
I closed my eyes under the stream a few minutes later. One of the major upsides of this house was the water pressure and I sighed as the heat loosened my muscles and some of the stress faded away. I had no idea how long I was in there with my eyes shut, my head leaning against the wall, when I heard my phone ringing somewhere in the distance.
Aggravated at whoever was calling because it meant I had to leave the warm cocoon of the shower, I stepped out and wrapped a towel around myself. There was no use getting dressed first. Imade my way through the room to the living room where I had left the phone on the coffee table.
It was at that moment that I realized several things all at once. The sun was beginning to go down, meaning it was lighter inside my living room than it was outside. My blinds were wide open. And Mrs. Coffee from next door was standing on her porch, mail in her hand and a wry smile on her face as she stared inside my window, apparently stopped mid-stride.
Awkwardly, I waved and grabbed my phone, heading to the bedroom, feeling embarrassed. I answered it on my way without even looking at who it was.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Vic, what’s going on, man?” Mark’s voice came over the line.
“I’m fine, dude,” I said. “Just got out of the shower. What’s up?”
“You got plans for tonight?” he asked.
“Other than a couple beers, no.”
“Well, why don’t you have those couple beers with me?” he asked.
