All That Matters (16 page)

Chapter Nine

“This place?” Train looked around what had once been a buffet restaurant. “This is the place you want to buy?” He looked over at Buster, sure that the man had finally lost his mind.

“It's perfect, lots of room. Won't be hard to throw up some walls, get us somewhere proper to have our meetings. After all, your place isn't as private as it used to be. It'll be good. And there's a huge kitchen in back that I think you'll like.”

“I'm not a cook.” Train wasn't impressed by what he saw. The kitchen was still basically intact, but all the tables, chairs and other signs of the restaurant had been removed. The murals on each wall remained, the scenes from the four different seasons, which Train actually kind of liked.

“It's got a walk-in freezer, another cold room with a drain in the floor,” Buster spoke casually.

Train's head snapped to the side. A drain would save lots of time and effort when things got messy. It had been quiet lately, but they never stayed that way. Some shit always happened. “Where?”

“Told you that would get his attention, sick bastard.” Ace grinned ear to ear as he spoke. “It is pretty awesome, though. Come on and check it out.”

Train followed him into the kitchen. It was a kitchen, a big one, but nothing special. Seemed kind of silly for them to find a place with more cooking space than Caroline's bakery, but he held his tongue. Ace opened the door to the walk-in freezer first; there was even the small window set in the door. “It's a freezer.” Train touched the control gauge outside the door.

“It's a walk-in freezer. Throw someone we need to talk in there, and they'll start talking after a few hours,” Ace sounded almost excited by it, which was a surprise to Train. The man had never shied away from violence, but he'd never stepped up when it came to the messier aspects. No one did. Train didn't mind those tasks, so it all worked out.

“Or they get hypothermia or some shit.” Train examined the freezer. “I don't see a drain.”

“The drain is in this one.” Ace walked over to another door, opened it. “It was some kind of cold storage. I don't know why they needed the drain, but shit, it's a good thing, right?”

Train stepped inside the room. He smelled decay. Something was rotting somewhere, probably a rat which had taken refuge in the cardboard boxes in the corner. The whole place had a funky-ass smell to it. There was a hose faucet hanging from the ceiling, which would also aid the clean up. Actually, it was pretty cool. He looked over to Ace with a grin. “Yeah, that'd be nice to have, but not if this place is ready to fall down around our ears.”

“It's structurally sound. Danny did a walkthrough a few days ago, after Buster saw it.”

“And no one thought to mention it to me?”

“It wasn't a definite maybe until today, and you've had your hands full lately,” Ace answered. “How are Meg and the boys doing?”

“They're alright, all things considered.” Leo was back home, which was something. Joshua wasn't. It weighed on Meg. She spent her days taking parenting classes and meeting with the doctors at the state home where they'd sent the boy. Josh was still in the wind. “That's no excuse for keeping me in the dark,” Train replied. “Nightshade comes first.”

“That's real romantic,” Ace laughed.

“No one has ever accused me of being romantic,” Train replied truthfully.

“You should come over for dinner one night. Bring Meg and Leo. It'd be fun,” Ace told him.

“Yeah, maybe.” Train thought that it would be a good idea for Meg to get out and do something besides sit around the house at night obsessing.

“You know what? We need this place for more than just the drain. We need a place to party again. You remember what our Friday nights used to be like? Now, we're standing here planning a dinner party. That's messed up.”

“Our Friday nights were full of a pussy parade.” Train remembered most of those nights fondly. “You really going to be up for getting a hummer on the couch while Jillian's at home waiting for you?”

“You're looking at it the wrong way. These days, I've got the hottest girl in the room on my arm, and if I want a hummer, I'll get a hummer. Won't be on the couch, though. I got more respect for her than that.” He chuckled. “I am going to miss the nights that we just grabbed a girl and took her up to your room, but my threesome days are over.”

“I could have gone my entire life without hearing you say those words,” Buster spoke. “You know what, I don't even want to know how this conversation came about. Just go back to it when I'm far far away.” Buster shook his head. “So, what do you think, Train?”

“I guess it's not the worst place. Gonna need to do a lot of work. From what I've seen there's water damage in all the ceilings. If the roof is fucked, it's going to be more trouble than it's worth, unless they're paying us to take the place.”

“Let's go up to the roof, check it out. I've already checked the basement, it smells like something died down there, but otherwise, it's good.” Buster seemed to already have his mind made up when it came to the restaurant.

<#<#<#

Train parked the pickup in front of his house. He checked the mailbox out of habit, nothing but bills and junk. Once inside the house, he tossed the stack on the table and realized that something was off. It took a minute for him to realize that he hadn't left the television on that morning and certainly hadn't left a bowl in the middle of the coffee table.

He reached for his gun, decided to clear the first floor first. There was nothing out of place. He heard the upstairs toilet flush and took the stairs two at a time. The bathroom door opened. “Don't fucking move.”

It was probably a good thing Leo had just used the facilities, otherwise he might have wet his pants. He held his small, and trembling, hands up. “Don't shoot. Don't shoot.” Train had never seen the boy's eyes quite so wide before. “Please!”

Train lowered the gun. “Jesus, Leo, I could have....” he didn't want to think about what he could have done. “What are you doing here? Why aren't you in school? Did something happen? Where's Meg?”

“I ditched,” the boy admitted. “You can't tell Meg. She'll be super pissed.” He swallowed hard. “It was trip day and I wasn't going, so I figured no one would miss me. If I went to school, I'd just have to sit in the office all day.”

“Wait, why weren't you going to field day?” Train shoved the gun into the back of his jeans when he realized that he was still holding it. Leo relaxed visibly once it was out of sight. “I asked you a question, kiddo.”

Leo looked down at his feet. “Because,” he replied. “Please, don't call Meg and tell her. I figured that I could just hang out here, clean up and go home like a regular day.”

“How'd you get in?”

“There was a key at the house, the one that you left for Meg, I grabbed it this morning when I left. She won't miss it. She's got a parenting seminar thing all day today.”

Train had to admire the way Leo had planned this all out. If he hadn't come home, he had no doubt that he would have never known the boy was at the house all day long. He wondered if Leo had done the same thing before. “Let's go downstairs.” Train laid his hand on Leo's shoulder. “I'll make us a snack and you can tell me what 'because' means in this particular case.”

He made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with the crusts cut off, of course, and warmed up some packet hot chocolate. Leo ate like he'd been starved for the past week. Train didn't push the topic; they ate in comfortable silence for a while. “Meg's going to be mad at me if I tell you.”

“She's going to be mad, anyway, that you skipped school. It's not like you, Leo. So, talk to me and maybe I can help.” Train wasn't quite sure if this conversation was even the right thing. Probably he should have already called Meg.

“I didn't go on the trip because it cost seventy-five dollars. And Meg doesn't have the money because she doesn't have a job.” Leo slurped his hot chocolate. “Can't we just not tell her about any of this? I don't want to make her sad.”

Train didn't want that, either. “You ever skip school again, you're in seriously deep shit with me. Understand?”

“Yeah. I understand.” Leo kicked his feet beneath the table.

“You should have said something about the trip to me, I'd have figured something out with Meg. This the only trip this year?”

“No. There's one more, but it's alright, I don't really want to go anyway. It's stupid.”

Train knew the feeling of being the one to not go on trips. However, in his days it hadn't been seventy-five dollars, it had been ten or fifteen. His parents would rather have spent whatever money they had on things like bottles of booze, cigarettes and whatever else could alter them to the point of passing out.

“You're not going to tell Meg, right? I just want to be sure.” Leo's question snapped Train out of the thoughts he hadn't wanted to be thinking.

“I'm not going to tell her,” he answered. If she ever found out, it was going to be his ass. “Don't pull this again. And you're done with the television. Go ahead and find a book to read, that's what you're going to be doing with the rest of your afternoon.”

<#<#<#<#<#

Train knocked on the door a few hours after Leo had grabbed his book bag and gone home. Any thought he'd had that the boy had ditched school in this same way before were gone. When the time had come to head home, he'd been on the verge of tears.

Leo answered the door a moment later with a smile. “Hey, Train. Come in. Meg's in the kitchen. I was just going up to finish my homework.” He took off up the stairs with a relieved smile on his face. Honestly, Train was surprised the boy hadn't tripped himself up with his story and a little relieved because he wouldn't be dealing with a pissed off Meg.

She was at the sink with her back to him. He paused to appreciate the sight of her. She'd told him the pants were called yoga pants. Train loved yoga pants. He didn't love the long tee shirt she wore. First off, it was baggy enough that her curves didn't show, and second, it stopped him from getting a really good view of her ass. She didn't seem to even notice him. In fact, she jumped when his hands landed on her hips. “Relax, it's just me.”

“I didn't hear the door. I guess I was zoned out. I made some burritos. There's a plate in the microwave, I figured that you'd be by.”

“Smart girl.” Train pressed his lips to the back of her neck. “Come and eat with me. I don't feel like eating alone.”

“Just let me finish these dishes. They aren't going to wash themselves.”

“They could, you just need a dishwasher. Be pretty easy to put one in, just have to take out a cabinet or two. It'd only take a couple of hours, tops.” Train had been thinking about what Leo said earlier, that Meg didn't have the money. “I can do it for you.”

“I don't need a dishwasher. I like doing dishes. But thank you.”

“You're welcome.” He kissed her neck again. “Did you get to see Joshua today?”

“No. He was having a bad day, apparently. I hate the idea of him at that place, that I don't know when he's going to come home. Most of all, I hate that I really think he needs to be there. I should have done something, gotten him someone to talk to.”

“This isn't on you. You're the best thing in his life.” Train knew how lucky both boys were to have someone who loved them the way that Meg did.

“You keep saying that, but I don't know if it's true.” She washed the last dish and placed it in the drying rack. “Let me warm up your food. Do you want salad?”

“No. I definitely don't want any salad.” Train kissed her neck again and stepped back. “I know it's true that you're good for them. You're good for them like my sister was good for me.”

“You never talk about your family,” she observed as she turned to face him.

“Yeah, well there isn't really much to say. My parents were like Josh, they didn't give a fuck about us, really. Left Brenda to raise herself and me. She never complained.” Train cleared his throat. He didn't talk to anyone about this, not ever, but Meg wasn't just anyone. She deserved to know who he was. “She died when I was eleven. My parents didn't die until many years later, too many years. Anyway, once she was gone, I realized just how lucky I'd been to have her. Like the boys are lucky to have you.”