Love Is Overdue (38 page)

My mouth fell open. “Don’t be an
asshole!” I turned to look at him and noticed a look of amusement
on his face. “That was rude. And you’re laughing.”

“
Because it’s
funny.”

“
How is it funny? You
didn’t tell me you were going to Jam Hall. Why? You didn’t want to
take me? You didn’t want to see me?”

I was digging myself a bit of a hole,
but at this point I didn’t care anymore. I needed to
know.

Ben glanced over at me then, his
amusement fading. “You need to relax. For real…” His tone was still
calm, but serious. “First, it was a last minute thing, and second…I
guess you right. I didn’t want to take you or see you.”

I was dumbstruck. “Wow. Okay. Good to
know.” I was at a complete loss now with this new piece of
information.

“
Serious. Gabriela.” He
stressed my name. “Sometimes I don’t think you get how hard I work
– for real. I mean, y’see me all weekend out in da heat cookin’ at
the festival – up at da crack a dawn until fuck knows when at night
– then to top it off I got you distractin’ me with your sexiness
all day long – got me up fuckin’ half the night every night…” he
sucked his teeth. “I mean, come on now, am not a
machine…”

It took a moment for his words to register. “Oh…I see.” I
thought about it. “Well, I guess I apologize then. I’ll try to tone
down my
sexiness
from now on.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “You’re fuckin’
nuts…”

“
You know, we don’t have to
fuck every night, Ben,” I pointed out. “We could just go to sleep…I
like sleeping with you. Or…” My mind was racing. “Maybe you’re
right. Maybe we’re spending too much time together. I don’t know. I
guess I am nuts. Sorry…”

He glanced over at me then, smiling
slightly. Then he nodded his chin over at the building we pulled up
next to. “We here.”

I turned to look where he was pointing
and was immediately impressed. “Wow…is this a
townhouse?”

Ben eased the car into park and cut
the engine, and then I felt his hand running slowly up my thigh,
squeezing lightly. “Somethin’ like that…” His voice was
soft.

I turned to face him. “It looks
nice.”

Ben was looking at me. And then he
lifted his hand and ran it across my cheek, brushing my hair back
gently. “I never said we were spending too much time together,
Gabby…” He let his breath out. “What is it with alla you beautiful
girls?” His voice was still so soft. “Can never be satisfied…” He
smiled slightly, his thumb grazing my bottom lip. “You so
high-maintenance…”

My eyes went wide. “What? Me?” I was
confused. “I’ve never heard that before…”

“
On my mind,” he clarified.
“You drive me crazy.”

I caught my breath. “I do?”

“
Yes. You do,” he stressed,
sounding so very serious. “I can’t even spend one night away from
you without you freaking the fuck out and I can’t even stay mad at
you for it…” He let his breath out again, pushing my hair back
behind my ear. “I must be losing my mind.”

Ω

“
Ben! What’s up – you made
it! Awesome…”

The woman
that opened the door for us was a beautiful tall, extremely slight
blonde in her early thirties, with a short little pixie-cut and a
chest that needed absolutely no support, which is why she looked
super-comfortable braless in a loose-fitting tank-top and a pair of
booty shorts. I couldn’t have imagined Ben fucking her either, so I
was immediately at ease.

“
Hi, I’m Erin…” she
introduced herself to me, extending her hand. “Come in, sorry about
all the boxes…”

I introduced myself and immediately
started focusing my attention on the spacious living room with huge
bay windows that overlooked the street. She was nearly completely
packed so the room was bare, as were the walls. The floors were a
light-coloured laminated hardwood. Everything looked
brand-new.

I turned toward Ben and Erin, as they
made small-talk near the main entrance. “Do you mind if I go…” I
gestured toward the hall.

“
No, not at all, take your
time – look around,” Erin insisted quickly.

I wandered through the apartment
slowly, taking everything in, from the beautiful floors to the
neutral colours on the walls, the clean, spacious bedrooms – two of
them – the master even sporting a small en-suite half-bath, and a
walk-in closet. My heart started racing. Was this really
possible?

When I opened what I thought was just
a linen closet I noticed a stacked washer and dryer nestled
comfortably among a wire shelving unit. Really? I thought about my
Sunday afternoon outings to the Laundromat at Fraser and Broadway,
where the lady that smelled like moth balls and Menthol cigarettes
liked to give me shit when I complained about the dryer that left
all our clothes semi-damp even after three cycles. Could this be
real? I felt like pinching myself.

The main bath was clean – pristine
even – and looked brand new. The tub had a wall-mounted supportive
bar that I noticed right away. This was getting
ridiculous…

I wandered into the kitchen then. It
was a modest size but the cabinets were large and there was ample
storage space, and the appliances were simple and lower-end but
also brand new. But the back patio door caught my attention
immediately and I walked over and opened it, stepping out onto a
small but completely enclosed outdoor deck. I imagined a table,
some potted flowers, me and a glass of wine…

My mind kept spinning in circles and
wandering even as both Ben and Erin joined me out on the patio and
I overheard bits and pieces of information as she continued to try
to sell me on the suite. “The landlord is awesome…agreed to repaint
the entire suite as soon as I found a sublet…it’s rent-controlled,
so I only pay $1325 a month and they can’t up that for five
years…brand-new appliances, everything works great, never had a
problem…right on the Sky-train line which is super handy…close to
everything…surprisingly quiet neighbourhood for the
area…”

I noticed Ben watching me, trying to
read my silence when I just cut Erin off in mid-sentence…I had
completely lost control of my manners. “So what do we do now? I
mean I want it, it’s perfect, what do I do?”

“
Ahhh…” Erin gave me a
strange look, obviously a little taken aback by my abruptness.
“Well, you’d have to apply through the property manager but…I mean,
if there aren’t any issues, then the place is yours. I had to move
really quick so I didn’t have any time to find anyone to take the
place…you don’t have any competition, I guess that’s what I’m
trying to say. I’ll be out by tomorrow night.”

I let my breath out, still trying to
take it all in. A ringing suddenly interrupted my scrambling
brain.

“
Sorry…” Erin pulled her
phone out. “I should take this…I’ll let you guys talk…” And she
darted back in through the sliding patio doors.

Ben watched her go and then turned
back to me, a little look of amusement dancing in his eyes. “You
okay?”

I
shook my head slowly, a giant numbness taking over inside me…but a
nice numbness…almost a
calming
numbness…

“
I can’t believe this.” I
sighed deeply. “It’s perfect.”

“
Yeah, it’s not bad…” Ben
agreed with me. “I saw some loose base-boards in the living room
but they can probably fix that when they paint…”

I just threw my arms around him.
“Thank you.” My voice was barely a whisper.

Ω

“
This has gotta go. I don’t care what you say, Gabby, but
lugging boxes full of garbage into your new apartment doesn’t
exactly ring out…
fresh
start
!”

I looked up
from the dishes I was wrapping in newspapers over to where Corinne
was holding up two severely rusted sheet trays she had just pulled
out from inside the oven drawer.

“
You just have to wrap them
in tin-foil –they’re perfectly usable!” I dismissed her with a
glance.

She shook her head slowly, dropping
them down onto the counter, just as Ben walked into the kitchen,
carrying another box of books from my bedroom. “Ben…a little help
here?” she eyed him.

I looked up and noticed him glance
over at the trays Corinne was still making faces at. “I pulled one
of the trash bins next to the back door – just toss ‘em in there…”
he said simply and then kept walking out the back door to the
pick-up truck waiting in the back lane.

I groaned. “Really?” I was completely
exasperated. I had heard nothing but how I needed to throw away
nearly every possession my mother and I owned for the better part
of the evening.

Corinne smiled back at me. “I like
him.”

It had been an eventful couple of
days. After Ben and I had left Erin’s apartment on Monday evening I
had been through a roller coaster of emotions. She had given us the
paperwork to fill out on the spot and I immediately wrote out a
cheque for the nearly $700 needed to secure the apartment upon
review of my application, and by the next day I received word that
I had been accepted and the lease was signed. By Tuesday evening I
was in full move-out mode and was organizing and packing and
running on auto-pilot, working until well past midnight. I wanted
Lazaro to be able to stay in the new apartment the night he arrived
so Ben arranged to borrow his friend’s pick-up truck so we could
move all the necessities into the new apartment by the time his
flight arrived late Wednesday evening.

Corinne and Tony immediately offered
to help with the move and Ben roped in his nephew Levi as well. It
was amazing to me, watching so many people I cared about working so
hard to help me. By 9 pm that evening we had moved nearly every
large piece of furniture out, as well as the entire kitchen, and
our clothes. There was still a lot left to go through but the
important piece was done, so when I stepped out onto the porch
before they took off with the last load for the night, I wasn’t too
surprised to find Ben sparking up a joint with Tony and Corinne,
enjoying the cool, night breeze that had picked up with the setting
sun.

“
You guys are amazing…” I
let my breath out, as I leaned back up against the railing. “I just
want you to know…I appreciate everything and I…” my voice trailed
off as I felt myself start to choke up.

“
Aww…” Tony was next to me
in a flash, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and squeezing
gently. “You know we love you, Gabby…”

Ben was sitting on the porch steps,
leaning back against the railing and smiled up at me when I caught
his eye.

“
Although, if we really loved you enough, we would sign you
up for
Hoarding: Buried
Alive
…” Corinne noted dryly.
“But everyone else seemed to think that would be in bad
taste…”

“
It’s okay,” I assured her easily. “At this point I really
don’t give a fuck anymore…but what happened to my coffee maker? I
found it in the trash.”

I saw Ben reach over and take the
joint from Tony casually, as he glanced over at me. “You’re
welcome…”

Ω

I had both
beds made and a semi-functional living room when I noticed the
lights of the Yellow Cab pull up in front of the new apartment at
half past midnight. I was exhausted. I’d had no more than eight
hours of sleep in the past 48 hours and no part of me felt prepared
for what was to come. I hadn’t seen my brother in nearly four
years. I didn’t even know what emotions I was supposed to be
feeling, other than the obvious – fear.

Ben had been the last to leave that
night. He’d stayed until about 11 pm, after helping me fix up both
bedrooms and unpacking the dishes in the kitchen. One of the last
things he unpacked for me was the brand new French Press and coffee
grinder he’d bought for me.

“
You’re kidding…” I let my
breath out as I came up behind him, noticing his gift to me as he
set it out on the sparkling counter top.

“
I had some Blue Mountain
still hangin’ out in the back of my freezer from my last trip
home,” he said then, holding up the bag of beans for me. “You
probably gonna need it in the morning…”

I smiled back at him, my heart rate
picking up. “Thanks…Ben…I don’t even…I don’t even know how to use
one of those,” I admitted.

He eyed me briefly and then sucked his
teeth. “You serious?”

I nodded apologetically, as I came up
beside him.

“
You boil your water, you
grind your beans, you mix ‘em together and you push down the
filter,” he explained, as if stating the obvious.

I smiled again. “I guess I’ll figure
it out…or you can show me.”

“
That or you could read the
instructions,” he suggested simply, knocking the top of my head
lightly with the little booklet, teasing me.

I laughed at that, but then just as
quickly my face fell, my heart lept into my chest, and I began
choking back my tears.

“
Hey...” Ben said softly,
pulling me close and wrapping his arms around me. “Just relax,
baby…you’ll be fine.”