Surviving Raine 02 Bastian's Storm (42 page)

Staring at a computer screen aggravated the hell out of my headache. I was actually considering getting some fucking reading glasses or something. I wasn’t sure how Raine managed to do it all the time for school.

I glanced down at the list Raine and I had made with a little input from Alex of all the things we wanted in a house. I was anxious to get the whole process over and done with before I lost my fucking mind.

I needed everything to be just right before I did what I had to do next.

Focus.

Using an online app, I poked around at the houses brought up with the search criteria I had entered. There were a lot of nice ones, but nothing seemed exactly right. There was always something major missing from our list of “must haves” that made me pass over the listings.

I glanced up at Alex. He was kneeling next to the coffee table with crayons all over the place, drawing another picture of a house. It was always the same—a little cottage with two windows and a door in the front, and rolling hills behind it. This time, he was adding a bunch of trees to the picture and had even included a big, red bird sitting on a branch.

I looked back at the list of criteria I’d added to the paper and then to the computer screen.

Selfish bastard.

I deleted one of the items from the list, and a whole new group of houses popped up on the screen. Even though I felt like I was starting over, I did it with vigor. My mind was made up, and I wasn’t going to let my own neuroses stop us from finding a place to live. I flipped through a couple dozen places that still didn’t seem quite right, but I kept going. I was as determined as I had been to get down that frozen mountainside.

Then I saw it.

It was fucking perfect.

Rolling hills and everything.

It wasn’t exactly like Alex’s picture, of course, but the outside of the house I was staring at still had a cottage-like feel to it. The picture must have been taken in the spring because there were flowering trees in the front and daffodils all around in the flower beds. The website said it had four bedrooms and three bathrooms, which was more than enough for us. There was even a finished basement and a swing set in the back.

“
Hey, Alex,” I said.

“
Hmm?” He didn’t even look up from his picture.

“
Take a look at this, and tell me what you think.

He let out a dramatic sigh but placed his crayon down and hauled himself up from the floor. He walked around the coffee table three times before I told him to cut it out, and he plopped down in my lap to look at the computer.

“
What do you think of this house?” I asked.

Alex studied it for a minute and had me go through some of the pictures of the house’s interior.

“
That one,” he said as the website displayed a picture of one of the bedrooms. It was painted light green and had a wide strip of wallpaper full of spaceships running around the top of the wall.

“
That one what?” I asked.

“
That’s my room.”

“
It is?”

“
Yep.”

I smiled.

“
Okay, then.”

Alex rolled off my lap and went back to his crayons. He picked up a brown one and started adding a swing set to the drawing.

Raine returned an hour later with carry-out in her hands.

“
I didn’t feel like cooking,” she said as she walked in.

“
I could have made dinner,” I said. The vast majority of what we could get for carry-out around here was full of fat and carbs. There were very few cuisines I would put up with except for…

“
It’s Thai,” she replied with a wide grin and raised eyebrows.

“
Did you get me a tofu tower?” Alex piped up.

“
I did.”

“
With peanut sauce?”

“
Yep.”

“
Sweet!” He jumped up from his spot on the floor and raced to the table.

“
Hey, Raine?”

“
Yes?” she asked as she started taking red and white containers out of a plastic bag. She arranged them on the table as Alex grabbed each box to open and sniff at it.

“
This one’s Dad’s!” he announced as he wrinkled his nose and shoved the container to the other side of the table.

“
Could you come take a look at something?” I asked.

“
Just a sec,” she replied. She grabbed some juice out of the refrigerator and poured Alex a glass before joining me on the couch.

Nervously, I handed the laptop over to Raine. She peered down at the screen, and creases appeared on her forehead.

“
What do you think?” I asked. I didn’t know why I was so nervous.

Raine flipped through the online pictures one at a time. I could practically hear her checking off little boxes in her head as she went through the details of the listing.

“
What school district?” she asked.

I pointed to the screen where it was listed, and Raine nodded.

“
That was my top choice for Alex.”

“
I know.”

“
What about public transportation?” she asked.

“
There really isn’t any,” I said. “It’s a small community—you can practically walk anywhere you want to go. The elementary school is just four blocks away. I figured I could walk Alex to and from school, and when he gets older, there’s the school bus for the middle school and high school.”

Raine nodded again and turned her eyes to me.

“
But it’s nowhere near a beach.”

I swallowed.

“
Yeah,” I said, “I know.”

“
That is your number one item,” she reminded me.

“
No,” I said softly, “it’s not. You and Alex are number one.”

Raine looked at me, set the laptop down on the coffee table next to Alex’s drawing, and reached over to hug me.

“
I love you,” she whispered into my ear.

The choice was made. At least for now, we knew our direction.

“
Did you hear?” John Paul said as he sat down. Before he could explain any further, the server asked him for his drink order.

“
Hear what?” I asked after the server jotted down his request on her notepad and walked away.

“
About Franks.” John Paul shoved a handful of my chips into his mouth.

“
What the fuck are you talking about?”

“
He’s dead,” he said as bits of tortilla chips crumbled into his beard. He wiped them away and swallowed. “Somebody put a hit out on him, and he was taken out last night. Single bullet to the head.”

“
No shit?”

“
No shit.”

I looked down at the iced tea in my hand and tried to keep my expression blank. If there was anyone I could have confided in, it probably would have been John Paul, but I wasn’t going to risk it. He would never say anything to the organization about me, but that wouldn’t stop him from ratting out Evan, and I wasn’t about to risk anyone finding out he was still alive.

I owed that guy. Big time.

“
There’s more,” John Paul said. His eyes darkened as he leaned closer to me.

“
What?” I asked.

“
Hey there!” John Paul sat back quickly as Raine burst around the corner of the booth and slid in beside me. “Sorry I’m late. My professor wanted to chat after class, and I missed the early bus.”

“
I would have picked you up,” I said.

“
Aren’t you on the bike?”

“
You can ride bitch,” I said with a grin.

“
No, thanks,” Raine replied. “You drive like a maniac.”

John Paul laughed out loud and picked up the beer the server had delivered.

“
You should see him ride when you aren’t around,” he said under his breath.

“
Shut up, fucker,” I snapped.

Raine turned toward me and raised an eyebrow.

“
Sorry,” I muttered. I’d been trying to keep the cursing to a minimum with Alex around all the time, but as soon as I got around John Paul, the cuss words just seemed to start flying.

“
Everything packed?” she asked.

“
Pretty much,” I replied. “Lindsay was finishing the shit in the kitchen when I left. There are a few of Alex’s toys still not in a box, but he claimed he was still playing with them. I figured we could just throw them in his backpack when it’s time to go.”

“
What about your stuff?”

“
All ready,” I said. I really didn’t have much, which was fine with me. It all fit in one suitcase and a box. I didn’t count all the household stuff as mine. It always felt like Raine’s to me.

Lindsay and Nick showed up right behind Raine.

“
Alex hates the sitter,” Lindsay announced immediately.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt the muscles down my arms clench.

“
Why?” I demanded.

Lindsay laughed.

“
Just kidding!” she said. “I think he’s in love. He was drawing pictures of her when I left.”

I relaxed a little, but Lindsay’s idea of a joke made me want to punch her in the face. Her little sister, Laura, was visiting from Ohio and had volunteered to babysit so we could all go out. I hadn’t been happy about the idea of some chick I didn’t know watching my kid, but Raine knew her from when they were kids, so I’d given in, but I wasn’t happy about it.

“
Don’t goad him!” Raine snapped at her friend. “That was just rude, and you know it!”

“
Stop that shit,” Nick scolded his girlfriend under his breath. “What’s wrong with you?”

John Paul snickered behind his beer bottle.

“
Sorry,” Lindsay said.

She seemed to mean it.

I took a deep breath and looked at Raine as she reached over to put her hand on my leg. Part of my trying to be civilized around her friends involved her sticking up for me a lot. I didn’t like it, but it was probably better than having me react with any of my violent tendencies.

We ordered, and everyone started with the small talk as we waited for our food. I still sucked at small talk, but I was getting better at sitting back and pretending I was interested. I’d already lived through two evenings with Lindsay and Nick without biting their heads off. This would make it three, and I planned on surviving the encounter.

I made it all the way through the meal. I even talked to Nick a bit about his latest escapades as a flight instructor. I couldn’t have cared less, but every time I talked nicely to him, it made Raine smile.

“
So who’s up for a club?” Lindsay asked as she looked over the dessert menu.

The last thing I wanted was to go to some bar, even if I was trying to prove that I could do all the things Raine wanted to do and still keep my cool. I did have my limits, but I didn’t have to voice them.

“
I really need to finish my packing,” Raine stated. “I’m sure Laura would like to join you though.”

Thank you, Raine.

We paid the bill and headed outside to part ways. Before we could, John Paul called me over for a cigarette. Raine rolled her eyes, but she was happy enough to chat with Lindsay and Nick a little longer before we headed back to the condo.

“
We got interrupted.”

“
Yeah,” I said as I lit my smoke, “what were you going to say?”

“
It’s about Landon.”