Chapter 2

His house was more spacious, front door opening up to a large living-room. The carpet was gray like mine, and he had mismatched furniture, but it was cozy. The TV was in the corner next to the front door, and the staircase hugged the right wall. He had a sectional black couch taking up most of the space. Must be nice, having a say in his own furniture.

Behind the sectional was his open kitchen, which I followed him to. The window above the sink showed his deep backyard – and lit the kitchen in orange sunlight. "I have just a few things I need to go over with you now that you're here." There were a few papers on the counter, and he grabbed one of them.

"Is this going to be about neighborly events and basically being up each other's ass?"

"No," he chuckled, handing me the paper. "This is your security deposit."

I snatched the paper, stunned. "What? Security deposit?"

"Yes. Now this one is about being up each other's asses," he said, handing me a second paper from the counter.

The first paper said I owed 350 dollars. The second sheet was a list of dates, describing different neighborhood activities during the summer. Obviously, the first one was all I cared about.

"I thought my dad paid the security deposit. How else did I manage getting the house?!"

He leaned back against the counter. "There is another option to pay it on arrival, which you will have to do unfortunately."

I bit my lip, trying to keep my cool (which was basically impossible in a house with no AC running). Looking over the papers, I scoffed. "Can I have it for you tomorrow? I'm sorry, my dad just mislead me to believe he took care of it." You know, when he fucking told me he took care of everything.

"Sure, that's no problem. As long as it's tomorrow."

350 was a lot for me right now. I had hardly anything, I was only tomorrow starting a job, and needed enough for this first month's rent. Plus groceries, bills, the divorce... ugh, I was tight on money. Thanks, dad. He could have given me a heads up.

"Now, that second paper... it shows all of our town activities throughout the month. I can tell you will be heavily involved in the neighborhood, so we can move on," he said, smirking slightly before handing me another sheet. "This one is about your renter's insurance."

"Listen, Mr. McCormick, I'm a careful person. I'm not going to burn the place down. I can go without renter's insurance."

"I'm sorry, but I require it for my houses. Just policy."

Cheap place my ass. "For being such a backwoods place, where everyone knows everyone, you'd think policy wouldn't be a huge deal."

"You'd think. I try to be fair though. Renter's insurance is only 27 a month."

"Thank god it's only 27, because 28 would break me," I mumbled.

"Your actual rent will be due on the 5th of each month."

A loud and high-pitched squeaking sound echoed through the air. It made me tense up and stare towards the living room. It was a loud and long squeal almost, that reminded me of a peacock. Then, it happened a few more times. Only shorter, like the floorboard squeaking repeatedly.

After the high-pitched squealing stopped, my eyes shot back over to money-hustler Blake. "What the fuck was that?"

"That's Sherman. He's upstairs."

Oh. That was Sherman, who is upstairs. Got it. Because I guess that's all I fucking get for an explanation. I stared at him for a long moment and inhaled sharply. "Well... alright."

Smiling, he thumbed his belt loops and continued. "Anyway, I think that's all I needed to go over with you personally. I'm going to need you to sign for the renter's insurance though."

Sighing, I nodded – and signed for the required 27 each month. Then, we walked back towards the front door. I was excited to get back to my air-conditioned house. Plus, I was getting pissed at these unexpected pricy surprises. Though I remained polite, I couldn't hide that I wasn't a happy camper.

"I apologize for the few extra expenses."

"It's fine, like you said, it's policy." Policy he could change, but whatever.

"Thanks for understanding. I'll see you tomorrow with the security deposit. Most days I don't get home until after five. Some days are later."

"Right, I heard you were a very busy man from one of the neighbors."

"Remember, I'm an asshole too," he joked.

Honestly, he was nice, sweet, and understanding. However, he seemed strict and firm on things too. Which would not go well with how stubborn I am – and dead ass broke. I already knew I was going to have issues paying rent.

Issues paying the security deposit too. I owed him 350 dollars the next day. I learned it simply would not be in the cards for me.

***

I started my new job the next day at 8:00 in the morning. Insanely early for me, by the way. However, I was somewhat excited. My last job was a part-time position at Chico's. It was in a fashion-outlet, which I used to shop frequently. So... yeah, this would be a new experience for sure.

Not sure why I would think it would be a good experience though.

"Customer service, this is Ruth," I said, looking over to my trainer. She gave me a thumbs up at the first call I took.

"Hi, I bought a break-action, signal barrel from you yesterday. I took my son skeet-shooting and it jams. I can't get it to fire."

"Um...." I had zero idea what this guy was talking about. "You're talking about a gun?"

"Yes, you sell guns," he said sharply.

I went from selling name-brand clothes to an outdoor equipment retailer. It was located a good 15 minutes from my new house, out in the middle of nowhere (shocker). Obviously, I didn't know shit about anything sold here.

Regardless, there was no reason for him to give me attitude. "Listen, this is my first day, so try to cooperate with me, alright? I'm trying. How... how is it jamming exactly?"

"Excuse me?"

Tense, I glanced to my trainer. She was sitting next to me at the desk. Her name was Joyce – and her attitude matched her name eerily well. For this first hour, she was filled with nothing but joy and happiness. I was already annoyed with her.

She whispered, "Ask him what kind of shells he bought."

"What shells did you buy with the gun?"

"I'm not retarded, I bought the right shells—"

"I'm not retarded either, buddy, so if you could help me understand—"

Joyce laughed awkwardly, took the phone, and spoke in an apologetic tone. "Sir, we're very sorry, we have a team of repair people who would be happy to... sir?" Pausing, she pursed her lips and clicked the phone off. "He hung up."

"Good. He was being a dick."

Joyce sat back in her desk chair next to mine. She folded her hands together and looked to me. She had a chubby face, cheek lines deepening as she smiled tightly. "Maybe... jumping to a call was too fast."

"Yeah, I don't know anything about the products or equipment you sell," I chuckled, trying to ignore how pissed I was at the gentleman on the phone.

"Well, a lot of it is communication skills. But yeah, let's go over some things to help you," Joyce said. Above the desk was a shelf full of binders. She pulled the biggest one out and handed it to me. "This will help on a lot of your calls. This is our catalogue and it has everything we sell."

I flipped through it. So much hunting, fishing, and camping stuff. Stuff I would never have an urge to buy or use. Regardless, it did help slightly. For the rest of the day, Joyce helped me with a few more calls. I did better, and helped a few people out. However, a good amount thoroughly pissed me off. To the point where a couple times, I needed to rant about some of the callers. Joyce was too nice to tell me to shut up and be more polite. Even if she did, that would be a challenge for me. I'm stubborn and I knew it.

So, to say the least, it was a rough first day. I was happy when it was over.

Before I left for the day, I bought one of the sleeping bags the store had to offer. Garrett would be excited. Like I said, we were not sleeping in those beds. Last night, I made a bed on the floor, but my boy deserved better. Plus, he never had a sleeping bag before so I'm sure he would be excited.

From there, I drove nearly the hour it took back to the city. The beautiful, lively, city that used to be my home. I missed it immensely already – and was so happy to pick up my Pall Malls. Considering I won't have access to them often, I bought two whole cartons. I smoked two cigarettes before I picked up Garrett.

My mother-in-law was watching him. I drove to her place and picked him up along with a few of his things. Thankfully, Matt was still working. Seeing him after everything that happened was always painful. Of course, seeing him would be inevitable sometimes. The deal was I would pick up Garrett if he came and got him.

Many people didn't like the set-up Matt and I agreed on. Like his mother. She didn't say much to me when I arrived. At least my son was always excited to see me. When I arrived, he gave me the biggest hug. One of those bear-hugs that made him feel tough. Even by the time we walked out to the car, he didn't want to let go. My poor guy still wasn't used to not seeing me every day.

"Alright, silly man, you can't hold me forever," I laughed, caressing the back of his head and running my fingers thought his brown locks. He looked up to me as I opened the back door to my car. "Now, get your butt in, we are getting pizza for dinner."

"Pizza?!" His young eyes went wide and he did a fist pump in the air. "Yes! Dad never gets us pizza, he always cooks," he said, jumping in.

Hell yeah, that's right, I was the cool parent. Starting the car, we were soon driving. "Don't get use to it, buddy. I'm going to start cooking more." Cracking my window, I lit a cigarette. "How was your day with grandma?"

"It was fun. We played checkers. She yelled at me though. I was just looking around! It wasn't my fault I found her underwear."

Taking a puff, I smirked. "Find any skid marks in them?"

He chuckled. "That's so gross!"

"As gross as grandma's goulash?"

"Never. If I ever eat that again, I might blow up and die."

I chuckled. Nothing made me happier than being with my son. Generally, I'm not a warm person. Plus, I've been stressed to the max recently. Sure, sometimes, my son made it worse. Mostly though, he made all the stress worth it.

"You excited to see your new room?" I asked.

"Yeah!" my 7 year old cheered from the back. "Is it blue? Can we make the room blue?"

"Maybe not today, if you're good, I'll paint it blue for you."

"I want it blue and have grave digger, all over the walls!" he exclaimed.

Monster trucks was Garrett's new obsession. Grave digger especially was his favorite monster truck. Every few months, he found something new to get excited and rambunctious over.

"Before we get there and get pizza though, I need to make a few stops first." I needed to go to the bank, grab the money, and pay mister landlord the 350 I owed. Sounds easy enough, right? Sounds anyway.

Running to the bank, I tried withdrawing from my savings. However, the teller told me I didn't have enough money in my account. I was just under 200. I didn't realize I was that low. Guess the sleeping bag and the cigarettes fucked me.

The shit thing was... I had money. More money than 200 dollars. However, I didn't have access to it. Dad did. So, after I withdrew only 150, I called my old man up. Having my son in the car forced me to stay civil, even if I did not want to.

"Hey dad, are you busy?"

"Why?"

"Well, you forgot to tell me that I needed to pay the security deposit. Since, you know, you said you took care of everything. Now, I owe it – today. I don't have enough in my account; I need the rest of my money."

Long story short... dad was 'busy.' He said he would drive up and see me tomorrow and give me my money. Yes, my money. Tomorrow wasn't today though. Blake would probably be pissed, but hey, nothing I can do about it.

We grabbed the pizza, entered my new backwoods town, and I parked at the gas station. Mr. McCormick was probably still working, and I didn't want to wait until later to pay him. However, when I went in, he wasn't there. It was some other lady.

"Do you happen to know if Mr. McCormick is working today?" I asked.

"I think he's down at the marina today."

Made... zero sense to me. The guy is apparently always busy and working, but what, he's just chilling at the marina? Whatever. None of my business and I wasn't nosy like all these other cave-people. Guess I'd have to catch him later.

We got home, ate pizza, and I showed Garrett his new room. It wasn't fully ready, and it looked bare compared to his blue and monster truck desires, but he liked it. Garrett was especially excited when I gave him his red sleeping bag. "Wow, this is awesome mom! I don't even want to sleep in the bed anyway."

"Good sweetie," I said, watching him make his bed with enthusiasm on the floor.

His round and young face was full of happiness. His toothy grin shined. Rolling around on his sleeping bag, his brown hair and bangs ruffled with his clothes. Brown eyes found mine. He had Matt's eyes, and my small nose and ears. Seeing my husband in him was beautiful, but most recently, a sad and sour reminder.

What I was going through was difficult. Though Garrett was excited and having a good time, I knew everything was much worse for him. Our family was falling apart. Being only 7, I couldn't imagine the confusion and emotions.

He dragged his toys out into the living room in front of the TV. I put in his favorite movie – Shrek. It was getting late and Blake had to be home by now. "Garrett, I have to go across the street and take care of something. When I come back though, we are going to have load of fun, okay? We are going to finish the movie together, play some games... then, tomorrow, we are going exploring!"

He loved to go exploring, especially in a new place. Sitting on the floor, mindlessly playing with his monster trucks, his eyes didn't leave the movie as he smiled. "Okay."

Grabbing 100 bucks, I walked across the street. Hopefully, this will be enough for him for now.

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Alrighty, there is the second chapter! Yes, they are much shorter than before, but it's nice because they are faster to write.

Also, I will be posting these next couple fairly fast. Just because they are finished and I'm anxious to get it out there. After posting every few days, it will become once a week :)

Let me know what you think of this story so far! I'd really very much appreciate it!