Chapter Thirty-Six
Scott had enjoyed his time in the U-District, but after the stomach-churning reality of what he had done, he was ready to be gone from the Rainy City.
He gave his notice to his landlord on Roosevelt, sold the valiant little Valiant for half of what he had paid for it, and bought a ticket to fly back to Chicago. From there, he caught a train to Evansville. He hadn’t called Cheryl in advance, although he couldn’t have said why. He had gotten used to not answering to anyone but himself when it came to his comings and goings.
He did call her from the train station, though.
He picked up a pay phone, dropped a dime in, and dialed their home number. A few rings later, he heard Cheryl’s voice say, “Hello?”
“Is there any room at the inn for a wandering stranger?”
“Scotty!” Cheryl cried. “Oh, it is so good to hear from you. There’s always room for you. When are you coming to town?”
“About ten minutes ago. I’m at the train station.”
“What? You’re here? Foolish brother, you’ve got to let me know, and I’ll be there to pick you up. Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Eighteen minutes later, she pushed through the double doors, slightly out of breath.
She wrapped Scott in a hug. “You are so bad—not letting me know you are coming!”
“Guilty. Can I say I wanted to surprise you guys?”
“You certainly did that! I’m as bad as you are. I’m not even going to call Mike and tell him. I’ll let him be surprised when he walks in tonight.”
They walked together arm in arm to the car. Scott began to feel more human, less time-traveling assassin, almost immediately.
Unless my math is wrong, or something is different this life, she’s pregnant with Andrea right now. I wonder if she knows yet.
Scott looked down on his baby sister. “You look like you’re glowing a little today.”
She smacked him in the arm. “Oh my God, you can tell, can’t you? I can never sneak anything past you. We just found out a few days ago. How could you possibly know?”
Because I’ve lived this life a few times and things like that haven’t changed. Every life I’ve made it this far, you’ve had Andrea on the same day.
When they got home, Mike was already there, but he was suitably surprised by his brother-in-law’s sudden appearance.
He smiled a cat-who-ate-the-canary smile at Cheryl, but she shook her head. “Give it up. He guessed I was preggers the first minute he saw me.”
Crestfallen, Mike said, “Are we never going to be able to surprise you?” He tipped Cheryl a wink. “We may have more than one surprise up our sleeve.”
Cheryl gave Mike a look that warned him into quiet, but Scott was on the scent.
“What? You’re having triplets? You’ve been elected the president of the local Rotary? What?”
Cheryl shook her head. “There will be no peace, now that you’ve brought it up.” She turned to Scott. “It’s getting late and I haven’t started dinner because I was called away by a sudden errand this afternoon. Mike, what do you say we celebrate by going to Chen’s for dinner?”
“I can always be talked into Chinese food,” Mike said. “But you already knew that.”
“And you, my bloodhound big brother, can wait until we get our chow mein before asking any more questions.”
Half an hour later, they were seated in a comfortable booth in Chen’s Chinese Restaurant. They had indeed ordered chow mein and half a dozen other dishes.
“Okay,” Scott said, dipping a piece of BBQ Pork into hot mustard and sesame seeds, “what’s the big secret?” He fixed Scott with an attempt at a menacing look. “Now that I already know what you’ve been doing to my sister while I’m away, what else is there?”
“Scotty!”
Scott had the good grace to look slightly abashed and smiled at Mike. “All right, kidding aside, what are you two crazy kids up to?”
Mike glanced at Cheryl with a “He’s your brother, you go,” sort of look.
“We want to sell the house.”
Whoa, that’s something new. They’ve never done this before. Maybe there will be more changes coming.
“Okay,” Scott said, simply.
“Okay? That’s it? No arguments at all?”
“Nope,” Scott said. “I’ve run off and been gallivanting around the country, leaving all the upkeep to you guys. As far as I’m concerned, it’s yours, not mine. If you want to sell it, that’s absolutely A-OK with me.”
Cheryl reached a hand out and laid it on Scott’s. “Oh, Scotty, thank you for making this easy. We’ve been afraid to talk to you about it. We thought you might be mad.”
“I can’t even pretend to be mad. So, where are you guys going?”
Another glance shared between the young couple.
“You’ve already bought something, haven’t you?”
Mike nodded. “We’ve got a sweet little two story being built out in Maple Glen Estates.”
“Maple Glen?”
“Yeah, it’s new. It’s a little outside of town, but all the houses around us will be new, there will be lots of kids around for little Mike to play with—“
“Or little Andrea,” Scott interjected and once again saw Cheryl’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. She fixed him with a narrow stare.
He smiled. “Sorry. Whatever you’re having. Good for you guys. I completely understand. Gran and Gramps’ house is in an old neighborhood. Most of the people around you are old. I really do get it.”
“And, it will always be Gran and Gramps’ house. We love them, of course, but we’re ready to start our own story now, too.”
Scott lifted his tiny cup of hot tea and offered it in a toast. “To starting your own story.”
SCOTT STAYED WITH CHERYL and Mike through the holidays. Their new house in Maple Glenn wouldn’t be completed until April, so they weren’t planning on putting the old house on the market until after they made the move.
It didn’t matter to Scott. Before he returned to the road, he said his good-byes to the house where his grandparents had taken him in. He wandered through Earl’s basement shop, which was now Mike’s. Earl’s spirit was still everywhere there. A 1971 calendar with a picture of a duck in flight still hung above the workbench, not to mention that his array of hammers, chisels, wrenches and screwdrivers still hung in their proper spots.
I should pick out some souvenir of Gramps I can carry with me.
He walked along the bench, touching the hand tools one by one. Finally his fingers closed around an old 5/8” wrench. It may have been forty years old, but there wasn’t a spot of rust on it anywhere.
You’ll do.
Scott slipped it into the bottom of his pack, where he could carry it with him always.
By the time the first week of January arrived, Scott had experienced as much domesticity as he could stand, and his list awaited him.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Scott was a busy traveler, not to mention, a busy vigilante, over the next five years. He traveled to all four corners of the country and crisscrossed the heartland any number of times.
When Cheryl and Mike closed on the house, they had insisted on putting half the proceeds into a bank account for Scott. Along with his check from the Army, as long as he kept his spending in check, he never needed to worry about money. In fact, each time he checked his balance, it was larger than it had been the month before.