Close To Home IV

Chapter 12





“Mister Brian, Mister Brian!” Dougie yelled as he raced around the hedge from his place when he saw the car pull into Brian’s driveway.  It was late afternoon the day after Brian and Justin has rushed off to the hospital.  Dougie was home from school, and was outside playing on his skateboard in his driveway.  In reality what he was doing was waiting and praying for Brian to come home.  He had been very scared when Brian had started shouting that he needed to go to emergency.  Then Brian and Justin had got in their car and driven off, leaving a stunned and scared Dougie behind.

Brian pulled the car to a stop and hoisted his wheelchair out from behind his seat.  He gave Dougie a wan smile as the boy skidded to a stop beside him.  “Hey, kid,” he said tiredly.  Neither he nor Justin had slept very well at the hospital.

“Where have you been?  What happened?  Are you okay?  Did you go to the hospital?  I was so scared.  I thought you were never coming back,” Dougie spewed out.  He couldn’t help himself.

“I’m okay,” Brian stated.  He didn’t have the energy to answer all the other questions.

“But…” Dougie started.

“Dougie,” Justin interrupted.  “I guess you were worried, but Brian’s going to be fine.  He had to stay overnight at the hospital so that he could get some antibiotics for his leg.”

“Oh,” Dougie said, his eyes glued to Brian’s leg as the man hoisted himself into his chair.

“Brian’s kind of tired,” Justin added, hoping Dougie wouldn’t ask any further questions, and maybe he would go home.  No such luck.

“I didn’t mean to make your leg bad,” Dougie said to Brian, his voice barely above a whisper.

“You didn’t make my leg bad,” Brian said with a frown.  He really wasn’t in the mood to discuss this.

“But, you were fine until I threw the ball and it hit your leg and went under the chair and then you had to go to the hospital and I was scared and it was all my fault,” Dougie said without taking a breath.

“Dougie, listen to me,” Brian said sternly.  “Are you listening?”  Dougie nodded, but he was unable to look Brian in the eye.  “You did not hurt my leg.  I nicked it with a box cutter the day we moved in here.  I thought it was okay, but it got infected.  It had nothing to do with the ball you threw that hit my leg.  Do you understand?”

Dougie’s eyes lifted from the ground where he had been staring, and he looked into the hazel ones to see if there was truth in Brian’s words.  “Really truly, Mister Brian?  It’s not my fault?”

“Really truly, it is not your fault.”

“Thanks for telling me that, Mister Brian.  I was so worried and you didn’t come home and I didn’t know what was happening to you.”  He threw himself on top of Brian wrapping his arms around Brian’s neck and practically sitting on Brian’s lap.

Brian was shocked at first, but then he sensed how much Dougie needed reassurance and his arms came around the little boy giving him a warm hug.  “It’s okay, Dougie.  I’m going to be fine.”  Justin smiled at the two of them.

“You better be okay,” Dougie said as he stood up.  “I need more practice so I can catch real good.”

“We’ll work on that in a few days,” Brian said wearily.  “Right now I need to go into the house.”

“Sure, Mr. Brian.  Can I come visit you when I get home from school tomorrow?”

“That would be fine,” Brian agreed.

“Okay, I’ll be over tomorrow after school.  Bye, Mister Brian, Mister Justin.  Get better soon.”

“I’ll do my fucking best,” Brian griped as Dougie raced around the hedge.  They heard the door of Dougie’s house slam as he went inside.

“He’s quite the kid,” Justin said with a smile, as Brian wheeled himself up to the front door.

“Yeah, president of my fan club.”

Justin chuckled.  “You could do worse.”

“Yeah, he is a good kid.”

“A very good kid,” Justin agreed while he unlocked the door to the house.  “And you were great with him.”

“I have my moments,” Brian said smugly.

“You’re a wonderful man, Brian.  I know you don’t like to be told that.  It ruins your bad-ass-I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude, but sometimes the things you do are so fucking … perfect.”  Justin stopped there knowing that he had probably gone too far already.

Brian didn’t say anything, not that Justin expected him to.  However, Brian couldn’t have said a word, even if he wanted to.  The lump in his throat was way too big to get words around.


*****


Brian and Justin slept in late the following day.  The night in the hospital had taken its toll on both of them.  It was well after lunch when they finally crawled out of bed and had some coffee and something to eat.

Before they knew it, their front doorbell was ringing and Dougie had arrived, home from school and eager to make sure Brian was really all right.  When Justin let him in, he ran into the kitchen where Brian was sitting at the kitchen table reading his newspaper.

“You still okay?” he asked eagerly.

Brian shook his head and chuckled silently to himself.  “Just peachy,” he replied.

“Phew,” Dougie gasped.  “I was worried all day that you might not be here when I got home.”

“Where did you think I’d be?’

“Maybe … um … maybe, in the hospital?”

“I have no plans to return to that fine institution in the foreseeable future,” Brian declared.

“Good,” Dougie said with his grin that showed off his missing front teeth.

“Would you like a glass of milk and a cookie?” Justin asked after taking in the banter between his partner and the little boy.

“Sure.”

“Sit yourself down, Douglas my lad,” Brian said with his best imitation Irish brogue.

“Huh?” Dougie asked, causing Justin to chuckle.  “Why did you say it like that?”  He planted his bum on one of the kitchen chairs.

“Brian is of Irish heritage,” Justin supplied.  “He likes to pretend he has an Irish accent.”

“Is that what that was?” Dougie asked innocently.

“Out of the mouths of babes,” Justin chuckled, while Brian scowled at the implied slur to his very good Irish brogue, at least in his own opinion.  Justin poured a glass of milk for Dougie and set out two cookies on a plate.  He placed them in front of the boy.  “Your mother won’t be mad that we’re giving you sweets so close to dinner, will she?”

“Nah, she lets me have a cookie when I come home from school, but I didn’t have one today.  I ran right over here.”

“Then by all means eat up,” Brian said not sounding too snarky.

Dougie bit off a piece of cookie and downed it with a big drink of milk.  “Um, Mr. Brian, I guess you’re not ready to play catch yet, are you?” he said hopefully.

“Not just yet,” Brian said with a small sigh.  He wished he was ready for a game of catch, but he was still tired.

The doorbell rang.

“That must be Jasper,” Justin said as he went to answer it.

“Hey, everybody,” Jasper said as he entered and saw Dougie sitting at the kitchen table.  “Brian, I’m awful sorry to hear about your troubles.”

“I’m almost better,” Brian said quickly.  He had never handled pity well.  “What are you doing here?”

“I was supposed to come by yesterday to check all the windows and make sure they’re in working order.  Justin called me from the hospital to say you fellas wouldn’t be here.”

“We’re here now,” Brian replied.

“I’m sure glad to see that, and to see this young fella too.  Good to see ya, Dougie.”

“You to, Mister Jasper.”

“Well, I better get them windows checked out pronto.”

“Thanks, Jasper, go right ahead,” Justin said deciding that Brian didn’t seem in the mood for small talk.

“I better go home,” Dougie said standing up and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.  “Thanks for the cookies.”

“Is your sister sleeping any better now?” Justin asked as he walked with Dougie to the front door.

“A little bit.  She isn’t crying aaalll the time.”

“That’s good,” Justin replied.  “Remind your mother that if she wants a break, I’ll be happy to take Ellie for an afternoon.”

“I’ll tell her.  Bye, Mister Brian.”

“Bye, kid.”

“The windows all look fine.  A couple could use another coat of paint, but with the temperature dropping to more seasonal values, I think you might be wise to wait until spring to have them painted again,” Jasper said as he returned to the kitchen and looked at the last windows.

“They look a lot better,” Justin said.

“And we can open them?” Brian asked.

“Absolutely,” Jasper replied.  “Give them a try.”

“I don’t need to.  I know that if you fixed them then they’re working properly.”

Jasper beamed at Brian.  “I thank you for that vote of confidence.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Would you like a cup of coffee, Jasper?” Justin asked.

“Sure, if there’s one going.”

Justin nodded.  “Have a seat.

Jasper sat down across the kitchen table from Brian.  “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your leg?  Justin told me a little bit when he called from the hospital.”

“The day we moved in here, I nicked my leg on your box cutter.  Ruined my favorite jeans.”

“M…my box cutter?” Jasper asked horrified.

Brian saw the instant concern on Jasper’s face and immediately regretted the way he had reported his accident to the man.  “It wasn’t your fault, Jasper.  I didn’t mean it that way,” Brian said hastily.  “In fact it wasn’t anybody’s fault.  It was just one of those things.”

“Tell me what happened,” Jasper asked.  He needed to know that he hadn’t done anything that might have caused Brian injury.

“I’m not even sure how it happened,” Brian admitted.  “I think it was Ted who was using the box cutter from your tool box.  He, or somebody else, dropped it back into your box and I think it was sticking out over the edge.  I ran into it when I was trying to get out of the way of the guys who were bringing in the new bed.  Simple as that.”

“But didn’t you…?”

“No, I didn’t feel anything,” Brian chuckled.  “Not likely to.”

“Sorry.”

Brian shook his head.  “I did hear my jeans rip though, and I looked at my leg.  There was no blood, so I thought I was fine.  I guess the cutter nicked enough skin to implant some voracious little bacteria … and the rest is history.”

“I should never leave my tools unattended,” Jasper said, sincerely concerned that it was his box cutter that had caused Brian all this trouble.

“It’s totally not your fault.  Everyone was using your tools.  We should have asked first.  And I’m going to be fine, so don’t sweat it.”

Jasper shook his head again, as he doctored his coffee with cream and sugar.  “Regardless, I truly am sorry this happened to you when…”  Jasper stopped.

“When what?” Brian asked.  He sensed Jasper had been about to tell him something.

“I … I probably shouldn’t say anything.”

“What’s going on, Jasper?” Justin asked.  Jasper had peaked his curiosity.

“Um…”

“Come on, Jasper, you know you want to tell me,” Brian said tongue in cheek.  But he really wanted to know too.

“I heard something today at work, but I don’t want to upset you,” Jasper said carefully.

“What did you hear?” Brian asked, his ears perking up.

“It was that Kip Thomas fella, talking to one of the other executives that he works with a lot.”

“Probably Dan Robinson,” Brian said.

“Yeah, I think that’s the one.”

“What were they saying?” Justin wanted to know.  He was as curious as Brian, but he could afford to show it more.

“It was just something I heard.  I don’t know if it’s true or not.  It’s probably gossip and nothing more,” Jasper said cautiously.

“Tell us,” Justin ordered.  Brian chose to sit back and let Justin do the work for him.

“Okay, but make of this what you will.”

“I certainly intend to,” Brian said with a smirk that wasn’t quite up to his usual standards of smirking.  He wondered what the gossip was that was going around the offices at Ryder.

“I had to change a fluorescent bulb in the hall right outside Kip Thomas’ office.  I’m invisible to most of the executives,” Jasper added.  “Especially Kip Thomas.”  Brian smiled reassuringly.  “Anyway, while I’m doing my job that Dan fella charges into Kip’s office and asks him what he knows about Ryder being bought out.”

“Bought out?” Brian asked, wanting to find out how they might have cottoned on to what Brian was doing behind the scenes.

“That’s right,” Jasper stated.  “Mr. Robinson seemed really agitated.  He said that someone from accounting had told him that Mr. Ryder had got him to evaluate the company’s assets.  The guy concluded that someone might be trying to buy the company based on what Mr. Ryder had him doing.”

“Anything else?” Brian asked.

Jasper looked surprised.  He wondered why Brian was asking more about a possible takeover of the company.  He took a final sip of his coffee before answering.  “No, that’s about it.  Kip closed the door after that, and they were still in there when I finished replacing the bulb and left.  They seemed kind of upset.”

“I see,” Brian said carefully.

“I just thought you would like to know that it looks like someone’s trying to take over the Ryder Agency.  It’s your job at stake as well as Thomas’ and Robinson’s.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Brian said.

Jasper looked at Brian a little strangely, before he stood up and took his leave.  Justin walked him to the door and carefully shut it behind him.

“Is this going to screw things up for you?” Justin asked as he walked back to the table.

Brian shook his head.  “No, what can they do about a takeover anyway.  Neither of them has the money or the influence to interfere with what I’m doing.”

“Are you sure?”

“One hundred percent.  I need to call Cynthia.”

“Oh?  Why?”

“I won’t be going into work tomorrow.  I need to see my accountant and make some final arrangements.  Monday morning I’ll be meeting with Marty Ryder.”

“Isn’t that kind of fast?” Justin asked with a worried look on his face.  “Are you sure you’re up to this.”

“It’s now or never, and I intend to strike while the iron’s hot.  Hand me the phone.”

Justin lifted the receiver and passed it to Brian.  He hoped Brian knew what he was doing.  After the scare they’d just had, Justin didn’t want too much stress to cause Brian more physical problems.

He listened to Brian tell Cynthia about what he wanted done the following day, and then he decided he might as well make them dinner.  Brian would do what he would do.