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I SKIPPED SCHOOL ON Tuesday. I didn’t want to deal with the questions about the race or my shiner. I wasn’t in the mood.
Of course, my old man received a call from the attendance office, saying that I was absent. In return, he called me again and left an urgent message to get back to him. Having cooled down a bit, I decided to do what he wanted before he filed a Missing Person’s report on me.
He answered on the first ring. “Chase?”
“Yeah. Good guess,” I muttered.
Considering I was the only one with this phone number...
“Ha. Ha.” He told me about the school calling. “I was worried when I heard the news.”
I rolled my eyes. He hadn’t been too worried yesterday when he’d socked me in the face.
“I’m fine.”
“Where are you?”
“At Sonny’s.” Fortunately, his mom had left before us. As we were eating breakfast, he told me I could chill there for as long as I needed. I wanted to get out of there before the cougar returned, however. Especially if she was feeling frisky again.
“Are you coming home?”
I stared out the window toward the lake. The sky was gray and it was starting to rain. It was dismal, just like my thoughts of returning home. “Not sure.”
He let out a ragged sigh. “Son, I’m sorry I blew up. It was uncalled for and I promise you, it won’t happen again.”
I wanted to believe him. I always wanted to believe him. But, he was a broken record. One that had been overplayed too many times.
I took a deep breath and told him what I really wanted. “I’m thinking about getting a place of my own.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he replied sternly.
We argued about it for a while and when he realized I was serious, and old enough to do it, he asked me not to jump into anything.
“I know you’re angry with me, but you only have one year left of school and then you’ll be off to college. If you get a place of your own, you’ll have to work longer hours to pay the rent and your grades will suffer. You’ll fuck up your entire future by making such an idiotic decision.”
“I don’t care about college. I’ll get my G.E.D, work at Lenny’s, and go to auto mechanic’s school.”
“That’s a horrible idea, Son. You can be more than just a simple grease-monkey.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be anything more,” I argued.
“Fine, you want to fix cars? Go ahead. Do it as a hobby. Not as a career. You have so much more potential—”
“It’s my life! My future. College isn’t everything. Not for me, at least.”
He was quiet for a few seconds. “Look, we can talk about this later. Just, please, finish this last year of school and forget about moving out. It really is a waste of money. Not when you can live for free, here.”
He was right about the money... but I was leery about staying at home. I knew everything would be cool for a while and then he’d lose his shit again.
“I’ll come home.”
But I wouldn’t be staying.
“Good. See you soon.”
I LOCKED UP Sonny’s cabin and took the long way home. I wasn’t looking forward to facing him again after last night. No matter how sorry he was. Along the way, a sign caught my eye. It was in the window of a taxidermy and bait shop.
Furnished Studio Available For Rent.
I stared at the building, which had been around for as long as I could remember. I hadn’t even realized that there was a studio above the shop, and I’d purchased minnows there in the past.
I pulled over and took a picture of the phone number. I had no idea what the rent was, but I liked the fact that it was furnished. It would make things much easier.
When I arrived at home, my old man acted like things were normal between us, but I wasn’t about to fall into that trap again.
“I have to go into the office and take care of some business. If you’re hungry, order out somewhere. Maybe get some Chinese Food or something. Use my credit card,” he said.
“I’m good.” I headed toward the stairs.
“Chase.”
I turned around.
“I, um. I won’t be home until late. If you need anything, call me.”
“Right.” All I needed was some peace.
“Hey, are you still pissed at me?”
I decided to be truthful. “What do you think? Or, maybe you can’t read my expression considering I have a black eye...”
He stared at my face and sighed. “Did you tell anyone?”
It figured that he was worried I’d ‘outed’ him.
“Chase?”
“No,” I muttered.
He looked relieved. “You should put some ice on that.”
Shaking my head in disgust, I walked upstairs to my room, waited for him to leave, and then called the taxidermy shop. A woman answered.
“Um, yes, I was calling about the studio for rent. Is it still available?”
“Yes, it is.”
“How much is the rent?”
She told me and my heart sank. It was a lot more than what I’d expected.
“Did you want to have a look at it?” she asked.
“Sure.”
As expensive as it was, I knew that if I put a lot more hours in at Lenny’s I could probably pull it off.
“Okay. I’ll be here until six. The studio is above the shop. It just became available and I have a feeling it will go quickly. So, I wouldn’t wait too long.”
“I can be there in an hour,” I told her.
“Sounds good. What’s your name?”
“Chase.”
“My name is Rae. See you soon, Chase.”
“Okay.”
I hung up the phone, made myself something to eat, and headed over to meet her.
––––––––
WHEN I ARRIVED AT THE shop, Rae, who was dressed in gray coveralls and a black rubber apron, was just finishing up with a customer. She was short and stocky, with wavy white hair and blue tortoiseshell glasses.
“Aren’t you Jeremy Adams’s boy?” Rae asked, when I introduced myself.
“Yeah.”
Her eyes narrowed as they studied my shiner. “What happened to your face?”
“Fell off my bike,” I replied, forcing a laugh. “Hit this big ol’ rock on a trail I’d never been on before. Lucky I didn’t lose my eye.”
“No kidding.” She opened up the cash register and pulled out a set of keys. “I’m going to lock up the store and then I’ll show you the studio. Can’t have anyone wandering around the store while I’m away.”
“Okay.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at me.
“I didn’t go in. My eye was bothering me too much this morning.”
Rae walked over to the door, locked it, and flipped the OPEN sign to CLOSED. She turned around and looked at my eye again. “Your dad aware you’re looking for a new place to live?”
“I told him.”
“How old are you?”
“Eighteen.”
She stared at me for a minute and then nodded. “Okay. Let’s go and see what you think of the place.”
The studio was larger than I’d expected, with a small kitchen and bathroom. Although the appliances were old, the furniture was decent and there was even a thirty-two inch television.
“How long can I rent it for?” I asked, getting excited about the idea of living there.
“That all depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether you’re a good tenant or not. If you’re going to rent this place, I don’t want you having parties. Also, I don’t want to walk in and find two other guys sharing this space with you. You’d be on the lease and nobody else.”
“Makes sense.”
“Also, you’re responsible for any damage that might occur. And, if something goes missing, you’ll have to replace it.”
“I understand.”
“Do you have any pets?”
“No.”
“If you decide to get a cat or dog, you’ll need to put down a three hundred dollar deposit.”
“I doubt I’ll get a pet.”
She was silent for a few seconds and then went on. “The minimum lease is for six months. You’ll need to put down your first month’s rent along with a deposit of five-hundred dollars. It will be returned to you, once you move out, if the studio is in good shape. Otherwise, you lose the deposit and may have to pay for any damages to the studio.”
“There won’t be.”
“Good. Now, do you have any plans for college?”
“I’m going to take an auto mechanics class somewhere here in Diamond Lake.”
She nodded in approval. “So, you’re finishing up high school?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Do you have a job?”
“Yeah, I work for Lenny’s Garage right now. I’m planning on putting in some extra hours to pay for the studio.”
“What about school work? You don’t want to neglect that.”
“I won’t.”
“So, basically you’re looking for a place to crash that isn’t at your dad’s house?”
I thought about lying, but decided not to. She’d been pretty straightforward with me and deserved the same. “Yeah. See, we don’t always see eye-to-eye,” I replied.
She looked at my shiner again. “That’s too bad. I’m sorry to hear that.”
I nodded. “It is what it is.”
“Why not stay at a friend’s?”
“I don’t want to be a bother.”
Rae looked around the studio. “Well, if you think you can afford the apartment, it’s yours. I’ll need to have you fill out a lease agreement before you can move in though.”
“Okay.”
“Plus, I’ll need to verify your employment.”
“I understand.”
She stared at me hard. “Don’t let me regret this later, Chase. I could very easily rent this out to someone older.”
“I know. You won’t regret it. I promise.”
I could tell by her expression that she was still unsure.
“I swear to God, I won’t cause you any problems.”
Rae relaxed. “Okay. Let me get the paperwork.”
“Thank you.”
She nodded.
18