We headed away from the center of town and took a turn down the road that ran closer to the train tracks. The tracks were defunct now, a remnant of the logging industry that nobody had bothered to remove. Kids liked to go down and smash bottles against them while high schoolers liked to go there to hangout and drink. At least they had when I lived here. It was the opposite side of town from where I’d grown up, in a historic two-story Colonial on an acre and a half of land. My father had had to sell it when my mom divorced him. I wasn’t sure who lived there now—hell, I wasn’t entirely sure where he lived around here anymore.
I blinked away the memories and said, “You get called out to scare people down there?”
He rolled his eyes. “At least once a week from a parent asking me to check and see if their kid is there and bring them home if I catch them. As if they don’t scatter the second I show up.”
I knew how it was. I’d been one of those kids more than once. “That’s part of the thrill of going to the tracks.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I just never thought I’d be the one doing the scaring, you know? I didn’t see myself ending up as a cop when I was in school.”
I sensed a new avenue of conversation opening up. “What did you think you’d do?”
“I don’t know for sure. I figured I might become a teacher. I like working with kids.” His expression was easy now, probably thinking about his nieces. “I’m the one they always send to the schools to do the ‘stranger danger’ and drug talks.”
“I could see you being a teacher.” Or at least, I could see shy, gentle Nicky being a teacher. Dominic was a bit rougher around the edges, but it wouldn’t be impossible to go back to school for it.
He shook his head. “Nah, I needed something I could make money in fast, and it doesn’t take as long to become a cop. Besides, with them, my military experience counts for something. It’s a good enough fit for me.” He glanced my way. “What about you? Did you always want to be a lawyer?”
“Basically.” I’d had this heart-to-heart with myself numerous times, and I was pretty secure in my choices at this point. “Mom is a lawyer, and she always seemed to enjoy it. She had a different kind of practice here in Edgewood, of course, mostly wills and property disputes and a little bit of family law when she had to, but she usually walked out the door in the morning whistling.”
At least, she had until my father shattered things irreparably and my mother had completely broken down, unable to continue her practice—unable to step foot out of the house, the shame was so severe. It was worse because my father had tried to act like nothing had happened, like it could all be fixed.
“The stuff I do in the city is different, but I like it well enough.” Practicing law didn’t get me whistling a happy tune every morning, but that didn’t make it drudgery. The office was lively with Marcus, and every client was a challenge that kept me learning and on my toes.
“Huh.” With that noncommittal answer, Dominic turned down Broward Street. “I’m at the end of the block here.” It was a slightly rundown row of houses, but I didn’t see anything I’d call out as particularly decrepit. When we stopped in front of a small but neat Victorian, I was kind of impressed. Sure, the paint was peeling and the driveway was cracked, but it didn’t look all that bad.
“I think you’ve exaggerated your problems with this place.”
Dominic chuckled as he turned off the engine. “Wait until you see inside of it.”
I followed him up to the door and onto the small porch, which had clearly been redone. “This was one of my first projects,” he said, stomping both his feet clean against the welcome mat before unlocking the door. “I almost fell through it when the realtor brought me around to look at the place. I knew I had to make it strong enough to hold some weight first and foremost.” He entered and flipped on a light, and I followed behind him. And…
Huh, yeah.
Okay.
This place was definitely a fixer-upper.
The front hall was small, and it had a newly laid hardwood floor which seemed increasingly out of place the farther into the house I looked. To the right was a room that might once have been used as a dining room but was currently a receptacle for tools, lumber, and sawdust. On the left was a long room that stretched adjacent down the length of the hall, with multiple doors entering into it—somebody else’s remodel, probably. And it had…no floor. Nothing but bare concrete foundation over most of it, actually.
A few of the walls were stripped all the way down to the exterior, with only the frames and siding keeping the outside from being inside. Well, that explains why it’s so freaking cold in here. Other walls had insulation, but no drywall in front of them. None of them were painted. There was a door on the right side of the hall that I figured led into a bathroom, and further down on the right, I assumed there had to be the kitchen. Right in front of me was a staircase leading up, looking rickety enough that I wasn’t really sure I wanted to risk it.
“Sorry about the mess.” Dominic took his hat off and smoothed down his hair, a tired look in his eyes. “I kind of forget how this place might look to someone else. I’ve done a lot of work on it, I swear, but there’s still a lot left, and I haven’t had the time to focus on it because Hal’s needed me with the girls. Not that I mind!” he emphasized at the end.
I wasn’t about to call him out. “Of course you don’t mind it. You’re one of their favorite people, anyone can see that, and they’d be able to tell if you resented them in some way.” The best way to get past the weirdness, I figured, was to forge ahead like nothing was wrong. “So, what can I help you do first? Insulate the front room so you don’t freeze to death this winter?”
Dominic looked at me, seriously at first, then with more of a sense of play. “You mean you don’t want to run screaming?”
“Where would I run? Back out into the snow? That seems counterproductive.” I shook my head. “I’d rather stay and help, thanks. But first, you’ve got to tell me—where do you sleep? Because it can’t be up front here.”
“Oh, no. Come this way.” He led me down the hall to the last door on the left, which opened into a little bedroom beside the kitchen. “I think it might have been a mud room or storage room originally, but this spot is the first thing I fixed up,” he said, shutting the door behind us and turning on the space heater in the corner. “It was something doable that I could single out, you know? And it was small enough that I could finish it fast.”
I glanced around. It was a pretty small room, for sure, but there was space for a double bed and a dresser, plus a little end-table covered with novels and a lamp. Two of the walls were cream-colored, with a gray accent wall at the back. The green bedspread and pillow gave the place color, and the light oak dresser and table made it feel warm. There was a picture of Hal, Dominic, their sister Christine, and the girls all together hanging on one wall, along with another of a group of soldiers in their BDUs, smiling at the camera. I couldn’t immediately tell which one was Dominic, but I finally recognized him at the end of the line. He was the only one not beaming.