By now they moved around the kitchen, in and out of each other’s space, in a kind of dance. Ollie knew what Ty would do next—remove the hot pan from the burner, wipe up any splatters around the stove, get the pitcher of water and carton of milk from the fridge. Ollie weaved in and out, grabbing napkins and cutlery and the bottle of gochujang Ty would forget about until he was three bites in and then return to the fridge for.
“Theo! Dinner’s ready!”
He came into the kitchen with the book still in front of his face and would’ve tripped over his stool if Ollie hadn’t plucked the book away.
“Dad!” he protested. “I just got to the good part.”
“You can talk to us for five minutes so you don’t get soy sauce all over your library book.” Ollie slid his bowl in front of him. “Besides, Ty obviously worked hard on dinner. Doesn’t it smell great?”
Heaving the kind of sigh eighteenth-century poets could only dream about, Theo dragged himself onto his barstool. “Yeah, I guess.”
Ollie winced—Ty had obviously gone to a lot of trouble—but when he looked over to see Ty’s reaction, he was hiding a smile.
Theo proceeded to eat his dinner so fast that Ollie didn’t think he could even taste it. So much for talking to Ollie and Ty. He barely had time to breathe. “Thanks, Ty.” He stood up and put his plate and fork in the dishwasher. “Can I be excused to go read now?”
Fuck it. How mad could Ollie be that his kid liked reading?
“Okay, but try to keep the book more than two inches from your face, all right?”
Ollie could tell Ty was laughing at him, but at least he did it behind his hand, where Theo couldn’t see him.
When Theo had decamped to the living room, the laugh slipped out as the two of them got up to start cleaning. “That kid,” Ty said ruefully. “Barrel of laughs. I needed that.”
“Yeah?” Ollie chucked a detergent pod in the dishwasher. “You have a tough day too? Were the sixth graders mean to you again?”
Ty snapped the dishtowel at him. “They’re always mean. No, this time it was Mr. Chiu. Old friend of my dad’s. He sits on the town council now because I guess venture capitalism doesn’t keep him busy enough or whatever.”
Lots to unpack there, Ollie thought. “Where did you run into him?”
“Oh, I didn’t.” Ty slammed a cupboard door a little harder than necessary. “But on Sunday I had a conversation with the fire chief at the station in Holton, because I was hoping I could pick up some training while I’m in the neighborhood. Except no such luck, because they’re so overrun with calls because of how much the population has grown, they can barely do that, never mind keep everyone up to date on their skills.”
“Sounds bad.”
“I thought so too. So much so that I wrote an email to the town councileven thoughI knew Mr. Chiu was on it and hates my guts.”
Ollie waited for the other shoe to drop.
“And then Mrs. Sanford had a heart attack in the grocery store on Monday.”
The dots were there, but Ollie didn’t connect them until Ty added bitterly, “Which Mr. Chiu pointed out was ‘convenient timing’ in his email reply to me this morning.”
Holy shit. “He really implied—”
Ty gave him a tight, mirthless smile and raised his eyebrows.
“What the hell is wrong with this town?” Ollie wondered. “Genuinely. Should I take my kid somewhere else? Is there something in the water?”
“Metaphorically speaking,” Ty offered, “I think my dad poisoned the well.”
“Did you tell Mr. Chiu to go to hell?”
This time Ty’s quirked lips held a trace of real amusement. “I told him any further communication should go through my lawyer.”
“Ha.” Ollie smirked. “Taste of his own medicine.” Then he turned to put the wok away and froze as his whole back seized. “Ow. Fuck.”
Ty took the pan before he could drop it and gently slid it into the cupboard. Then he turned around. “Whoa, hey, are you all right?”
Wincing, Ollie rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen whatever demonic muscle spasm had its claws in his trapezius. “Fine, kind of.” His body had never betrayed him like this when he was in the Army. Maybe he needed to find a regular gym to go to just to make sure his joints stayed lubricated. “It’s bullshit that the warranty on your body expires the minute you turn thirty and then everything immediately falls apart.”
