Invisible

Chapter 5 You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

By Monday I am an emotional wreck. The wedding is taking its toll. I ended up sleeping on Al's couch Sunday night. Maggie sat up with me and we talked, about Jacob.

I wish I could blame him for leaving me, I wish I could forget what we had. I wish I knew where he was, or even if he was still alive.

After he got sick he changed. He knew it would only be a matter of time before he was completely gone. Even though I was willing to stick by him for better or worse, he decided not to put me through anymore pain. A not even a week before the wedding he bolted, he left a note blaming his mental state. I was devastated, I had already lost my family and I just couldn't handle it.

If it wasn't for Al, Maggie, and Sam I would have gone off the deep end.

Jacob had been a part of my life since I was 9; as strange as it sounds, I think him leaving hurt worse than losing my parents. And since Friday night I haven't been able to think of anything else.

I put on a bright face on Monday as I enter the greenhouse, tying back my hair. I clock in and get to work. Ignoring Tori as she limps in, clearly hungover, and 15 minutes late. She glares at me when I glance at her, like she's daring me to report her, and for a split second I think about glaring back. But she should know better by now, I won't do anything that draws attention to myself.

By lunch break I am itching to be out on a job, Al and I have a consult appointment scheduled, this is where some potential client calls us in and we go and scout around, seeing what needs to be done and giving an estimate. Usually Sam handles the talking part, Al knows that he will be dealing with this one. I resign myself to the usual job of taking pictures and brainstorming in silence, it's just going to be different without Al there to bounce ideas off of while we walk around.

Bill stops me as I am packing up the truck. "Hey, since you're down a man I figured I'd assign Tori to your crew for training, at least until Sam gets back."

I stop and stare, wanting to scream 'NO' like a spoiled child. Instead, I smile and nod.

Al walks up to me and I hear him laugh, I look up and see Tori, looking upset, sunglasses hiding her eyes. She is texting and as she walks toward the truck. She trips over the curb, I hold back a laugh.

She curses as we all load into the truck. Al and I try to start a conversation but Tori turns on the radio and cranks the volume up. So much for her hangover headache, she keeps the base cranked all the way up.

The job is about 40 minutes away, 40 minutes of hip-hop torture I sit in the back seat and stare out the window.

We finally pull on to a long driveway with the correct address, they must have just moved in, a sold sign still stands by the road.

The driveway is about a mile long and the lawn looks atrocious, the landscaping run down... until the house comes into view. It must be brand new, it's huge, a beautiful country cottage type house, the white siding looks new and the shingles still look like they need to shrink in the sun.

We pull up and we get out, I nod at Al's smile, he's telling me he'll take point on this. I am so relieved, with Tori's inexperience I was worried I'd have to talk to the client.

Tori bounds to the house as I fall to work with the camera and a notebook. It's mid afternoon and before long I am sweating in the hot sun. I can hear Tori's voice as they talk to the middle aged women on the front porch. Tori sounds like the nicest person in the world right now. I wonder how she does it, treat me like trash one second and then turn right around and act like a saint for someone else.

5 O'clock comes and goes, I finish my work and timidly approach the porch to remind Al of the time. The lady sees me before the others do.

"Well hello there sweetie! Come on up, have some lemonade, you must be exhausted!"

I smile shyly and accept her offer.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lynette."

Something about her looks familiar but I can't place her.

I take the glass she hands me and return her smile, it's so genuine.

"Uh... I've got everything we need... it's getting late..." I wipe my sweaty palms off on my jeans. It's nerve wracking for me to talk with strangers.

Tori looks at me with a smirk. Great, she's going to have fun ridiculing me later about spazzing out.

"I know it's a lot of work. We just moved out here, the old place matched the land. Leo wanted us to do all of the clean up and the yard work by ourselves, but 3 acres is just too much for us to handle. Even if a large part of it is wooded."

I sit and stare at the glass in my hands, listening to them as they continue to make small talk, it's getting close to 6 and I am tired. Finally, the conversation comes to a lull and I take the opportunity to jump in.

"Well, it's getting late, we should probably get going." I place the glass on the edge of a nearby table but I must not set it on a flat surface or something because it slips off and crashes to the ground in a million tiny, sharp projectile shards, one embedding itself into my palm as I was trying to catch it before it hit the deck. I wince as I bring my hand up to look at it.

"Oh! Hon!" Lynette jumps up, seeing the blood start to gush.
"No, I'm fine. I'm so sorry about the glass."

"It's okay, here, let me help you." She gestures to me, avoiding the mess and walking towards the front door. I look to Al with scared eyes, asking him what to do. He shrugs.

I follow her and she closes the door as I step into the old style washroom entryway. There are pictures hanging everywhere and the big one right in the center surprises me completely. I am staring right into the eyes of Hunter! Not his real eyes... just his picture. I let out a small shriek though, before I realize it's just a picture.

"Oh, you recognize him?" Lynette is coming back from retrieving a first aid kit from the kitchen. "We are quite proud of our boy."

She starts cleaning my gash. "He brought us this house even. And recommended we go with you guys for our yard work. He's always looking after us, even though he's so busy."

I nod, too shy to say anything, too winged out to talk.

"There." She announces, applying a band aid.

"Thanks." I mumble.

"You don't talk much do you?"

"No... not really." I try to smile but fail. I stare at my hand. "I'm very sorry about the glass."

"Now don't you worry. It's just an old mismatched dish." She walks back to the porch with me and we say goodbye. Or Al and Tori say goodbye and I apologize again. I see Lynette wave from the porch as she begins to sweep up the mess.

We drive into the sunset on the way back to the shop. My eyes almost pop right out of my head when I see the estimate for their property, it's a big job, at least a month of work. And that's if we use multiple teams.

I sit back and quietly listen to Tori, she's already got a lot of ideas for this job. I have a few of my own but I don't say anything. Al tries a couple of times to get me involved in the conversation but I am so mentally exhausted from talking to Lynette one on one, and in finding out who her son is.

Luckily Hunter is a busy man, it would be strange to have him hanging around his parent's house while we were working around it.

We get back to the greenhouse around 8 and I pretend like I am going to leave, but after Al and Tori take off I let myself back into the greenhouse and switch on a table light.

For the next couple of hours the only sound comes from my even breathing and the sifting of dirt and crunch of my feet moving slightly as I move around. Jade won't be happy, but she's just a cat, she can be by herself for a while longer. I've still got Tori's voice to clear out of my head and Hunter's smile burned into my mind.

It's going to be a long night.