Finding Home in Redemption

Chapter Seven

From that day on, Aaron met me at the door of my apartment. We would have breakfast, he would shower before getting ready, and then he would leave his things in the foyer before we headed to work. He fit in well with all the guys, and according to Drake, he was excellent with cars.

When he received his first paycheck, we walked to the bank on our lunch, and I cashed it for him. He couldn't cash it with the lack of identification, and since I knew the check was good, seeing as I wrote it, the teller didn't have any problems cashing it. He spent part of his first check on breakfast from Bucking Bandits for the both of us, and I made sure Dog had actual dog food. Aaron agreed it was time for him to start eating food that was good for him more often. A bonus was he started calling him Dog.

The days turned into weeks, and before I knew it, it was just a few days before Thanksgiving. Every year Pop and I had a real Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, deviled eggs, the works. He was my only family, so he wanted to make sure I had a memorable dinner every year, and it was always awesome.

The Tuesday before the big holiday, Pop was sitting in his office across the hall when I walked in and sat down.

"Hey, squirt," he greeted.

"I was wondering how you would feel about me inviting Aaron over for dinner this year," I replied.

He sat back in his chair and rested his hands behind his head. "I don't mind. I figured you'd want to do that anyway. I'm shocked you haven't invited him already."

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it before I did. Have you set the turkey out yet?" I asked, getting excited.

"It's in the fridge until tomorrow morning. You coming over tomorrow night?"

Since moving out, the tradition was, I would spend the night with him, and we would start cooking early in the morning. I wasn't sure what I should do since I was inviting Aaron and Pop solved my dilemma.

"Bentley, ask Aaron to spend the night. He can sleep in the other bedroom or on the couch if he wants."

"What? Really?" I asked, already excited and hoping Aaron would agree.

"Well, yeah you nut. I'm not going to make the guy sleep on the porch." Pop got up and walked over to hug me when I stood to leave. "I know you care about him and he's your friend. I wouldn't let him sleep outside on your favorite holiday. Plus, he's a darn good employee. Jerry said he caught him vacuuming out the cars the other day."

I laughed because I walked in on him picking up trash on the lot the day before. "He's a good man, Pop. That's why I don't understand what went wrong in his life."

"Sometimes things just happen to people. It's out of their control, but it's also up to them how they handle it. Just because life throws something horrible at you doesn't mean you have to use it as a crutch, but sometimes people can't see past their pain to realize that. Maybe you're helping him understand what he can be."

"Maybe you're right, Old Man. Thanks for letting me invite him this year." I squeezed him and left to finish my paperwork for the day. I was walking through the door when my cell phone started ringing. I rushed to it and saw it was an unknown number. I sent the call to voicemail and a few minutes later noticed they didn't leave one.

I called the few customers that had called in that day and scheduled appointments for all of them. Even a few weeks after hiring Sam and Aaron, we were still busy. They took a lot of the load off the other guys, and it seemed things were running smoothly. I was hanging up the phone when Sam walked into my office.

"Hey, Bee," she said sitting in one of the chairs. Sam had become an instant friend, and we got along perfectly. Her hair was in a high ponytail, putting the ends at her mid-back. The silver hoop was in place, and her smile was so big that her eyes crinkled in the corners.