Vibrations

Chapter 9

Re rushed into the house, pulling Roo behind her. Dad was sitting on the couch, waiting patiently for us to get home so he could get back to the hospital. I could tell he had snuck a bit of a nap in, as he looked much revived and a hell of a lot less like he'd been sleeping on a park bench for the last week.

Re gave him a quick glance, scooped Roo up and told dad, "Just give me a second to get changed and we're on the road!" She looked at Roo, "You want to help me pick out my outfit?"

Roo cheered excitedly, babbling about how she was going to help make Auntie Re pretty...

Dad shook his head and watched them bounce down the hallway.

I took a seat on the still damp couch I had shampooed, sharing an awkward moment of silence with my dad. Finally, he looked at me. "Why's the couch damp? You didn't have a woman in here did you?"

Giving him a deadpan look, I ran my hand across the couch, "Yeah, dad. I had a girl over. I had Roo hold the camcorder..." I shook my head at him, "You've got to be kidding me, I've never gotten a woman this wet in my entire life... you've seen the equipment I'm working with down there..."

He stopped, his jaw dropping open.

Then he started laughing his ass off.

I started laughing my ass off too...

After we had laughed ourselves out I looked at him, "I gave Roo a bowl of cereal this morning. She spilled it on the couch, so I bought a shampooer and cleaned the couch."

He was still chuckling it out, shaking his head as I could see him working through the mental picture in his head. "You gave Roo a bowl of cereal and let her eat it on the couch?"

I nodded, "Yep, pretty stupid. Hell, Re even warned me."

He laughed again, "You might want to lie and tell your mom you had a girl on the couch..."

I started laughing again, before the thought occurred to me that I needed to ask him about that unit... "Hey, can you get me the keys to unit 47? I'm going to be renting it for a little while."

He gave me a shocked look, "You going to hang out for a little bit?"

I nodded, "At least until we figure out what the hell is going on with mom. She kind of asked me to stick around for the summer."

I looked at him, gauging his reaction, "If that's okay, that is."

He looked me up and down, "Yeah. I think that might be good for you."

I scratched my head and tried to think of something intelligent to say...

He cut me a break by speaking first, "Can you afford to stay? You got enough laid by to get you through, or do you need a little help?"

I was amazed...

Was dad actually offering to help me pay bills while I lazed about?

"No. I have enough saved up. I can afford it." I gave him a firm look to let him know he didn't need to worry about me, "Besides, I'm used to living in the city. My rent there is twelve hundred a month, and then I have to pay utilities. Mom's giving me that trailer for eight hundred, utilities included. I can swing both for the summer..."

He shrugged, "Might help take some of the sting out of it if you had a little something in the way of a job?"

I smiled at him, surprised to see him taking such an obtuse tack. "Mom thought you might be able to set me up with something this summer." I winced at him, "I just didn't want to impose... didn't want to make you feel like you're obligated or something. I don't want it to be weird, and I didn't want to reach into your refrigerator uninvited."