SWNOVELS Sworn Enemy: Chapter 19
Rolling through the Bash’s vineyard feels like I’ve been transported to another country. Italy, probably. The rows and rows of vines along the terraced hillside are beautiful, but this is only the front half of the property. I make my way through the arch and stop in front of the Bash’s house, which looks like Texas and Tuscany had a baby.
Anja, who everybody calls Mama Bash, throws open the front door and greets me before I even have a chance to get out of my truck.
“Justin! You look so healthy. The sun looks good on your skin,” she says, reaching up to pinch my cheek.
Some people will be nice just to be nice, but I sense that Anja is only kind to people she genuinely likes, and it feels good to be one of the people she’s kind to.
“Why, thank you.” Entirely uncomfortable with compliments, I get to the business at hand. “I understand that you expanded your drive to the back of the property where it meets the two-lane, is that right?”
She nods, and her son, Anders, sidles up next to her, explaining, “That’s right. My husband and I built a house on the back property, and it would be nice to be able to shortcut to the road back there sometimes. What we’d really like is a gate at our end of the drive with an automatic opener.”
This was some of what we discussed on the phone, so I was pretty sure I knew what they needed. “Alright. I’m going to go and measure everything, and if I guessed correctly, I actually have the materials on me today. Is now a good time to get the gate in there, or did you still want to schedule that for a different day?”
A broad smile tracks across the handsome man’s face. “Dude, if you can get the gate out there today, I’ll take it.”
I nod. “Great. I might have somebody from my crew join me to make things go a little faster, but we should have you up and running by the end of the day.”
Anders taps his chin, then looks at his mom. “Justin, what kind of help do you need? Like, does the person need to know a lot, or is it something where it’s fine if they can just hand you tools and help keep things running smoothly?”
I shrug. “If you want to help me, I’m perfectly happy to have you join me. I’ll even give you a little discount for it. It’s not all handing over tools, but the basics aren’t all that hard.”
He shakes his head. “Not for me. We have a new guest here, and he’s been a little restless.”
Anja laughs. “That’s one way of putting it. He’s organized everything in my house. Now I have no idea where anything is, but the house and everything in it are cleaner and more alphabetized than they have been my whole life. I think he feels like if he’s not doing something, not contributing, he doesn’t deserve to stay.”
“I could definitely use an organized, high-energy helper with me today. Is he at least sixteen?”
“He turned twenty a bit ago.”
“Perfect.”
Anja disappears into the house, reappearing a few minutes later with a kid who looks like he’s in high school.
“He’s twenty?” I ask, incredulous.
“Yes, he is,” the guy says, hand on his hip.
Huh. I bet he gets underestimated a lot. I’ll try not to do that.
“Works for me.” I stick out my hand. “My name is Justin.”
“Antonio. But they call me Ant.”
Ant looks like he’s going to be a handful, but not in a bad way. He’s Latiné, possibly queer, and wearing scuffed-up tennis shoes, cut-off shorts, and some kind of vintage-looking T-shirt.
“I’m working on Anders and Omar’s gate, and I could use an extra set of hands. Anja seems to think you might want to join me. Sound good to you? I’ll give you two hundred for the project and all the Gatorade you can drink.”
He sends a nervous look to Anja. She smiles at him encouragingly. “It’s okay, Ant. He’s safe.”
I swallow hard, hit by the sincerity of her words. Ant is exactly the kind of kid I would’ve tortured in high school, and to hear someone like Anja Bash say that I’m safe…I barely keep the tears to myself.
Ant chews the inside of his cheek, considering her words, then gives me a long, assessing look as though trying to get the measure of me.
“Okay. You have orange Gatorade?”
“Absolutely.” I jerk my thumb over to the orange five-gallon jug strapped to my truck. “A ton of it.”
“Okay.” He bites his lip. “I, uh, I’ve never done this before. Is it hard to learn?”
I shake my head. “Everything’s pretty straightforward—you’ll know why you’re doing it when you’re doing it. Anja told me you like to keep things organized, so I’m guessing you’ll be great with details.”
He shrugs. “I’ve got a good memory for things.”
“Perfect. You’ll be able to help me make sure everything is level and can help me test out all of the gate’s functions. Sound good?”
“Okay. What do I wear?” he asks, looking down at himself.
“Good question. If we can get you into a long-sleeve shirt and some pants, that’s for the best. That’ll protect you from getting burned, and if we meet any critters along the way, it’ll give you some protection.”
“What kind of critters?” he asks, suspicious.
“The kind that’s best not to discuss unless they’re after you,” I say, winking at him.
He narrows his eyes but still seems good-natured about the whole thing. “Okay. I think I’ve got just the thing.”
The more I talk to him, the more I can see his age. I’m also reminded that the Bashes took Sam in after a bad incident, and I wonder if Ant has a similar story.
He’s quick as he races back to the house and minutes later comes out wearing a light long-sleeved T-shirt, baggy jeans, and work boots.
“Perfect.” I bang the side of the truck. “Hop on in, and we’ll get to work.”
“That look straight to you?”
“It does,” Ant says, using the leveler one more time.
“Sweet. Now let’s test it.”
We stand back from the gate, and I hit the remote control. It opens perfectly.
“Well done!”
I hold up my hand, and he high-fives it, looking awfully proud of himself. He should be. The guy is whip-smart and motivated, and I’m going to talk to Nacho and Jason about maybe hiring him once all his paperwork is in place.
I’m not as familiar with the Bashes, but they’ve been wonderful all day, making sure to heap praise on Ant whenever they came out to refresh our drinks and snacks.
Even Erik stopped by after dropping off something for his uncle. Seeing Ant smiling and feeling accomplished seemed to hit the big guy in the feels. Ant nearly crushed him with a hug as he left, and I wonder if he doesn’t have a bit of a thing for the large Norwegian. He was practically beaming for the rest of the afternoon.
We make our way back to the Bash’s house, and Anja is waiting for us.
“Justin, we were hoping you would join us for dinner.”
“Oh.” I grimace, holding out my hands. “I’m so sweaty.”
“I don’t care about that,” she says, gesturing away my concern. “But if you want to take a shower, Georg can lend you some sweatpants and a T-shirt.”
I technically don’t have anything else on the schedule today, and it feels nice to be around these people, like a glimpse into a family who actually supports each other. “Okay. I could do that. But I do have a change of clothing in the truck.”
I don’t mention that it’s because I now have the possibility of staying over at my lover’s house.
You’re a dork, Jennings.
Ant and I take turns showering off the day before sitting at a table full of delicious food. Georg grilled steaks for us while Anja roasted vegetables and made dessert. We chow down like it’s our last meal. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten so good.
Ant pats his belly, and it reminds me of being twenty and practically able to eat my own weight in one sitting.
Georg smiles at Ant. “So, did you enjoy helping out with the fence?”
He nods, wiping his mouth. “It was nice to be out in the sun.”
I shoulder him. “You complained about the heat the whole time.”
He smiles, clearly a troublemaker. “Yeah, but that’s the fun part.”
I laugh and shake my head at him. “I never did get to ask. Are you only visiting here for a while, or did you move here?”
Ant goes quiet, his eyes pinging between Georg and Anja.
“Charlie didn’t tell you about him?”
I stiffen. Not sure what they know about Charlie or about us.
“No…should he have?”
Georg shakes his head. “Charlie likes to keep some things close to the vest. Don’t take it personally. But Ant here is from a rescue mission gone sideways.”
He affectionately squeezes Ant’s hand as he says this, and Ant’s eyes drop to his lap.
“Rescue, huh?” I ask, bumping into my new friend. “Sounds pretty serious.”
He lifts his shoulder, trying to act like it’s no big deal. The way he’s picking at his ragged hangnail makes me think otherwise. “I got lucky, coming here. Charlie and Erik saved me.”
I remember Charlie saying something about leading a bunch of kids out of a bad situation, so the emotion in Erik’s eyes when he saw Ant enjoying himself makes total sense now.
Hell, now I’m emotional about it too.
Still, I don’t feel good about the fact that Georg and Anja brought up Ant’s past. I think they’re just really proud of him, but he didn’t share any details with me while we were working together, and now he looks uncomfortable.
Wanting to defuse the tension, I grin at him, knocking into his shoulder. “Not a bad place to land, with Georg and Anja Bash. It was Anders who thought you might like helping out with the gate, and he was right.”
He slides his hand onto the table, scratching at a dried bit of food. “I just like to be useful.”
I nod, remembering that refrain. “Well, it is good to be useful.” I hesitate, looking at Georg and Anja, realizing there’s a bit of sadness in their eyes. Whatever the situation is, it’s not been easy.
“As good as it is to be useful, I got caught up in drugs and alcohol because I thought I wasn’t useful enough. Which, of course, doesn’t make any sense.”
His eyes dart to mine. “It doesn’t?”
“Of course not. My usefulness had nothing to do with my value as a human being. That’s innate. You know what that word means? Innate?”
He shakes his head.
I continue, “It means you’re born with it. You’re born with value as a human being. Without even having to prove anything.” I lean in and whisper conspiratorially, “Thankfully, you’re staying with some really nice people who would never require you to prove your worth in order to receive their love.”
Anja beams at me. “He’s telling the truth.”
Ant lets out a frustrated sigh, his hand landing heavily on the table. “Is it so wrong that I don’t want to feel useless?”
Glancing at Anja and Georg, I raise my finger because I know the answer to this one. They gesture for me to continue.
“No, it’s not wrong. But there’s a difference between not wanting to feel useless and wanting to feel useful. One has you on your back foot thinking you’re never worth anything, that you’ll never be a functioning member of society, and the other has you realizing that you have a lot to offer.”
He chews on the inside of his cheek, considering my words. Seeing how eager he was to help today, how quick he was to learn everything, I have an idea.
“You know, my brother and I struggled to find our place, and it didn’t get better until we realized the value of authenticity and giving back to the community we’d caused so much trouble in. So we worked out a deal with the sheriff’s department. If they see that someone’s fence needs a little repair or an older resident needs help with a project around the house, they let us know about it. Then me and a volunteer from the crew go out before we start our day and help that neighbor out. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I think you might like it too if you joined us.”
He scrunches his nose. “Maybe. How early are we talking?”
“We head out at six thirty—sometimes earlier—and we’re usually done by seven-thirty.”
He groans, putting his head into his hands. “I…I guess. If it’s for a good cause.”
“Dude, the first time an old lady gives you cookies straight out of the oven for helping wrangle her unruly Pygmy goats, you’ll know it’s worth it.”
“Do the goats bite?”
“Dude, you’re focused on the wrong thing. Old lady cookies are where it’s at. Made with Crisco, white flour, and real sugar, so you know they’ll be the best damn cookies you’ve ever tasted. And the goats don’t bite.”
He rolls his eyes. “Okay…fine. I’ll help.”
Anja claps her hands, and Georg pats Ant’s shoulder. He’s acting unaffected, but we all see the grin he’s trying to hide.
“How often would we be doing this?”
“At the beginning of every month, we create a schedule. Tell you what, I’ll send you the schedule for this month, and you work with the Bashes to figure out which ones you can help me with. Sound like a plan?”
For the first time since we sat down for dinner, a genuine smile breaks across his face. “And I’m not too small?”
I shake my head. “Not at all. You’re wiry, you’re strong, and I bet you can climb like nobody’s business.”
He grins. “Yes, I can.”
“That’s all I need to hear.” I pull up my phone, finding this month’s calendar. “Here, I’ve got the calendar. Tell me where to send it.”
I leave a little while later, feeling good that I can help with the kid who clearly needs it, though it does leave me with more questions about what exactly it is that Charlie does on these trips out of town.