Home Again

Chapter 1David rolled the window down and breathed in the muggy air. The wisteria and purple jacaranda flowered. The oak trees’ dark canopy framed the road on both sides as he drove toward their destination, noting that very few things had changed since he was last in his boyhood neighborhood. He checked on his son, asleep in the booster chair. David was tempted to wake him, so he could see the house as they pulled up, but the early morning flight from California to Florida had worn out Quinn. He wished Quinn remembered meeting David’s folks. Quinn’s grandparents passed shortly after Quinn was born, almost three years ago. Frankly, David hadn’t thought about returning to his parents’ home. Once he moved to LA, and got married, he came back out only a few times to Florida to visit. His parents were only too happy to visit David in the City of Angels. He could count on one hand how many times he returned to Florida. His life had been centered on California for the last fifteen years. College, minor leagues, then signing a contract for major league baseball, meeting Jason, then establishing their life together as Jason became a power player in the Hollywood scene consumed him. Now a new life beckoned, forced by circumstances David hadn’t expected but subsequently demanded for him. For his son. “Papa, where are we?” Quinn yawned after he spoke. David smiled. It was as if his son sensed he wanted him to wake up. “Almost there,” David said. He slowed. The brick-lined streets of Thornton Park had seen good days and bad days, but the last two decades of gentrification led to the budding resurgence of restored Craftsman-style homes. Various bungalows here and there that were prevalent as one of the older neighborhoods of Orlando before Walt Disney opened a theme park not more than thirty minutes south from his childhood home showed new care and pride of ownership. David didn’t need GPS to tell him they arrived. The Craftsman home had a newly painted white exterior, restored dark wood floors for the porch, and inside floors, and a new thirty-year shingle roof. He had his bestie, Sarah, to thank for helping supervise the refurbishments and changes to the house in the last few months while David and Jason wrapped up their divorce. The renters who took care of the house after his parents died had moved to Tampa, so David and Quinn’s new home had been unlived in the last few months. Sarah was a top-notch real estate agent, who helped him hire the contractors to renovate the home, made sure the work got done right, and was there when some of the furniture had arrived. “We’re here, son,” David said. He pulled into the small driveway and got out. Quinn had removed the restraint on the booster seat and fiddled with the car door. David opened it for him and gently spoke to him, as he picked him up. “Hold on.” Quinn kicked out as soon as his feet landed the ground, and then ran up the steps, running from one corner of the porch to the other, then pulled the screen door open, and tried to open the front door. He grabbed the outside of his shorts. “It’s locked! I got to pee!” David made a quick jog and opened the door. “Hall bath is behind the stairs straight ahead.” Quinn ran quickly to the bathroom behind David, who breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a stool for Quinn. Quinn moved the stool closer to the porcelain, stood and averted the crisis. After hearing the familiar thwack of a toilet seat being lifted against wood, David had turned away from his son and his attention back to the car. His son was four, so he would be no help unloading the luggage. By the time he placed their rollaways on the porch, Quinn threw open the screen door. “This is a small house. Is it big enough for when Daddy comes?” David exhaled. He had to come up with a lie even though he didn’t like lying to his precocious son. “I don’t know when he’s joining us. He’s got a lot of work to do. Plus, he’ll probably stay in a hotel.” “Oh. He’s always got a lot of work to do.” David nodded, and was happy that Quinn took the small Star Wars bookbag on wheels David placed on the porch that belonged to him into the house. David debated on the plane telling Quinn the truth that Jason, David’s new ex-husband, probably wasn’t going to see Quinn for a while. Jason and David finalized their divorce and custody agreement less than forty-eight hours ago. Finalizing the terms of divorce had taken more time than the custody issues. Once David promised that Jason could visit with at least one day’s notice, and that Jason could have ten days in the summer with Quinn, Jason had quibbled for several weeks about their homes in Palm Springs and Los Feliz that they purchased after they got married. Jason didn’t care that David inherited his parents’ home in Orlando. Jason’s quick search regarding the value of the home led to his snap decision to let David have it. “It’s not even worth a hundred thousand dollars,” Jason had said. “And it needs a lot of repairs.” The only thing they didn’t argue about was Jason keeping his house in Malibu that he owned before he met David, and the prenuptial terms of the disposition of their liquid assets. Once the house in Los Feliz sold, David could pay the bank back for the home equity loan he’d taken out to refurbish the Orlando house. Increasingly loud footsteps brought Quinn close; David was testing the air conditioning thermostat. “Which one’s my room?” David thought for a moment. A part of him debated giving him the smaller room but he could spoil his son on this one thing. “Whichever one you want.” “Really?” He smiled. “Which one was your room?” David smiled and tousled Quinn’s light brown hair. “It was on the left at the top of the stairs. Your grandparents were on the other end of the hall. Off to the right.” “That one is bigger.” Quinn c****d his head and blinked his eyes. “Can I have it? I’m your only son.” David smiled at his son’s cheekiness. He didn’t know where Quinn picked up this idea that he could get away with playing the favorite child, only child plea, but this time it worked. He didn’t want his parents’ old room anyway. And he still felt guilt for taking Quinn so far away from Jason even though Jason and David agreed to David having full custody. David had reasoned that LA wasn’t the place for a precocious, sensitive boy to live, considering the excesses of Hollywood show business, with which Jason was overly familiar. Jason had conceded early in their marriage that Quinn was more attached to David since Jason worked long hours and sometimes took weeks away from home. “Sure, you can have the bigger room. It’s got its own bathroom.” The upstairs hall bath would be closer to David’s old room anyway, and Sarah had installed a new claw foot tub with whirlpool jets during the renovation. David was glad that the brown wallpaper in that bathroom had been replaced by a lighter shade of beige, and new crown molding added more flourish. “Thanks, Papa!” Quinn gave a quick hug then he was off, rolling his small book bag up the stairs, the sound of the wheels clacking against the newly refinished hardwood at each step. David’s phone buzzed and he punched the button to FaceTime. “Hello!” “How’s it going?” Sarah asked. She combed away blondish bangs that covered her eyes. “We’re here.” David panned the phone around to give her visual confirmation. “I like what you’ve done.” “Well, did the pictures I take of the changes and modifications do it justice?” “Actually, the house is brighter, cleaner, and nicer than I remembered. And, no the pictures didn’t do it justice. It’s like a whole new house.” “Yeah, once we replaced the dark cabinets, removed the wallpaper, tore down that one wall in the living room to open up the space, and moved the fireplace, everything is more open. More light comes in.” She paused. “We work great as a team. I think you have a future in real estate.” David laughed. “It really does look nice here. A fresh house for a fresh start.” “You’ll thank me for my suggestions for redoing the plumbing and replacing the bathroom fixtures later. So, how’s Quinn?” “He’s upstairs. He already claimed his bedroom.” “Nice,” Sarah said. “Did you get an update when the rest of your furniture is being delivered?” “I got a text that it’ll be here tomorrow sometime between nine A.M. and two P.M. Thanks for being here when the bedroom sets, and living room sets came in by the way.” “You’re welcome. It really didn’t take long. They got the beds set up pretty quickly. And the couches added a homey touch, I thought. You do need to get an area rug for the living room. Oh, and I have the receipt for the sheets I bought for the beds. You have to decide on what to do with the first-floor bedroom, though. I guess you can turn it in an office.” “I don’t think I need an office for my baseball blogging. But I have my oversized desk coming in that can go on one side.” “I’ll bring over the boxes you shipped to me from Cali tomorrow then. You want to me to swing by the Beefy King and bring some hot roast beef sandwiches for lunch when I come over?” David’s eyes fluttered in excitement. “Wow! That place is still open?” “Yes.” She paused. “I guess I never took you back.” David nodded. He didn’t want to think about the time he had to fly to Orlando to attend his parents’ funerals back to back in a short time period. “Definitely. I can’t remember the last time I had Beefy King.” “There’s somethings that haven’t changed. Orlando’s changed a lot since the last time you lived here, you know. We even have a Trader Joe’s in Winter Park.” “Yes, and just like Cali, there’s a Starbucks in almost every other block or so.” “We’re also getting a second Cheesecake Factory. That was just in the paper. And you know what else is still here?” “What?” “Kaden Morris. He moved back to Orlando from Atlanta. Now that you’re single maybe you should see what’s up.” At the sound of Kaden’s name, David stopped, and put the phone close to his heart, hoping that Quinn wasn’t around, or within earshot. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Quinn’s footsteps above him. He took the phone off his chest, then wagged his finger at Sarah. “I haven’t told Quinn,” he whispered. “About what?” “That our divorce is final.” “Why not?” “We just finalized it like two days ago. It should have been a month ago. Maybe I was worried that Quinn would insist on staying in California and not moving here. I didn’t want to live longer in any of the houses I found Jason—’’ “What? f*****g his male starlet that he,” she air quoted, “‘discovered’ and is now starring in Jason’s latest movie? Just like he did with the first guy he cheated with—” “Yeah, I didn’t want to stay anywhere near LA once the divorce and custody were finalized.” David’s blood pressure rose at the thought of revisiting the cause of break-up of their marriage. David had forgiven him once. But finding out about a second incident of cheating was the last straw. After they separated, he’d heard rumors that Jason may have cheated more than David knew. “I think Quinn probably thought that things would kinda be like they were in California. He just got used to seeing Jason every weekend he was in town and spending time with his cousins.” “Is it only because of Jason? You were kinda sour way before that after your baseball team didn’t renew your contract to play.” David shook his head. “I didn’t expect to play anymore after I blew out my shoulder. To have an open, invasive shoulder surgery and a knee surgery early in my pro career—well, I was too expensive a liability for any team. Not to mention having minor knee surgery.” Sarah nodded then changed the subject. “Quinn’s a smart kid. You should be honest with him.” “I will,” David said. “I will. I’m hoping it won’t be too big a shock for him. I’m just trying to ease him into the different changes. Quinn and I even stayed in the Los Feliz area while our house there went up for sale just so he could keep going to his Montessori school, while Jason stayed in Malibu. We did that for the last several months. And on alternating weekends.” “Funny, he was fighting more about the houses, and not about Quinn, huh?” There was a moment of awkward silence until Sarah interrupted. “So?” “So, what?” “So, don’t you want to know why Kaden moved back into town?” “I don’t know. Should I want to know?” Sarah drummed the fingers on her face and glanced skyward. “I’m waiting for you to ask me.” David sighed. Sarah hadn’t changed from their middle school days. “Okay, why has Kaden moved back to Orlando?” “Funny thing that,” she said, taking her time to answer David’s question. “Coincidentally, he’s divorced from his wife of five years, no kids, and the rumor is that he’s ‘out’!” “What do you mean ‘out’?” “Um, sweetheart,” Sarah shook her head, “being out means only one thing to us who are family.” David didn’t know what to say. “I take it by your silence that your mind is working overtime.” “I’m a little shocked. Kaden and I, well you know, that’s ancient history. He made that clear a long time ago.” “I knew you would say something like that. But I have his phone number, and I know where he lives. And, I should’ve have told you this, I’m his real estate agent too! I got him a really nice home, with a southern exposure, eco-fitted, bamboo floors, solar this, solar that, and close to walking distance to Quinn’s new school, maybe not even two blocks from where you’re putting down roots again.” “You’ve known for some time?” David asked. And didn’t tell me? Sarah opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it. She abruptly shouted, “See you tomorrow, bestie!” She hung up before David could even reply, “See ‘ya.” After Sarah signed off, David’s mind wandered for a moment. He stepped outside, and took in the bright sunshine, the leaves that moved with the tiniest breeze. He finally was free of Jason. How weird now, he also thought. Kaden Morris here in the same part of town. Again. After all these years.