Djinni and the Geek

Chapter 4

Anissa felt the change in the atmosphere of her prison, like a vibration in the very fabric of the universe. She nearly jumped up and down with excitement. It was him. She was sure of it. Now all she had to do was to get him to open the box.

A month later, back in his home state of Michigan, David stared around himself, shaking his head and scratching his beard. He couldn't believe he'd actually bought a house.

Not just a house. A sprawling old three-story farmhouse, on ten acres of land, outside the college town of Kilkenny. Did this mean he'd finally grown up? His friends must be rubbing off on him with all their domesticity. He stood in the pile of boxes that was his new kitchen and wondered for about the thousandth time what he was doing. He just knew that when he'd laid eyes on the house, something about it had called to him.

"That's everything." Mike, one of David's graduate students, set down a final box and dusted off his hands on the seat of his pants. Anything else you need?"

Dave shook his head. "Nope. I think we've got it under control." He pulled a couple of folded up twenties out of his pocket and pressed them into the student's hand. "Thanks, man. Have a good Christmas."

Mike was already halfway out the back door. "You too. And thanks for the gas money."

Dave's friend Eric stuck his hand out. "Hey, I didn't know you were paying us for this. Where's mine?"

Dave laughed and slapped his friend's open hand. "You get the standard rate. Pizza and beer. Kid needed gas money to get home for the break. You live five miles away."

Eric laughed and slid his six-feet-plus body onto a chair. There were only two and they didn't match each other, or the wobbly laminate table. David was going to have to consider buying furniture pretty soon. "Fair enough. I think that's what I paid you when you helped move Lori's stuff into my place last spring."

"Yeah, that and homemade cookies." Ben Montoya, another friend, hopped up onto the kitchen counter to sit. "You make cookies, Dave?"

"Bite me." They all laughed, then Dave reached into the fridge and pulled out three cold long-necks. He handed one to each of the other men, passed around the opener and raised his beer. "To friends."

"Hear, hear." Eric clinked bottles with Dave and then Ben. "And to new beginnings."

"Amen on that." Ben tapped the neck of his bottle to Dave's. "It's a good place. You need help with the renovations, give me a call. Wes and I can both swing a hammer." Dave wasn't surprised. Ben's live-in lover Wesley Iversen was the kind of woman who could probably do just about anything and do it with flair.

"Where is Wes today?" Dave plunked down on the sole remaining chair. It wasn't like her to leave the heavy lifting to the men.

"Keeping Lori company." Eric shook his head and crossed his feet on top of a box. "Otherwise she'd have been here too. Thankfully, the semester is over and she got her tenure. Now maybe she'll stay off her damn feet for ten minutes."

"Isn't she due, like any day now?" Thinking about his friends as parents was still freaking Dave out and he could understand Eric wanting to surround his wife with bubble wrap. If he ever found someone half as cool as Lori, he'd want to protect her too. Not that he really believed there was a woman out there who'd stick around him that long. Happily ever after was for nice, normal guys like Eric, not scruffy former street rats like Dave.

"Not 'til early January, so a few more weeks."

"Too weird."

"Tell me about it." Eric took a long pull of his English stout. "On the one hand, it's the coolest thing ever and I can't wait. On the other, I'm terrified. I've never been around kids. I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. All I really know is that nothing will ever be the same."

"You'll be fine." Montoya was the steady, sober one of the bunch. The former Special Forces officer had just finished his first semester teaching English at the local community college.

"You and Wes ever think about taking the plunge?" Dave tipped his chair back on two legs. He couldn't help wondering what made people tick. He could take apart a computer and rebuild it with his eyes shut but the human brain was a total mystery to him.

Ben snorted out a laugh. "Hell, I can't even get her to wear a ring. Any discussion of the distant future is a long way off."

"Yeah well, you're both miles ahead of me." Dave downed the rest of his stout. It was a decent winter brew but not his favorite. "At least you've both found women who'll put up with you."

"You looking?" Eric tipped his head to the side and peered at Dave through his wire-rimmed glasses. "'Cause I'm sure Lori or Wes would be happy to fix - "

"No!" The front legs of David's chair hit the floor with a loud clunk. "No fix ups. I went out with Wes's sister for a month. That was enough." Wendy Iversen was a gorgeous redhead and a tiger in the sack but she was way too high-maintenance for Dave's world. She'd expected him to dress up and get haircuts. No thank you.

They went to Eric's place so Lori and Wes could share in the pizza, reinforcing Dave's status as the odd man out. When had that started? He'd always liked being single and had never felt any interest in settling down. But by the time he finally returned to the farmhouse, he couldn't shake the pall of discontent that had been hovering for the last few months. Even standing in his own driveway looking up at his house couldn't quite kick the gloom. It should though. He'd come a long way from the streets of Detroit's Corktown. Who'd have ever thought that the half-starved Irish-Italian gang-banger would end up with a PhD and a farmhouse? More importantly, he'd gotten Jenna out. And if he never accomplished anything else in his life, that would be enough. Dave's sweet, fragile older sister was now securely ensconced in an artist's colony in New Mexico. He might not be able to see her as often as he liked but they emailed almost every day and he knew she was happy. She was even making enough from her paintings that she wouldn't let him send her money anymore.