way to his old house, where he used to live with Elaine. He stopped at the guardhouse and said hello to Eddie, the guard who had worked there from the day he’d moved in.
“Evening, sir. You just missed your wife. New car?”
“Evening, Eddie. Just a loaner for now. I know, I passed Elaine on the way. I’ll be coming right back out. Good to see you. Have a nice evening.”
The cell phone in his pocket vibrated, but he ignored it. When you were doing something stupid, you needed to concentrate on the stupid part to make sure you got it right. Sitting in the driveway of the house his grandmother had bought him caused him to choke up. His eyes burned. Once upon a time, he had loved this house. Now he hated it with a passion. Sitting here was worse than stupid. He lost track of time as his memories attacked him, one after the other. Finally, as dusk was settling, Gus backed up the car, turned, and headed back the way he came.
When he came to the guardhouse, he waited until Eddie got around to opening the gate for him to leave. He didn’t pay one bit of attention to the Asian man walking a Jack Russell terrier on the other side of the guardhouse.
When Gus cut the engine and crawled out of the car, he knew his grandmother and the aunts were going to look at him as undependable, as he had said he’d be back in two hours. It was now about four hours later. Performance be damned. He squared his shoulders and entered the house. For the most part, it was silent, his grandmother sitting alone in the kitchen working at one of her ledgers. She looked tired.
Gus poured himself a glass of sweet tea, perched on the end of a chair, and rattled off what he’d done since he left the house to keep his appointment with Marsha. “I had to take care of things, Granny. I’m all set to go. Did anything happen? Is there anything I need to know before I get started?”
Rose smiled. Her grandson looked more tired than she felt. “Life sometimes has a way of interfering with one’s plans. We did okay today. Tomorrow will be better than today, that’s for sure. Everyone is tired, the excitement and all. Old people”—she laughed—“can take just so much excitement in one day. Go along and do what you have to do. Did you have dinner?”
“No, but that’s okay. I kind of lost my appetite somewhere along the way.” It was a lie, he was starved, but he wanted to get to work; the seniors were depending on him. He could always eat. “Where are Wilson and Winnie?”
“With Vi and Iris in the storage room. They’re fine, Augustus. Run along now so I can finish this. There’s a plate warming in the oven for you if you get hungry later.”
Gus worked through the evening, stopping just once for a bathroom break and to refill his glass of ice tea. He barely noticed that at some point Wilson had come into the dining room and settled himself at his feet. He felt comforted.
It was five minutes past midnight when Gus carried the work schedule out to the kitchen and laid it on the kitchen table for his grandmother to see first thing in the morning. Every person was accounted for; every shift of work for whatever endeavor they would work on was accounted for. He’d even made suggestions for increasing inventory, and mapped out a more efficient means of storing supplies and product. He knew he’d whittled down hours, possibly days, of futile work for the seniors if they followed his advice. Tomorrow, after his furniture arrived, and he made his trip to Target and the grocery store, he’d come back and pitch in again.
The house was so silent, Gus felt like an intruder. Wilson waited at the door, but there was no sign of Winnie. “Just me and you, huh? Well, let’s head for home. I have a lot to tell you. I think we found our niche. Finally.”
Wilson beelined toward the stove and nosed the oven door. “Oh, yeah, dinner. You know what? I’m too tired to eat, Wilson. Let’s just go home.” Wilson was having none of it. He growled softly until Gus opened the oven door. When he saw the dinner plate loaded with sliced chicken, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes and gravy, string beans, and a dinner roll, he