Chapter Text
Chapter 1
‘Think it’ll unpack itself if we stare at it long enough?’
Hours late, they’ve finally arrived at the new house; Billy supposes he ought to feel satisfied or at least relieved, but all he feels is exhausted and slightly nauseous at the thought of the work still ahead of them. He’s just settled a miserable Ha-eun out of the way in the bathroom and rejoined Goody on the sidewalk to eye the sum of their worldly possessions crammed into the back of a U-Haul truck. Do everyone’s belongings look so ill-assorted and shabby when they’re stacked up like this?
Goody sags at his side. ‘That thing is a bitch on these winding roads.’
Rationally Billy knows they’re both just tired and anxious and stressed, but the irritation rises before he can stop it. ‘Not my fault we drove forty miles out of our way – I thought you knew the route.’
‘Would have helped if you’d been there navigating instead of driving your fancy-ass equipment that has to be wrapped in cotton candy.’ Goody doesn’t often snap, and Billy senses they’re on the brink of a fight.
‘Ha-eun couldn’t have come in the truck.’ It had been difficult enough following Goody to the accompaniment of constant wailing interspersed with episodes of feline retching. He scowls at the mass of furniture. ‘Why does it all have to be so heavy?’ It’s absurd, he loves their antique bed and his Victorian desk, but right now rather than haul them up the staircase he’d happily dump them in the creek.
‘My furniture,’ begins Goody through gritted teeth, ‘is not—‘
‘Need a hand?’ Preoccupied as they are, the greeting makes them both jump. There beside the truck is a tall handsome man Billy recognises from the restaurant, this time with two little boys who have his dark eyes and curly hair.
‘You sure?’ asks Goody dubiously. ‘It’s a lot to ask.’
‘No problem,’ says the man with an easy smile. ‘Three can get it done quicker than two.’
The smaller of the two boys is peering into the van in fascination, but the bigger puffs out his chest. ‘Five,’ he corrects, ‘not three.’
‘And we’d be very pleased to have you and your brother’s help,’ Goody assures him.
The man offers Billy his hand. ‘I’m Alejo, and these are Luis and --’
‘--TV,’ interrupts the smaller boy.
‘Tomas Vasquez Gutierrez,’ explains Alejo.
Goody bends down to him. ‘That is a great name,’ he tells him sincerely. ‘This is Billy, and I’m Goodnight.’
TV squints at him. ‘Really?’
‘Really,’ says Billy. ‘You’ll see it on the front of the new bookstore.’
‘That you?’ Alejo looks pleased. ‘We’ve missed having a proper bookstore here.’
‘And Billy takes photographs,’ Goody tells the boy.
‘Of what?’ TV squints up at him. ‘People, like at school?’
Goody laughs at Billy’s expression of horror, his sour mood evaporated. ‘Things,’ says Billy. ‘Mostly.’ TV nods approvingly.
‘So.’ Alejo’s rolled up his sleeves to reveal impressively muscled forearms. ‘Biggest stuff first?’
The five of them certainly make shorter and more cheerful work of getting everything into the house than two would have done: Alejo helps them manhandle in the larger pieces of furniture while the boys hold open doors for them, then he and Billy heave armchairs and bookcases up the driveway in a spirit of competitiveness while Goody marshals boxes of kitchenware and books, and TV and Luis run to and fro with rugs and lamps. Though they’ve come from an apartment to a full-scale house there still seems to be an absurd amount to move, but an hour and a half later everything’s in the right room and they’re standing in some semblance of liveability.
Goody’s unearthed the box with wine and corkscrew. ‘Will you stay for pizza?’ he asks. ‘Least we can do.’
‘Tio Alejo…’ Luis tugs at his hand to mutter in his ear and Alejo ruffles his hair reassuringly.
‘Have to be another time – my sister will be worrying if I don’t get these two home.’ He grins. ‘You saw me in her place, La Huerta.’
‘One of Rose Creek’s many attractions,’ teases Goody. ‘Tell her her chef’s a real talent.’
Alejo tugs TV gently away from where he’s stroking an ornate silver dagger that Billy had forgotten was in among their ornaments. ‘That’s her, but you can come and tell her yourself – we’re having a cookout tomorrow, and she’d never let me hear the end of it if I didn’t ask you.’
Billy exchanges a glance with Goody: he’s resigned to a round of meeting the neighbours, and at least it’ll get it over in one go. ‘We’d love to,’ says Goody firmly.
Alejo gives them the address and directions, then wishes them formally, ‘Felicidades en su nuevo hogar’; they stand at the door to watch their Good Samaritan stride away, the boys skipping at his side.
After they’ve gone Goody pours the wine and brings glasses over to the sofa where Billy’s flaked out. ‘Think we will be happy here?’
Billy pulls Goody over to lean against him. ‘Looks good so far.’ Even in the chaos of moving it’s a welcoming house, wooden-boarded and cosy, and their eclectic mix of possessions, the heavy carved bookcases from Goody’s family and Billy’s bright angular sofas, their friends’ paintings stacked against the wall and the sun-faded kilims somehow pull together to make a lively and comfortable whole.
Goody clinks their glasses with a sigh of relaxation. ‘To Rose Creek.’
Two pizzas and an empty bottle later they’re practically horizontal, watching Ha-eun as she gingerly explores the living room. ‘Open another bottle?’ suggests Goody.
Billy’s feeling mellow, the stiffness from the drive replaced by the ache of honest labour, but he fixes Goody with a stern gaze. ‘No. You know the rule.’
He stands up and pulls Goody reluctantly to his feet. ‘Put away as much as you can the first night?’ Goody sounds resigned.
Billy moves closer, hands sliding down his sides. ‘Make up the bed first thing.’
‘That’s what I admire most about you, cher,’ Goody tells him, voice muffled in his hair. ‘Sound practicality.’
--
‘I guess it’s too late now to buy an isolated farm instead.’ Alejo’s place is only a short walk from their own, the sunny streets sleepy in the early June warmth, but the thoroughly suburban landscape feeds Billy’s trepidation.
Goody squeezes his hand encouragingly. ‘It won’t be that bad.’
‘Self-satisfied guys comparing lawnmowers while their wives drink and disapprove of each other’s children,’ predicts Billy gloomily. What else is likely, somewhere as provincial as this?
‘Alejo doesn’t seem the lawnmower kind.’ Billy looks at him sideways, attempting to gauge how much of his apparent enthusiasm is genuine. ‘If it turns out his sister and friends are conservative assholes we don’t have to make nice with them. But there’s no point prejudging people.’
Billy softens: he knows from experience that Goody will fight like a tiger at the first hint of prejudice against them, but he’s right, they need to give Rose Creek and its citizens the benefit of the doubt. ‘You really think it’ll be wall-to-wall hot guys and liberal attitudes?’
Goody winks. ‘A man can hope.’
As they reach the house, sprawling ranch-style set back among the trees, a gang of little girls and boys comes racing past, shrieking: Billy thinks he recognises the boys they met last night, but several of them share the same dark good looks, suggesting they’re a clan of cousins. A babble of conversation and laughter is rising from the yard behind, savoury smoke drifting on the breeze, and they head round together.
Alejo is tending the barbecue; he waves and a tall dark-haired woman comes hurrying over to greet them. ‘Glad you could make it! It’s Goodnight, isn’t—‘
Her words are drowned out by an ill-disguised dispute that breaks out immediately behind them. ‘Told you!’
‘It’s not his real name.’
‘Is so.’
‘Is not!’
TV comes to plant himself in front of Goody. ‘Your name’s Goodnight, right?’ he demands.
‘Sure is,’ says Goody, turning up his Southern twang to full effect. ‘Named for my grandpa and his cousin before him.’
‘See?’ says TV triumphantly to the boy next to him. ‘Not everyone has to have a boring name like you.’
‘Never heard it before,’ mutters the boy stubbornly.
‘My daddy calls me Blue,’ announces a girl with incongruously red pigtails. She stares at Billy suspiciously. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Billy,’ says Goody; Blue, presumably, wrinkles her nose. Billy never knows what to say to children, but Goody comes to his rescue. ‘Like Billy the Kid.’
‘He has a dagger, I’ve seen it,’ TV tells them.
‘Cool,’ approves the first boy, and they go cavalcading off again, distracted into a mock shootout.
Alejo’s sister laughs. ‘That won’t do your reputation with them any harm. I’m Carmen, and most of the people here’ – she waves a hand around the other guests – ‘are family. Stand still in Rose Creek for five minutes and you’ll see a Vasquez, that’s what they say.’ Her manner’s so warm it’s impossible not to be won over.
Goody tilts his head. ‘How come you all ended up so far north?’
‘Oh, we’re all natives.’ Carmen obviously expects the question. ‘Old Porfirio, he was the first, landed up here back in the 1800s and stayed, and we’ve been here ever since. I run La Huerta, but you know that, my sister Trinidad works at the vets and Domenico runs the garden store.’
‘And Alejo?’
An odd expression flits over her face, fond and troubled at once, as she glances across to him. ‘Ale’s the one that got away.’ Her face smooths out to its former brightness. ‘Let me get you some drinks – beer OK? Hey, Matthew,’ she adds, to a rangy, clean-cut man who’s emerged from the house. ‘Come and say hi to the new guys.’
Close to, Matthew’s classically handsome, with striking blue eyes. Is it Billy’s imagination, or does he sense Goody exuding a slight smugness? ‘Matthew Cullen,’ he introduces himself, ‘I teach English at the school.’
‘Goodnight Robicheaux and Billy Rocks,’ says Goody, reaching for the hand he offers. ‘I run –‘
‘- the new bookstore, and your husband’s a photographer,’ finishes Matthew. He laughs at their expressions. ‘You’ve been the talk of the town since you took the lease on Clay’s. How soon d’you think you’ll be opening?’
‘Week or so,’ says Goody, ‘get it all set up.’
‘I might—‘ begins Matthew, but he’s interrupted by a small pretty woman with a tumble of red hair who appears at his elbow, Blue trotting beside her.
‘There you are!’ She hands Matthew a glass and looks Billy and Goody over like a pair of prize steers. ‘Ale said you were a good-looking pair and he wasn’t wrong.’
‘Don’t scare them, Em,’ admonishes Matthew, ‘we really need that bookstore.’
‘I’m Emma Cullen,’ she tells them, ‘and this is Blue.’
‘We’ve already made the young lady’s acquaintance,’ smiles Goody as he takes the glass she offers.
‘What else did Alejo tell you about us?’ asks Billy suspiciously.
Emma tilts her head back, considering. ‘You have a black cat and a load of heavy-ass furniture, some cool paintings and when you’re not yelling at each other you’re cute.’
It’s more than a little unsettling, frankly, but Goody bumps his shoulder. ‘Guess we can roll with that.’
Matthew slips an arm around Emma. ‘Filters, sweetie.’ He smiles fondly. ‘She makes her living telling people what to do.’
‘Physiotherapy,’ Emma explains. ‘And Matt’s a teacher, but he’s probably told you that already.’
‘I believe he was about to mention something about textbooks,’ agrees Goody, the light of business in his eye.
Billy’s left under the scrutiny of two pairs of sharp eyes. ‘Is there anything you don’t already know about us?’ he asks with the tiniest edge of challenge.
‘How did the two of you meet?’ Emma asks at once; he has to admire her approach.
‘In a bar fight.’ Billy keeps his face absolutely still under her stare: no one ever knows whether to believe it.
She looks from him to Goody and back, eyes narrowed, then relaxes into a sunny smile. ‘First time I met Matt I pushed him out of a tree,’ she offers. ‘He still has the scar.’
‘Why did you push him?’ Blue asks, brow wrinkling.
Emma bends down to her. ‘He told me girls can’t climb properly, because we’re too scared. When someone tells you girls can’t do something, you’re allowed to push them out of a tree.’
Blue’s eyes light up. ‘Truly?’
‘Promise,’ Emma assures her.
‘Like mother, like daughter?’ Billy’s teasing, but instead of finding it funny Emma looks at him blankly.
‘She’s my Aunt Em,’ Blue corrects him severely, then she lets out an excited squeak. ‘That’s my dad coming now.’
She goes running off to greet a burly man with russet hair two shades darker than hers and a scruff of beard who comes striding up the path. ‘Dad!’
‘How’s my girl!’ He picks her up and tosses her over his shoulder, carrying her shrieking with laughter back over to them. He’s another impressive specimen, all bulging muscle and bright green eyes. ‘Em,’ he greets her, ‘Thanks for keeping an eye on her.’
As he sets her back on her feet Blue tells him, ‘Aunt Em said I’m allowed to push David out of a tree.’
Emma looks pleased again. ‘Guys, this is Josh.’
‘Think you could you go fetch your pa a soda?’ Josh asks Blue, and she runs off eagerly. He looks Billy and Goody up and down. ‘I’m real glad you guys are here.’
Goody raises an eyebrow. ‘Hurting for some decent reading matter?’
Josh grins. ‘Means I might get some peace while folk give you the third-degree. I swear they’re not content here till they know your inseam measurement and what you had for breakfast.’
‘Like you don’t spill out over the edge to anyone who’ll listen,’ scoffs Emma.
‘Curiosity was good for trade, I’ll give it that,’ Josh concedes. He refocuses on them. ‘If you want your car fixed, Faraday Autos is your place, can’t miss it as you come into town.’ He puffs up a little. ‘Best mechanic in the state.’
‘And which state is that?’ Alejo asks, appearing behind him with a platter of food. ‘If you want a car fixed,’ he tells Goody and Billy solemnly, ‘best bet’s the garage six miles out on the Hartsford road…’
‘Whitewater?’ Josh splutters in outrage. ‘They’ll fit reconditioned tyres and overcharge you.’
‘And you’ll fit new tyres and overcharge us?’ His brash self-confidence grates on Billy, but Josh just grins. ‘Ten per cent discount for friends.’
Alejo offers the plate around: the burger Billy takes is excellent, piquant and juicy. ‘Carmen making you cook?’ mumbles Josh with his mouth full. ‘Wouldn’t have come if I’d known.’
‘I am a man of many talents,’ says Alejo loftily. ‘Nothing round the house I can’t do.’ He smirks. ‘Good with my hands.’
The flush on Josh’s pale complexion is probably more of a tell than he wants, but he rallies. ‘You ain’t trying to tell a genuine Southerner that a bluenose like you knows best about barbecue? Bet you’re doing it all wrong.’
Alejo sighs exaggeratedly. ‘I seriously doubt that you even know which end of the fork to use.’
Josh snickers. ‘When you’re done waitering I’ll come and show you how it should be done.’ Blue reappears at his side with a beaded bottle of Coke which she hands to him. ‘Thanks, dino,’ he tells her.
‘How are your raptors?’ Matthew asks him.
Josh breaks into a grin. ‘Doing great. Learning real fast.’
Billy shoots a glance at Goody. ‘Josh trains them,’ Emma explains helpfully.
Goody blinks and Josh guffaws, tugging open his flannel shirt to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with a group of toothy dinosaurs clutching a soccer ball above the name Rose Creek Raptors. ‘Little League soccer,’ he explains. ‘Never thought I’d end up coaching soccer, couldn’t play for sh- for toffee when I was a kid, too fat, but Blue was cut up when there wasn’t a team for her to join here, so I thought, time to step up.’ His sudden earnestness is a complete contrast to his manner before. ‘Ain’t winning much yet, but we’re laying a foundation. Space in the cabinet there’s just waiting for a trophy. Ain’t that right?’ he asks Blue, hand up for a high five.
‘Rawr!’ she shouts, and the two of them dissolve into giggles.
Josh puts an arm around her. ‘C’mon, dino, let’s go and rescue Tio Alejo from the terrible mess he’s making.’
‘No ma?’ guesses Goody as the two of them head off; Billy can see that his nosiness is going to fit right in here.
‘Just Josh,’ agrees Emma, ‘but Blue’s the light of his life. It’s been a lot, getting the business off the ground, but he’s determined to do right by her.’ She tsks in frustration at the sight of Alejo trying to elbow him away from the grill. ‘If the two of them would just…’
‘They don’t need you to interfere,’ Matthew admonishes her.
Emma’s chin sets. ‘They do. Anyone can see there’s chemistry – they just need a push.’ She grins impishly. ‘Worked for Teddy.’
‘Teddy never shut up bitching about being single; you did the world a favour there,’ concedes Matthew.
‘It’s a vocation,’ Emma agrees cheerfully.
--
Billy keeps up with Goody for a while as they get introduced to a succession of new faces, but when his sociability flags he takes himself off under the trees for some respite; Goody’s much better at the gladhanding, even if his charm is largely superficial. The shadows are starting to lengthen on the grass, the air still warm; the scene is as perfectly suburban as he envisaged, a close-knit gathering of family and friends, everyone well-dressed and prosperous, yet the he has to admit Goody was right and his expectations groundless. No one, old or young, has evinced surprise at the fact that he and Goody married or shown anything but unproblematic enthusiasm for their project: they’ve been assailed with offers of assistance with settling in and well-meaning recommendations of local sights for him to photograph. And the two of them seem to have been gathered effortlessly into a circle of friends: he likes sunny Alejo, sparky Emma and laid-back Matt, though he suspects Josh’s virtues may take him more effort to appreciate.
The cooking done, Alejo and Josh are drifting back in his direction, still bickering energetically. ‘Only a Latin can truly understand the soul of football,’ Alejo asserts.
‘Ain’t a matter of soul, soccer’s about hard work and tactics,’ scoffs Josh. ‘No showboating on my team. You would’t keep up with’em.’
‘Perhaps I should come down to practice some time,’ offers Alejo, ‘show them some real skill.’
Josh snorts. ‘Can see who lasts longest then.’
‘Y’know, Emma’s not wrong about the subtext to their relationship,’ observes Goody in his ear, back with two fresh beers, ‘though right now you could hardly call it sub.’
Alejo favours Josh with a pitying look and turns his attention to them. ‘Had enough for the moment?’ he asks sympathetically.
‘Everyone’s great,’ says Goody diplomatically. ‘Spoke to Leni, she has the store next door to mine, and a guy called Josiah from the museum, and I fixed with Clara to call in the library next week.’ He scratches his beard. ‘Only one I missed was Bogue – haven’t seen him since that first time, and we really ought to thank him.’
‘You met Bogue?’ Josh’s face lights up. ‘He’s the best, ain’t he?’
‘Seemed determined to sell the place to us,’ says Billy, a little surprised at Josh’s unalloyed positivity. ‘Practically gave us the lease on the spot.’
‘I don’t—‘ starts Alejo, but Josh rattles on over him.
‘He has that knack of it - I got talking to him in the bar when I was here scouting for a place: odd little fish, I thought, but he was right interested when I said what I was planning.’
‘I should just…’ Alejo doesn’t finish his sentence, just turns away; Billy watches as he leaves, but Josh is too caught up in his story to notice.
‘Knew all about how franchise companies are driving independents out of business, and he slipped me the word about my site; I’d been looking at a shop out the other side of town, but he said it would be better for passing tourists, and he was right.’
‘So what is he – head of the chamber of commerce? Mayor?’ asks Billy.
Josh looks round for Alejo, then shrugs when he doesn’t see him. ‘Don’t think so. He’s just – a town character, puts his contacts to use.’
‘Certainly seems to work, number of new businesses here,’ observes Goody with a sidelong smile at Billy.
‘Say, you seen his car yet?’ Josh is full of boyish admiration. ‘She’s a beauty, never seen a vintage Ford in such good condition. Tallulah, he calls her – said I’d fix her myself for free, it would be an education, but Bogue wouldn’t hear it, told me he’d pay his due like anyone…’
All of a sudden a scuffle breaks out nearby, children’s voices raised in argument. ‘Because we say you can’t.’
‘TV said I can.’ Josh’s head turns at Blue’s indignant tone.
‘Blue’s my friend.’ TV is standing between her and an older boy, obviously torn.
‘She’s a girl, and girls aren’t allowed,’ the boy tells him.
‘Aunt Em says I’m allowed to hit you now,’ says Blue with delight.
‘What’s this?’ Josh is already striding over to step in between them.
‘TV said I could go up in the treehouse Tio Alejo made for them, but David said girls can’t. And Aunt Em said…’
‘Hey now.’ Faraday glares at David. ‘I bet their old treehouse ain’t anything special.’ He draws her gently away. ‘I can make a much better one for you. There’s that big old tree in our yard: we’ll see about getting in some wood first thing tomorrow.’
‘Seriously?' Blue’s distracted from the quarrel, certainly. ‘Can it have a rope ladder and a tower with a window?’
‘Sure,’ promises Josh with what has to be rash abandon.
‘I’ll let Deanna and Charlie come up in it. And you,’ Blue tells TV magnanimously.
‘Got to get it built first,’ warns Josh cheerfully.
Alejo reappears at his side, peering at him suspiciously. ‘Do you know anything about how to build a treehouse?’
Josh grins. ‘’Course not. But how hard can it be? Saw it to the right length and nail it together – think I’ve got some old tools I can use.’
Alejo rolls his eyes. ‘You have no idea -- I will have to come and help you.’
‘If you want.’ Josh manages to sound suitably dismissive. ‘Guess you could hold things still while I cut ‘em.’
‘For the love of God.’ Alejo shudders. ‘Just – I will be there first thing. Do not start without me.’
‘’Preciate it,’ says Josh, a little smugly.
‘See?’ murmurs Matthew to Emma from behind Billy. ‘They don’t need you interfering.’
Emma smirks. ‘I might have brought up the subject of the treehouse with Blue.’ She beams up at her husband. ‘Give me a little credit.’
--
By the time they leave the streets are in shade, though the sun’s still on the hills that rise above the town, the dark pines touched with the last of the day’s brightness. As they stroll back home in the warm evening air Billy starts counting in his head; Goody gives it almost forty seconds before he starts. ‘Lawnmowers and disapproving wives, huh?’
‘So I was wrong on the liberal values.’
‘And the gender politics.’
Goody pauses, waiting, but Billy refuses to be drawn. ‘Even the kids were cute.’
‘And?’ Goody nudges him.
Billy tries to hide a smile. ‘And nothing.’
‘You’ve got to admit the guys were pretty hot. Ale’s something else, and Josh is a fine specimen.’
‘Mm-hm,’ says Billy, non-committal.
Goody looks at him sideways. ‘And I’d say Matt’s real good-looking.’
Billy shrugs. ‘In an obvious kind of a way.’
Goody sputters. ‘Seriously?’ He pretends to look Billy up and down. ‘Guess you’re just sore that you weren’t the hottest guy there.’
‘You don’t think I was?’ Billy turns a stricken look on him; he's perfectly aware that Goody knows it’s an act, and also that he won’t be able to resist anyway.
‘Hey, you’re with me.’ Goody wraps an arm around his waist. ‘I always take the hottest guy at a party home.’