When Cal and Joseph returned to the site, some of the workers had already arrived. Joseph suspected they were there early to see if any more vandalism had occurred. When Cal told them what had happened a couple of hours previously, there was a sense of both shock and relief. Shock at finding out Steve had been involved in the sabotage, relief that everything would now get back to normal. The first thing Cal had them do was put the gasoline-soaked lumber in one of the dumpsters since it was unusable now.
As the day progressed, Joseph began to get the feeling Cal was intentionally doing his best not to interact with him except when absolutely necessary. At first he thought it was just because Cal had spent half of the morning going to the sites of the few houses which were still being worked on. With Steve in jail, it was left up to Cal to do at least minimal supervision on them until he made a decision about who would be his new second in command.
By mid-afternoon Joseph was very certain Cal was avoiding him. He's having second thoughts, now that he knows what I am. Not that I can blame him in the least. Last night necessity overrode emotions. But now… He shook his head sorrowfully as he continued with what he was doing.
Only when it was time to leave did Cal come over to talk to Joseph. Then it was to say, "Since we came in my truck, I'll give you a lift home."
"I can find someone else," Joseph replied, trying not to sound snarky—and barely succeeding.
"Why?" Cal asked in surprise.
"Well I thought… I mean you were… never mind." He smiled then to cover his relief. "We did promise we were going to celebrate."
"In style is the way you put it," Cal agreed. "That means I have to change into something halfway decent."
* * * *
Ten minutes later they were parked in the lot behind an older apartment building not very far west of City Park. It was the first time Joseph had been there, since up until today Cal had seemed very reticent that they meet anywhere except at Joseph's house. When Joseph would ask, Cal just replied, "My apartment's nothing special and small, really small," or words to that effect.
Now, as they got out of the truck Cal said with a self-deprecating grin, "It's not exactly palatial as you'll see, but it's home."
"It's actually rather nice," Joseph told him a couple of minutes later when they walked into the small apartment.
It was obvious Cal had added his own touches to what was essentially a very utilitarian living/kitchen area. Three walls were off-white. The fourth was a deep maroon with photos of finished Rebuild houses hanging on it above a low chest of drawers. The furniture was old—Joseph suspected most of it came from thrift shops—and there wasn't much of it. A dark brown upholstered sofa stood against one wall, a beige lounger catty-corner to it, both of them facing a small table that held an older TV set. Off to one side, next to the open kitchen, was a door that led to Cal's bedroom.
"I'll be out in a few," Cal said, going into the bedroom.
With nothing to do but wait, since Cal had closed the door after him, Joseph went over to take a closer look at the photos. He recognized a couple of houses as ones he'd worked on and smiled. Then he crossed to the small nook in the side wall to look out the only window at the street.
It was a nice area, he decided, watching people walking on the sidewalk across the street. Families mainly, I suspect. He chuckled as a small boy dashed ahead of his parents toward a small park at the end of the street.
"What's so funny?"
He turned to see Cal standing in the bedroom doorway, wearing black pants and a pale blue, button-down shirt that accented his black hair and dark blue eyes. "Nothing really," he replied with a smile. "You clean up good, as they say."
Cal shrugged. "Not like I have much to choose from. These are my only decent slacks."
"Still, you look nice. Very handsome." He smiled again when Cal ducked his head in embarrassment. "Well, you are. Are you ready?"
"Yep. Let's head to your place, rich boy."
Joseph rolled his eyes, saying, "I'm never going to lose that nickname, am I?" Cal laughed and shook his head.
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