Page 101 of Love It or List It
So of course, as soon as he pushed his cart up to the checkout at the store, he realized he didn’t have his wallet.
Fuck.Had he left it in his car?Had Cheryl taken it?
He’d had it at Tim Hortons—or, no, he’d used spare change from the cupholder for that.When had he used his wallet last?When he’d picked up the pizza the other night?
Yeah—and he’d taken Joe’s truck, because Will had gotten home after him and parked like a dick.Austin could visualize his wallet now, sitting exactly where he’d left it in the center console of the pickup.
Fuck his life.
Mortified, he pulled his cart out of line and put the perishables back.He left the cart out of the way, in the vain hope that maybe no one would reshelve his groceries in the next hour.It was fine.He’d just go home—Will would be back from school by now—pick up his wallet, go back to the store.Easy.No harm, no foul.Dinner wouldn’t even be particularly late.
Sure enough, the truck was there when Austin pulled into the driveway.It locked automatically, so Austin had to go inside to grab the keys.
They weren’t on the peg by the door, though.Joe’s truck had a push-button start, so Will probably just left the keys in his pocket.
Ugh.He could brave a teenager’s lair for the two seconds this would take.It would be fine.
He wasn’t taking his boots off, though.Fuck that.The house was a disaster anyway.A little more mud wouldn’t make a difference.
He’d almost made it to the bottom of the stairs when his foot slipped out from under him.
“Jesus, what the—” Somehow Austin caught himself on the railing, grateful he and Joe had fastened it extra-securely after last time.His heart was still pounding in his chest when he looked down and saw the pee-stained wall and the little yellow puddle that had almost killed him.
“Fuck,” he said feelingly.The last thing he wanted was to clean up more cat piss.And now it was on his boots, which meant he was going to track it upstairs when he got the keys.
“Will!”he bellowed instead.
Belatedly, he realized Joe was probably sleeping.Orhadprobably been sleeping, until now.
Thumping came from the second story.A few seconds later, the creaking of an ancient wooden door.“What!”
That was when Austin smelled it.Something other than the cat pee.Something thicker, more cloying.
God, his nose had to be playing tricks on him, right?
Austin chose to believe his nose was playing tricks on him.“Can you bring me the truck keys, please?”
More thumping as Will appeared at the top of the stairs.Austin half expected him to just throw the keys down, and maybe that would’ve been better for everyone.Because as soon as Will got close enough for Austin to see his face, he made out the red-rimmed eyes, the dilated pupils, and the unmistakeable stench of pot smoke.
“Are you fucking serious right now?”
Will crossed his arms and scowled—whatever the drug’s effects, making him less obnoxiously moody wasn’t one.“I’m an adult.”
Austin barked a humorless laugh.Only an eighteen-year-old would think that Will’s current and recent behaviour was a mark of maturity.“Clearly being voting age didn’t make you less stupid.What are you thinking, smoking pot in this house right now?”
“The fuck do you care?”Will sneered.
Austin sneered back.“For starters, you have an exam tomorrow, unless you lied about that.Who gets high in the middle of final exams during grade twelve?”Second semester started next week, and Will had a full course load.There would be no do-over for these first-semester classes without summer school.
“Not like I’m smoking at school before taking it.”Will rolled his bloodshot eyes.
“No, of course not.You’re just smoking a floor away from Joe, who has pneumonia.It’s not like he’s on ahighly flammable oxygen tankand can barely breathe as it is!”
Will blanched—clearly not having thought about that—but then firmed his jaw.“Not like I was smoking next to him.”
“So you haven’t learned about how smoke travels in your science classes?”Guilt flashed over Will’s face, but he didn’t back down.Austin tried to take a calming breath, but the deep inhale only reminded him of two facts, or rather, two smells—pot and cat urine.“So I guess it never occurred to you to use your pot-smoking time to do anything else.Like clean up cat pee.”He gestured to the floor.“Or do the laundry or cook dinner or vacuum.”
Will stared back mulishly.
