Page 57 of Shades of Henry
“Some,” Henry said. “And he’s got a friend who runs a housecleaning service too. Joey’s not a bad guy. We figured I could go in on Fridays since, you know, you usually have Mondays and Tuesdays off. So, that’ll bring in some extra income too, and I can still help my brother when he needs me, until school starts.”
Lance had to smile a little. “Look at you, Henry. You have a life here. Friends, connections—not bad.”
Henry shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m doing some stuff Monday and Tuesday that’ll not get me paid. I’ll let you sleep in for the first thing, but the second might be up your alley, like, maybe you could help.”
“What’s the first thing?” Lance’s brain hurt just parsing that sentence.
Henry looked away. “It’s sort of… well, you’re gonna think this is stupid.”
And Lance wanted to scream. “Henry, do you have any idea how much Idon’tknow about your last week? Any? At this point, I will take something stupid that will help me understand what happened here over something blind like ‘Don’t worry about it, Lance, it’ll be fine.’”
Henry nodded, stood up, and wandered to the refrigerator and back. “I… look, there’s ice cream that I buy and nobody’s eating. Can I have some ice cream? Is that going to send someone over the fucking edge?”
“No,” Curtis called from the couch, “but if you’re getting those Drumstick things, get me one or I’m gonna think you’re an asshole!”
Henry and Lance met eyes and smiled. “There’s flavored ices in there too,” Lance said. “Get me one of those, and we’ll call it even.”
“You want to come listen, legit?” Henry asked Curtis. “I mean, you could always pretend you’re still working over there and get the whole story, but this way you can ask me to repeat the hard parts.”
“Yeah, sure.” Curtis closed his laptop and wandered over. “Wasn’t finding anything good there anyway.”
“Whatcha looking for?” Lance asked, finishing off his veggies and chicken.
“A job that’ll pay as much as porn for as little hours.” Curtis shrugged. “Not finding it. I mean, I get student loans and such, and I save money living here. Still, it looks like I’m in for another three years. No big deal.”
“Joey’s housecleaning service pays pretty good,” Henry said. “But you might have to work there three days a week.”
“I’ll think about it,” Curtis said dryly, which told them both that he really wouldn’t. “Anyway, c’mon, Henry. You tell me and I promise to gossip, okay?”
“Okay.” Henry dished out dessert and sat down.
Then he told them a story of violence and abuse and sex and drugs and murder, and how the drug-dealing porn star ended up dead in the dumpster, with Henry as the easiest guy to blame.
When he was done, Lance could do nothing but stare blankly at him, while Curtis served up the recap.
“So it was all about drug dealers and Daddy? Had nothing to do with you? Seriously?”
“Pretty much,” Henry said, looking suddenly sad. “And don’t get me wrong—Martin Sampson’s father is a scumbag, pure and simple, but that other guy was a fucking psychopath. Man, I’m glad he’s dead.”
Lance and Curtis met eyes and then looked at Henry again. “And how did that happen again?” Because Henry’s account had been sketchy.
Henry let out a breath. “So… do you want the scary version or the action adventure version?”
Lance closed his eyes and looked at Curtis, who shrugged.
“I’ll take the ‘Is this going to come back and haunt us again’ version,” Lance said.
Henry smiled faintly. “Probably not….” He bit his lip, looking embarrassed. “But that doesn’t mean there’s not wrap-up to it. See, Jackson called me this morning and asked… well, he asked if I wanted to come to a small memorial on Monday.”
“For whom?” Who on earth would Henry be mourning?
“For Martin Sampson,” Henry said softly. “Because he was an asshole, but he had help getting there, and it’s just not right that nobody comes to his funeral. It’s like… we want to say goodbye to the guy who might have been, you know?”
Lance and Curtis stared at him.
“That’s… that’s really….” Lance struggled for words.
“Stupid,” Henry filled in with a roll of his eyes. “I get it.”
