Page 14 of Peach Tree Family

Chapter 4

Seth followed the overgrown path to the house and arrived at the side door. It stood open and he heard Ace chattering somewhere in the living room. Going in, Seth saw that Theo had put in a second padlock on the inside of the kitchen door.

Seth called out to announce himself, and Theo came to meet him in the kitchen.

"That smells good," Theo said, eyeing the takeout bags Seth carried.

But now that he was in, Seth noticed something else. "I smell bleach."

Theo explained. "While we were out shopping we got some bleach tablets. They're easier to carry. I bleached the hell out of that bathroom, and did some cleaning in the kitchen too."

"We have water!" Ace announced then turned on the tap in the kitchen. "And we can flush, we can flush, we can flush!" Ace was singing, but Seth was surprised to hear the news.

"There's water?"

"There was a big car and the water was on," Ace said excitedly.

"That was a handyman that Mrs. Del Rio, your new employer, sent over here to make sure the house didn't get flooded when the water came on," Theo told him.

"She did that?" Seth said as he pulled out containers of food from the bags.

"She also arranged for the water to get turned on. You know something about that?" Theo asked.

"Might be my fault, I talked to Mrs. Del Rio about you and Ace a little bit." Seth could tell that Theo wasn't happy about that. "I don't think I said anything out of line."

"It's fine. It's a relief to have the water on, but I'm going to owe her so much for getting that taken care of," Theo said.

"Mrs. Del Rio seemed like a nice lady and she mentioned your grandfather," Seth told him.

"Ahhhhh," Ace said, at the end of his patience. "What smells so good?"

"Some food from the café," Seth told him with a laugh. "Did you guys eat?"

"We had lunch," Theo said.

"But that was before," Ace said.

It was a little early for dinner, but Seth still said, "There's some chicken here we should eat." He pointed at the dark fridge they were keeping open. It wouldn't keep anything from spoiling.

"I guess if we eat early, I can do some work and not worry about dinner," Theo said.

Seth opened up the different containers to see what they should have, but first Ace checked with his brother. "The food isn't charity, is it Theo?

"I owe you for letting me sleep here and for feeding me," Seth told him.

"We're helping each other out," Theo said but he was still on his guard around Seth.

Ace was satisfied with that answer so they put together some food and ate right out of the containers while sitting on the floor in the living room.

"Thanks for sharing with us, and yes, you can stay here again tonight if you need to," Theo told him.

"Thank you," Seth said, happy to hear that and without having to ask.

He was so relieved to have a roof over his head for at least one more night, and he was glad for the company too though Theo wasn't cheerful. He just wasn't comfortable with Seth there, but he did talk about his plan for after dinner.

"I got some boards off the windows and I'll see how many I can get off before it gets dark."

"I'll help you with that since I'm staying over another night," Seth said.

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