Bob Waterford was standing outside on his patio, smoking a cigar while grilling a steak. It was a chilly winter's day, and he was enjoying a day off of work. Today was a great day to be lazy.
Usually, someone like him would be depressed if they had gone through what he had a year ago. After over 30 years of marriage, his wife had announced that she wanted a divorce. She had denied his pleas for counseling and had ended up in possession of their home, his yacht, and a hefty alimony. She had even taken half of his 401K account, despite the fact that she hadn't worked a job in decades. To her credit, she'd paid out of her own pocket to help him move all of his things out of the house.
The first few months had been rough, having to downsize from his massive 5-bedroom home to a 1-bedroom unit in a quadplex. But remarkably, he was having the time of his life. He still worked his job, but had more time to hang out with his friends and other family members, and had his weekends to do what he wanted. Not surprisingly, he slept like a baby without his shrew of a wife tormenting him with local gossip or large financial demands.
He turned his head at the sound of someone approaching. Walking past was his 22-year-old neighbor Kiley Tanner. If it weren't for her first name and the fact that she had gone to school with his youngest daughter, he could have easily mistaken her for a young man. Her wardrobe usually consisted of baggy t-shirts, a baseball cap, and capri shorts. She had a shaggy bob cut of brown hair and large eyes.
"Hey, Mr. Waterford," she said with a smile before taking another drag from her vape pen.
"How's it going, Kiley?" Bob responded with a blow of cigar smoke.
"Man, that smells good. How are you cooking that?"
"Medium. Gonna feast on this with a side of mashed potatoes and asparagus."
"I might have to DoorDash a steak from Outback. You've got me in the mood."
"Let me know the next time that you're free so that I can make a ribeye for you."
"Sounds good," she said. "Later."
Bob waved goodbye as she headed towards her unit. The subdivision where his quadplex was located wasn't exactly an idyllic suburb, but it still was pretty decent. The people around him were lower income, but friendly as hell. The old Puerto Rican couple that lived on the other side of the building had brought him some nice chicken after he'd jumped their battery. Next door to them was a nice African American family that was always inviting him to church.
A few weeks later, Bob was driving through a quickly darkening sky that looked like it was burgeoned with either snow, sleet, or rain. He felt a surge of relief as he escaped the rush hour traffic of that Tuesday and pulled into his subdivision. It had a been a long day and he was ready to sit down and relax with a hot meal.
After parking in his spot, he traipsed towards his apartment. Walking through the parking lot, he saw Kiley sitting in her busted-up Hyundai with her eyes closed. Concerned, he walked over and rapped on her window. Startled, her eyes snapped open and she rolled down her window.
"I'm sorry, were you sleeping?" Bob asked. "I just saw you sitting in your car and I wanted to make sure that you're okay."
"Yeah," she said with a yawn. "I'm locked out of my apartment until my stupid roommate shows up."
"Why don't you call the property manager?"
"She already went home," Kiley explained. "My roommate Beth told me to let her boyfriend borrow my key so that he could get into our place after he got out of his job, but he just sent me a text to say that he had to run out to Miller Falls and won't be back until about 10 PM, and Beth is working at the hospital until 6:30 AM."
"You want to kill time at my place while you wait for the dumbass boyfriend?" Bob asked, trying to bring some levity into the situation.
"I dunno," she muttered while scratching her head.
Bob lifted up plastic bags in his hand that contained food from Kentucky Fried Chicken. "How about if I throw in some dinner, too?"
Kiley eyed the food with visible interest. With a sigh, she turned off her car and followed Bob to the quadplex. She hated to admit it, but it felt nice be in a warm, cozy apartment. Bob put the food on the table and broke out some plates, utensils and the two of them washed their hands. He then headed to the fridge while she seated herself.
"I've got lemonade, orange juice, bottled water, and a few cans of Coke," Bob offered as he browsed the contents of his fridge.
"Coke is fine," Kiley called to him.
Bob brought out four cans of soda for he and his guest to share and they dug into the food. With a few bites into the original recipe chicken, Kiley's mood seemed to have brightened considerably. Bob was amazed at how fast she was scarfing it all down.
"Slow down there," Bob said with a chuckle. "The food isn't going to run off of your plate. Is this the first time you've had KFC?"
"Maaaan," Kiley moaned. "I seriously forgot how good it was; I haven't had it in forever."
"Beats sitting out in your car, huh?"
After they had finished eating, they stayed at the kitchen table and continued to talk. Dessert was a box of Twinkies that he had stashed in the pantry. Kiley lit up like a kid on her birthday when she saw Bob produce the snack cakes.
"I haven't seen your daughter Lucy in a while. How is she?" Kiley asked as she unwrapped a Twinkie.
"Good!" Bob said. "I went to her place for Christmas. She and husband just had their first baby."
"She was always nice to me when I was in school, even though I was freshman, and she was a senior."
"What did you do for Christmas?"
"Just chilled out and went to work. I work at Purple Wizard Vapes on Ashland Boulevard."
"I'm surprised that you can afford rent here by working at a vape shop," Bob mused.
"Weeeeeeell," Kiley said with a grin. "I have a little off-the-books business selling something green that makes people happy."
"Bravo," Bob said, saluting her. "I love the entrepreneurial spirit in young people. I started my own business when I was about a few years older than you are. Right out of high school I became a licensed HVAC technician. At 26, I started my own business. After seven years of hard work, blood, sweat, my business was booming."
"I'm surprised you live here while owning an HVAC business," Kiley quipped, rebounding Bob's remark back at him.
Bob downed another Twinkie before telling her about his recent divorce. For once, he didn't feel too crappy repeating all of the lurid details aloud. She also did him a service by keeping her face free of any judging looks.
"Wow, all that work and she just shits all over your life? Fuck her."
"Yeah, fuck her," Bob said. The two of them laughed.
After going through an entire box of Twinkies, the two of them kept talking, venting about each other's highs and lows. They eventually made their way onto the couch and watched some television together. At about 5 minutes past ten, Kiley went to check to see if her boyfriend's roommate had arrived and came back with bad news.
"Looks like he isn't back yet. I still can't get a hold of him or Beth," Kiley grumbled.
"Well, crash here tonight. I don't mind."
"I really don't want to be a bother."
"Well, if you don't stay are you going to call your folks and bunk with them?"
"Pssh. My dad lives all the way in California and I don't want to deal with him or his bitch wife."
"What about your mom?"
"I stopped going over there after my 3rd stepdad 'accidentally' walked in on me getting out of the shower."
Bob said nothing, walked to his room and came back out with some pillows and a heavy blanket. Once again, Kiley accepted his offer of kindness and slept on the couch. The next morning, Bob emerged from the bedroom to find her gone, and a handwritten note of thanks taped to the television. He went back to sporadically seeing Kiley in passing around the quadplex. She mused that she had invested in a spare key to avoid a repeat of last night's fiasco.
A few weeks after their impromptu dinner/sleepover, Bob got invited to play some indoor volleyball at the YMCA on a Saturday morning with some of his friends. Unfortunately, despite stretching beforehand, he ended up leaving with a sore shoulder. He declined the offer to join his buddies for some lunch at Ruby Tuesdays and went home to nurse his shoulder.
After taking a nice, hot shower, he slathered his shoulder with Icy/Hot and applied a hot water bottle to it. He then crashed on his couch and turned on the television. It was then that an interesting idea popped into his head, prompted from a glib remark from a fairly recent conversation with an acquaintance. He got up, exited his residence, and for the first time since moving into his apartment, visited the unit right beside his. He knocked on the door and a familiar face appeared after the door opened.
"Mr. Waterford, hey," Kiley greeted. "How's it going?"
"I've been better," Bob said with a rueful smile. "I think I tweaked my shoulder like an idiot playing volleyball."
"Oh, that sucks."
"Listen, I was wondering...if you had some...product...that you could sell me."
"Product?" Kiley said as she fought a smile.
"Listen...I don't want you to think I'm trying to get you some trouble or anything...I'm just trying to get rid of this pain. I could leave some money under my welcome mat and come back in 5 minutes..."
Kiley started laughing, making a feeble attempt to cover her mouth. Despite the wintry air, Bob's face burned with embarrassment in his sad misadventure in buying weed. Thankfully, Kiley stopped laughing and beckoned him to enter her apartment. Looking around, Bob thought that the place looked like a college dorm room. There was a half-eaten sandwich on the table, the kitchen sink was overflowing with dirty dishes, and the air was somewhat musty.
"So...how much for a dimebag?" Bob said, breaking out his wallet.
"You can say the word 'weed', Mr. Waterford," Kiley said with a smile.
"Sorry, I didn't want you to think I was a narc."
