Just a Little Bit Guilty by Deborah Smith Read Free Book Online

Jake Coltrane."
    49
    Just a little Bit Guilty
    by Deborah Smith
    Jake squatted on his heels and held out a hand. Roberto squinted at it, grunted, and extended his good hand, which was as work-hardened as Jakes. They shook solemnly.
    "You look like some sort of crawdad back in here between these cars," Jake said, smiling.
    Roberto shot him a bewildered and somewhat offended look, then turned to Vivian for help. He asked out of the side of his mouth. "Is that good, Vivvy?"
    "It's okay," Vivian assured him. She shook her head, looked at Jake with a wry smile, then back at Roberto. She felt like an interpreter at the UN.
    "If you say so," Roberto acknowledged. "So, how've you been, Vivvy? Who you been helpin' out lately, you pretty babe, you?"
    " You , it looks like," she answered. "Did you take a leak on this car?" She pointed to the Lexus next to him and glanced at the tire in a totally businesslike manner.
    "Would Roberto Marino stoop to that?" Roberto's voice rose. "No! I only told the pendejo I would water his tires if he didn't watch his mouth."
    "Okay. I knew that guy was just a jerk." Jake ran a hand through his hair and then dropped his chin to hide his amusement. He remembered what Officer Washington had called her that night at Grady: A patron saint who cared about people.
    "Well." Vivian squeezed Roberto's shoulders again. She gazed up at the starlit night, pensive. "Let's see what we can come up with..." Her eyes rolled slowly over to Jake. A satisfied smile curved her full lips into calculated charm. "Mr. 50
    Just a little Bit Guilty
    by Deborah Smith
    Coltrane, you have such a wonderful, needy place, and Roberto knows all about carpentry work..." She let her voice trail off. Her eyes stayed on him, pleading, hoping, focusing all her energy into rendering him helpless.
    "You had me at 'needy,'" Jake mumbled, running his hand through his hair again and sighing.
    "Thank you!"
    Jake stood and held out both hands, one to help Vivian, one to help his new tenant.
    "Roberto," he said drily, "you're my official first tenant."
    * * * *
    Back at Jake's apartments, Roberto drank three glasses of milk, ate a huge bowl of vegetable soup, and downed two tuna-salad sandwiches. Then he went into Jake's living room with a pillow and an armful of hand-made quilts that had been in the Coltrane family for half a century, and promptly went to sleep on the couch, snoring softly. Jake shut the double doors to the living room, crossed a narrow hallway, entered the kitchen, and sat down by Vivian at a massive oak dining table. Vivian smiled at him between sips of coffee.
    "This is a terrific place. You've done an excellent job on it."
    "Thank you. I'm clean, but not much for decoratin'." She eyed all the careful work that had restored the high ceilings and cabinets. Colorful, braided rugs adorned the wood floors. The kitchen appliances were old but functional. 51
    Just a little Bit Guilty
    by Deborah Smith
    Family portraits in gilded frames decorated the pale beige walls.
    "Where are the bedrooms?"
    She had meant it without innuendo, but realized too late that it was a strange question to blurt out. "I mean, how many are there?"
    "Three," he said just as awkwardly. "Two little ones, one big one. I have the big one."They looked at each other with wide eyes. Pink stained the ruddy tan on his cheeks. Vivian burst into laughter.
    "I'm go glad for you," she sputtered. He laughed then, too, rubbed his jaw as if to coax the blush away, and then propped his chin on his hand. "You swear that Roberto knows carpentry?"
    "Yes, I swear." Vivian grinned at him. "He used to work part-time at one of the city shelters. That's where he and I met. He'll work hard if you treat him with respect."
    "You know, Viv, I thought all homeless people were ... I don't know..."
    "Panhandling bums or addicts or mentally ill bag lades," she finished, nodding. "But they're not. A lot of them are people like Roberto—good people, down on their luck, who just don't fit in