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picked up the laundry basket, and I headed down the hall to the laundry room. As I approached the doorway, I saw Lily putting clothes into the washer. She saw me and stopped what she was doing.
“Hi, do you need to use this?” she asked while pointing to the washer.
“Yeah, but it’s fine, I can do laundry another time,” I replied.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how I was an asshole to her this morning and how she must have mentioned it to Sam, otherwise he wouldn’t have went off on me like he did.
“You can throw some of your clothes in with mine. We can split the cost.” she offered.
“Didn’t you just move in yesterday?” I asked.
“A couple of days of ago,” she replied.
“If you just moved here, why are you already doing laundry?”
She looked at me with anger in her eyes. “I didn’t do—hell, just forget it. It’s all yours,” she said as she took her things out of the washer and stormed out of the laundry room.
I didn’t say anything wrong, so I don’t know why she got so upset, but it didn’t matter anyway; I didn’t care. I threw my clothes into the washer, started it, and headed back to my apartment. As I opened the door, Charley came running to me.
“Uncle Luke, look what my mom bought me!” she said as she showed me her silver butterfly bracelet.
“Wow, that’s beautiful.” I smiled and gave her a kiss on her head.
“She bought it for me as a present for my first day of school tomorrow.”
“That’s really pretty, peanut,” I said as I put her down. “Where’s your mom, Charley?” I asked as I didn’t see her around the apartment.
“She went to the store. She asked Uncle Sammy if he could keep an eye on me until you came back from doing laundry.”
My sister, Maddie, is a single mom, and Charlene, or Charley as we call her, is her nine-year-old daughter. They live in one of the apartments upstairs. Her so-called dad, who denied he was the father from the start, until a paternity test proved Charley was his, comes around every couple of years. He doesn’t pay child support; he doesn’t call her on her birthday, Christmas, or Easter. He’s nothing but a dead beat dad, and I wish my sister would get him to sign over his parental rights. He’s not a good influence for Charley, and I won’t stand by and let him ruin her life.
“Hey, Charley, why don’t you go take your crayons and paper over to the dining table and color me a pretty picture? I need to talk to your Uncle Luke for a minute,” Sam said.
I walked to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. I took off the cap and flung it at him. He caught it in his hand like he always does. I swear that boy should have been a baseball player. I think he missed his calling in life. I walked over to the couch, sat down, and put my feet up on the coffee table.
“I realized something today, and I want you to know about it,” Sam said.
“Yeah, what did you realize, Sam?” I asked, staring at the TV.
“I remember while growing up, my sister would come home crying because some of the boys were being mean to her.”
I looked over at him as I took a drink of my beer. “Yeah, and what’s your point?”
“I remember my mom telling her the only reason they were mean to her was because they liked her, and they didn’t know how to express it because they were scared.”
“Is there a point to you telling me this story, Sam?” I asked.
“Yes, Luke, there is. My point is that I think you have an attraction to Lily, and that’s why you’re acting like you are towards her.”
“Jesus Christ, Sam, do you listen to yourself? You have no idea what you’re talking about!” I spat as I got up from the couch.
“Luke, it’s been a year since Callie—”
“Stop! Don’t you ever say her name again!” I yelled.
Suddenly, I felt someone tugging on my jeans. “Uncle Luke, why are you yelling?”
I looked at Sam and shook my head. I bent down and put my hands on Charley’s shoulders.
“I’m not yelling, peanut; I just raised my voice