Like water catching fire, p.1
Like Water Catching Fire, page 1
Like Water Catching Fire
E.M. LINDSEY
Contents
EM Lindsey Links
Like Water Catching Fire
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Like Water Catching Fire
E.M. Lindsey
Copyright © 2023
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, places, jobs, or events is purely coincidental.
Cover by Sleepy Fox Studio
Editing: Bailey Polanco
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Chapter One
Stretching his back, Danny adjusted the hemline of his shirt, then reached down to tug his jeans back into place. The road was a long place—the drive from East to West coast felt eternal, even if he’d managed it in just under two weeks. It felt like years since he’d set foot on the opposite side of the country, in spite of having come for the Quingming Festival, but that had been a quick flight—in and out—and then he was back to Manhattan.
Manhattan.
The city felt like an entire universe away now, which was sort of the point, he supposed. It had been six months, but his heart was stinging in all the most tender places, and even the two-mil in his bank account didn’t take the edge off. Or well, maybe it did. Maybe a little bit. It certainly helped in the whole getting distance from Dante’s Hell which lay in the center New York. The center, where his ex was now with whoever his flavor of the week was, in the penthouse apartment he expected to pay for out of the delivery app series’ continued success.
In hindsight, Danny knew he was getting screwed by settling without a stock in the company, but when he’d walked in with a ring in his pocket only to find his lover balls deep in some Jersey Twunk, the last thing he wanted was any tie to him, even if it meant a secured financial future. He should have known better than to trust the baby blues of that basic white boy all those years ago. Aaron had looked like he’d been stamped from the Frat Boy cut-out and had Zeus breathe life into him right there on the frat house lawn, and Danny had been stupid and helpless against him. He was a dime a dozen, but the boy could talk and somehow, he ensnared Danny from their first day of Freshman Econ.
Which was now eight years ago. Eight years wasted on that piece of shit, and the only thing that comforted him in the end was the fact that he’d seen it coming. He’d seen Aaron’s interest waning years ago, and the ring in his pocket had just seemed like the thing to do. People kept asking when they were going to get married—hell, his mother had been planning his Big Gay Wedding on her pinterest board for at least fifteen months. He was just…going through the motions, walking the path, taking the appropriate steps to proper adulthood or whatever.
It clearly didn’t work out the way he’d anticipated.
Not when he was marching up to his sister’s door with his hands in his pocket like some kicked puppy looking for a new owner. Of course, it had been Rosemary’s idea for him to move back in the first place. She was convinced New York was sucking out his soul, and he always accused her of being jealous that he was going off on his own, attempting to make his own way apart from what his parents wanted for him.
In some ways his parents were the typical Chinese immigrants—his father was an accountant, his mother a nurse, they planned his future as a Doctor of Physics or some shit. Never mind he had been diagnosed with dyscalculia when he was eight and had almost failed out of every math class—probably would have, if it weren’t for the IEP resources he’d secured just before middle school.
He hadn’t turned into their fancy, Ivy League Physics professor, or NASA employee or whatever they’d wanted. Instead, he’d been the guy who got his MA with a focus on Children’s Literature and had at one point decided to be an elementary school teacher before he and Aaron stumbled onto the accident that would eventually net them more money than he knew what to do with. Who knew stoner kids would be not only desperate for food delivery, but also willing to pay for it. Who knew they’d get three million downloads in the first hour, with numbers steadily rising. Who knew his entire life would be consumed by this sudden misstep into a business he’d never planned for.
The idea of teaching seemed laughable for a while, and it wasn’t like he needed to work now, did he? At least, not until he burned through that mess of money in his bank account, and was either fucked over by the stock market, or made richer by his investments.
Whatever the case, life was what it was now. It was him, in faded jeans and his old University Hockey Team t-shirt, standing on his sister’s porch like a damn coward because knocking meant really admitting that this was it. This was his life now. No prospects, no future, no company, no boyfriend. Just money burning through his pocket, and his future looking more and more like a black hole.
“I hate tea,” Danny complained as he poked at the frilly porcelain cup that looked like it belonged in one of his auntie’s sets. “Why do you fucking serve me this every time I come over?”
“Language,” Rosie snapped, her eyes darting over to the small lump of an infant swaddled in a swing, staring up at hanging lights on the end of the mobile strings.
“She’s like barely past the slug stage of her evolution. She can’t understand me,” Danny bitched.
Rosie glared at him. “She’s like a sponge. These are her formative years and I won’t have your bitterness and foul mouth corrupting that. She needs her favorite uncle to spoil her rotten and teach her all the ways of the world without making it seem like it’s just one big dumpster fire.”
Danny snorted into his tea, then set it on the table. “Right. Well. I’ll get right on that.”
Rosie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, and Danny realized he’d probably been away too long. Her husband, some guy high ranking in the Marines or something—Danny had never quite paid attention when Eric was talking about his job—was deployed three days after Rosie found out she was pregnant. Whatever he was doing now offered him no leave, and he still hadn’t met their daughter. He could tell by Rosie’s face, Eric’s absence was starting to weigh on her, and it made him feel slightly more mollified that he’d agreed to stay with her for a bit.
“Until you get on your feet,” she told him over the phone, and he knew it wasn’t about money. He could outright buy a beachside condo if he really wanted to. But even if things had been over with Aaron for some time now, he knew he was still a little emotionally compromised.
This little town in the middle of California’s rolling wine hills, where everyone knew each other’s business, might not be what he needed, but it would do for now.
The baby began to fuss, but before Rosie could get up, Danny held up his hand. “It’s been a few years since my babysitting days, but I think I still know what I’m doing.” Huffing, she waved her hand and he sauntered over to the swing, gathering his niece into a secure hold in the crook of his arm.
She smelled like she needed a change, and there was a wobble to her cry that said she was probably hungry. “You got a bottle, or you want to nurse?”
“Frankly I wouldn’t mind the break,” she said.
“Go warm it up. Annie and I need to have a little heart to heart anyway—you know, uncle to niece kind of thing. I’ll get her changed.” He couldn’t pretend he didn’t notice the way Rosie’s eyes went a little watery, but he didn’t call her on it. In reality, he felt like a complete tool for staying away so long. His parents were living in Seattle now, and Eric’s entire family lived in Florida. Eric was technically stationed at the base nearby, which meant Rosie had been alone this entire time.
“I think I owe your mommy a huge apology,” he muttered to her as he laid her on the changing mat. With one hand on her wriggling chest, he used the other to root through the drawers of the changing table until he found the wipes and cloth diapers.
It was easy work. Easier than riding a bike, really, and Annie was a good baby. She had her dad’s green eyes, but Rosie’s round chin and thick black hair which was growing very fine and curling up at the ends a bit.
“I should have been here, kiddo. I would have enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than walking in and finding Aaron balls deep in…”
“What the fuck did I just tell you?” Rosie demanded, coming up behind him to smack the back of his head.
He looked at her, his pointed stare calling her a hypocrite. “Your mommy is awful.”
“Your uncle is the worst,” Rosie cooed, leaning over to kiss the baby’s forehead. “He’s not wrong though, he should have been here.”
Danny sighed, wrapping
Rosie shrugged, but she looked a little sad as she backed up and sank into the rocker near the window. “I mean, I knew what I was signing up for when Eric and I decided to get married. This isn’t his last tour, either. I know he’s a lifer, and I knew it when he proposed. I just…it wasn’t this hard before. But with Annie…”
Danny sighed, staring down at his niece who was hungrily gulping down her warmed milk. “Yeah,” he said softly. “But he’ll be home eventually, and I’m here now.” He looked up at his sister and tensed his jaw so she’d understand he wasn’t making light of this. “I’m not going to bail on you, okay? It took me a while to figure shi—uh stuff out, but I want to be home.”
“You think this is home?” she asked him.
He shrugged, then pulled the bottle away to give Annie a little pat on the back. “It’s the closest thing I’ve got. I mean what, am I going to run back to mommy and baba? I think I’d rather live in Manhattan and watch Aaron keep fucking Jersey assholes.”
Rosie scowled, but gave up scolding his language. “I’m not trying to question you, Dan. I’m glad you’re here, okay? I’ve been telling you for a long time now you belong over here. That isn’t your place. Those aren’t your people.”
Danny bit the inside of his cheek. His sister had always been more connected to the more insular community growing up. Granted they’d always gone by their American names, and his Mandarin was barely passable, but where Danny had fucked off Chinese school to play video games at the Cineplex with the guys at school, Rosie had been dutifully learning everything her parents had wanted her to.
Right now though, he didn’t think she was talking about that. He understood there was a stark difference from east coast to west, and she wasn’t lying when she said he was never at home there. He was never fast enough, or strong enough, or on edge enough for the New York streets. He missed the way people said hi when he walked into stores. He missed dawn strolls down sandy beaches and stopping next to landscape painters to talk about random shit he came up with on his walks. He missed the way people just accepted his existence and allowed him to feel like he had a right to be there simply because he was, instead of the need to prove himself worthy all the time.
Aaron had been a mistake, and he was fairly sure that two mil in his bank account wasn’t ever going to make up for the years lost.
With a heavy sigh, he passed Annie back over to his sister. “I should start getting unpacked.”
“The room down the hall’s all set for you,” she said absently, smiling into her daughter’s face. Annie grinned back at her mom, and Danny felt his heart warm at the sight of it. “I’ll cook tonight, unless you want to go out.”
“Nah,” he said with a smile. “Something from your kitchen sounds exactly like what I need.” He stole one last glance at her before heading down to the car, ready to unpack what remained of his life, and start over again.
Chapter Two
“Alright, asshole.”
His hand halfway down the doritos bag, Danny glanced up from his manspreading on the couch, his brow dipped in an annoyed frown. Rosie marched through the room, coming to stand in front of the TV where she blocked his view of the Aliens in History show he’d recently become addicted to. The disgusted look on her face was possibly directed at his current eating habits, his state of half-dress, the fact that he hadn’t showered in three days, or his terrible TV preferences. Either way, he knew he was about to get reamed.
“Get the fuck up.” Her voice booked no argument, but in spite of her being his older sister, he’d long-since grown immune to her command tone.
“What the hell are you pissed about? I didn’t even do anything,” he started to complain.
A word fell from her lips—angry Mandarin he couldn’t remember the exact translation to, but he hadn’t heard it since his father had taken up wood carving in the garage as his retirement project. He flinched at the sound, and found himself rising, brushing chip crumbs from his front.
“Yeah, you haven’t done anything,” she confirmed, crossing her arms. “That’s the fucking point, Danny.”
“What—” he started, but his words died as her eyes narrowed into a further glare.
“You’ve been here four months and you haven’t done shit with your life.”
His eyes widened, and he took a defensive step forward. “Rosie…”
“You haven’t attempted to look for a job,” she said, ticking the list off on her fingers, “you haven’t called any old friends, you haven’t looked into your own place…”
“Woah,” he said, holding up a hand. “Rosie, you wanted me here to help you with Annie. That’s what the fuck I’m doing.”
She scoffed. “Watching her two hours a week is not what I had in mind, Dan.”
He blinked, her words a punch to the gut. Had he really been so wrapped up in his doing nothing that he’d failed to at least help her with the baby—the whole damn reason he’d driven for almost two weeks straight? “If you needed me more…”
“I don’t need you more,” she said, throwing up her hands in exasperation. “That’s not the point.”
“So, what is the point?” he demanded, frustrated by her lack of communication skills. “If you need money, I have it. Like way more than I’ll ever really need in life, okay? I don’t have to get a job to help pay mortgage or…”
“It isn’t about money, asshole,” she said, and stalked forward, stopping directly in front of him. She took his cheeks between her hands lightly and sighed. “This is about you giving up. You didn’t break up with Aaron and drive all the way out here to squander the rest of your life on my couch, dude. You need to get the hell out of this house and actually start moving on.”
His eyes stung suddenly, his gaze a little hazy from unshed tears. He’d been steadfastly ignoring his broken heart—he might not have wanted to fight for Aaron, he might not have been upset that relationship was over, but his heart did ache for what never was. He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and sighed.
“I don’t know what the fuck to do, Rosie. Everything got derailed when that stupid app went viral.” He let out a shaking breath, stepping away from her as he dragged a hand down his face. “I’m so pissed, you know. I ran away from all of mom and dad’s expectations only to meet them by fucking accident. It’s the worst irony.”
She let out a small laugh. “Yeah, it really is.”
“I don’t want to be rich.”
She gave him a small grin and shrugged. “So, transfer all your money to me and go get a studio apartment and wait tables again.”
He shoved at her shoulder, but the idea had some merit. Maybe not giving away all his cash, but he fully intended on making sure his sister didn’t want for anything, and that Annie’s education would be taken care of without worry. “You wish.”
Her smile softened. “I know I’m kind of being an asshole too, but it doesn’t feel good to see you like this. You’re not some sixteen-year-old dazed on bong rips anymore, man. Yeah, your life was derailed, but you had a plan before that didn’t you?”
He shrugged. “I guess…” And well, yeah, he did have a plan once. He was going to be certified by the state, and he was going to teach kids, and he was going to have a modest place to live and, at that point, a boyfriend to come home to.
Maybe two of the three were still attainable, but with having millions in the bank and no pressure to actually do something with his life, he’d been looking at those goals a little differently.
“I just don’t know what I want,” he admitted after some time.
