Stone parked his rental car in front of his mother’s apartment. She opened the trunk and grabbed four bags of cigarette cartons and walked to the door. Stone grabbed the rest of the bags and followed her.
“You got everything?” she asked.
“Twelve bags, yep, that’s pretty much everything else,” he replied.
When they reached the door, it opened before Rebecca could take her keys out. Her boyfriend Billy stood in the doorway with a lit cigarette in his hand and a scowl on his face.
“What kind of shake down is this?” he asked.
“Take this inside, Billy,” she said, handing him the bags.
Though he was a smoker, Stone involuntarily grabbed a breath as he passed the doorway. The combination of stale sweat and old smoke clung to every oxygen molecule.
“So what’s his story?” Billy asked as the bags were set on the floor next to the refrigerator.
“Billy, I’d like you to meet my long lost son Winston,” Rebecca said.
“Your what?” Billy asked, exasperated. “You told me you didn’t have any kids!”
“Well, it’s obviously a long story, but this was from an early time in my life when I didn’t have my act together.”
“You still don’t have your act together,” Billy said as he began rifling through the bags and grabbed a couple of cartons of cigarettes.
“Whoa, those are for her!” Stone said.
“Look, Winny or whatever your name is, what comes in this house is half hers and half mine, you got it?”
Stone did not avert his gaze. He would keep the peace for his mother. Billy grabbed one of the twenty-four packs of beer and left for the kitchen.
“He doesn’t mean it like that,” Rebecca said. “Billy is a good man.”
“I get pretty bad if I get pushed around, especially by kids,” Billy said from the kitchen.
Rebecca moved a few pieces of clothing from her couch and motioned for Stone to sit down.
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting company,” she said.
Whatever Stone might have inherited from his mother, her lack of cleanliness was not one of those things. There were boxes and clothes everywhere, with a thinning path leading to the kitchen, bathroom and what Stone guessed was the bedroom.
“Billy, Winston was just…”
“I go by Stone.”
“Stone?” Billy laughed in the kitchen. “You think you’re some kind of bad ass?”
“Former Navy SEAL and merc, so, yeah,” Stone replied. He had no idea why he felt that he had to justify himself around his mother. Billy came back to the front room and stood toe-to-toe with Stone. The older man was a couple of inches shorter, but several inches wider.
“Oh yeah? Well, I spent twelve years as a Marine. I used to spit pukes like you out all day,” Billy said.
“Boys, please,” Rebecca said, holding out both her hands. “Billy, give Winst…Stone some room. Stone, this is Billy’s house, too.”
“I got nothing against you,” Stone said. “I just wanted to meet my mother.”
“I don’t see the resemblance,” Billy said and sat on the couch with one of his new beers.
Rebecca motioned for Stone to follow her into the kitchen. She moved aside several piles of clothes so they could sit at the table.
“You said that you were in the military,” she said. “What do you do now?”
Stone swallowed hard. He had not thought about what he would say.
“I got eight balled because of a small injury, so now I just do government work.”
“As a mercenary?” she asked.
Stone tilted his head. It was hard, deliberately lying to his mother.
“I wish. I run small errands for a couple of big wigs,” he finally said.
“It pays pretty good?”
“I don’t have many bills, so yeah, pretty well.”
“You have any good ‘errand stories’?” Rebecca asked with a smile. “Like the Transporter?”
“I’m not allowed to say, which is why they pay so well, so…”
“I get it. So, where are you living now?”
“With my grandpa out west. You know, my dad’s dad.”
It was Rebecca’s turn to look down. “So, uh, how’s your dad doing? I mean, well, it’s not like we were gonna get married or anything.”
“Oh, he’s always off traveling somewhere,” Stone said. “Doesn’t have much time for me or Freya.”
“Freya?” Rebecca asked, curiously.
“My kid sister; his daughter from another woman.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. Your dad never was a one-woman man. So, how long are you going to be in town?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess it depended on how well our meeting went,” Stone said sheepishly.
“Well, I can clear out the boxes of the guest room and you can just stay here!” his mom insisted with a big grin.
But the thought of staying in a room that probably had as many rats as decomposed cardboard boxes was not an option.
“I’ve already got a hotel room. I really don’t want to get in the way.”
“You wouldn’t be a problem,” Rebecca said.
“Let him go, Becky,” Billy said between commercials. “There ain’t room for two men here.”
Rebecca considered arguing, but thought better of it.
“If you don’t mind, I could drop by tomorrow,” Stone suggested. “We could go out for lunch or something.”
“I don’t have any work lined up for the next few days, so that would be great.”
Stone looked at the grimy clock sitting above the kitchen and thought it said four. Whatever time it was, it was time to go.
“I better go,” Stone said, standing. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Rebecca stood, clearly sad, but walked over and gave him a hug.
“I’m glad you came by,” she said.
Stone slowly returned the hug. He leaned into his mother’s shoulder and caught a whiff of old smoke.
“Guess we have the same demons,” he said, pulling out his pack of cigarettes.
“Why do you think I named you ‘Winston’? You better give those up while you still can!” she said. “There’s no hope for me.”
“There’s always hope,” Stone said. “See you tomorrow.”