Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 64

It was a little strange seeing the house in the daylight. The only time Solomon had even been there it was at night. The front yard looked better kept at least. There weren't as many toys scattered across the grassy yard. It looked like it had even been mowed recently.

He missed when there were a bunch of toys all over the yard, though. It reminded him of all the times when he would play outside as a kid. His family used to be really close with each other. And he would play with all of his brothers and cousins in the front yard while the parents would talk about what was knew with the world.

He couldn't really tell if they all grew apart because of him or not. There was a lot of tension that had built up in the family, but he never paid mind to it back then. He was too young to. All he wanted to do was be a kid.

Then they found out he was gay, and that was when the cold reality of life hit him in the face at a young age.

He'll always keep those memories, though. It was good to keep the happy memories. They taught you that life's not all bad.

The first person he saw when he drove up in his work van was Niko. The man smiled as soon as he saw his van. The woman next to him must be Matilda. Solomon recognized her a little from the photo's that he had spotted on her walls when he was there last. She was a pretty brunette with a petite build and a small face. She looked like she was talking to Niko about something, but he couldn't make any of it out over the sound of his engine.

"Solomon!" Niko greeted him as soon as he turned the van off.

"Hey," he smiled. As much as he wanted to hug him or kiss him hello, Solomon stayed a little bit away from him. The last thing he needed was to get distracted while he was supposed to be working.

"I'm so glad you could come!" the woman said. She put out her hand for him to shake. "It's been getting way too hot in there."

"It's been a hot summer, that's for sure," Solomon smiled at her and shook her hand. "I'm assuming you're the homeowner?"

"Yes," she smiled. "I'm Matilda."

"Nice to meet you," he said before looking up on the roof. "So, what happened before it decided to go out on you?"

They proceeded to go through the basic questions as he got the ladder from his van. AC units were never as simple as they appeared. You never quite knew just what you could find. But this one looked rather new. So, he had a good feeling that the problem wasn't going to be all that bad.

Niko had actually caught him right before he was going to head home. They were having technical issues down at their main office, and it was causing mass chaos as no one quite knew where they were supposed to go. After a whole morning of attempting to fix it, and the repair men doing a few of the jobs that needed to get done, the owner just called it quits and told everyone that it was best just to go home.

He was glad that Niko called. Because he was going to be bored in his house if he just went straight home. And he had already done the rest of his errands earlier that week.

Needless to say, this was a perfect solution to ending his day.

The unit was a little worn, but it was a good one for the most part. All that needed to get replaced was a certain part in it. Granted, it was an expensive part, but, when he told Niko about it, he said that he would pay for it.

"Is Jay here?" Solomon asked him.

"Yeah," he said. "Matilda has him in his room with the fan on. I got him some ice cream too, just so he wouldn't get too hot."

"Smart idea," he smirked. "I think you're getting this 'father' thing down pretty quickly."

Before he could answer that, Matilda came out of the house to talk to them.