Read Online Fitting Ends by Dan Chaon - Free Book Online Page A

drive a hundred miles just to check into small-town motels, pretending we were having an illicit affair. Once, an old woman had refused to give us a room because we didn’t have the same last name. “I don’t believe in it,” she told us darkly.
    When I walked into the office of the motel, Kent was asleep, slumped in the swivel chair behind the desk. He worked the night shift, from ten until seven, and usually the motel was as full as it was going to get by the time he started. He didn’t have to deal much with customers, and I figured he would be good at taking care of the type of problems that sometimes arise late at night. He was a big man, with thick dark eyebrows and a kind of steely, mean-looking face. He was a nice enough person, actually, though I remember being afraid of him when we first met.
    Of course, my father wouldn’t have liked to see him there, unshaved, a full ashtray on the desk, his heavy head tucked against his shoulder. My parents had always run the place themselves. We’d lived in the little three-bedroom apartment connected to the office, and my mother or father had registered every guest. There was a buzzer at the front that brought them, no matter what the hour, out of bed.
    I’d hired out. The little apartment behind the office had been converted into storage. Still, I was there six days a week, ten hours a day. I hadn’t abandoned the place.
    I rang the bell, and Kent stirred a little, his brow furrowing. “Fuck,” he murmured. Then he opened his eyes, glowering up at whoever had disturbed him.
    I frowned. “Rise and shine,” I said. “Shift’s over.”
    â€œOh,” he said, and his look softened. “Robert. Hey, happy birthday, man.”
    â€œThanks,” I said. “You know . . . you really have to be careful about your language around the guests.”
    â€œYeah,” he said, and looked down. “I know it. Sorry about that.” He glanced around sheepishly, as if there might be someone else in the room, and his look reminded me that he’d had a rough time of it lately. I didn’t want to be another problem in his life.
    â€œIt’s no big deal,” I said. “Any major disasters last night?”
    â€œNada,”
he said. “All quiet. Did you and Sue go out?”
    I shrugged. “In a few weeks, maybe. Joan came over and fixed us a nice dinner.” I shrugged again, as if I had to make excuses, to apologize. “It was all right,” I said.
    Kent nodded, and his voice dropped a little, the way men’s voices do when they exchange something that passes for personal. I’d never been exactly sure what it meant. “Yeah, well, I know how it is, man.” He smiled, pursing his lips. “I guess maybe I’m lucky to be a bachelor again.”
    â€œYes, well,” I said. I wished that I could ask him what was going on between him and Rhonda. He surely must have known she was in town. Had he seen her? Talked to her? “So how are things going with you?” I said. “You’re getting along okay?”
    â€œOh, fine.” Now it was Kent’s turn to shrug. “Brittany’s running Mom ragged. You know how Mom can get to complaining. But she loves it, you can tell.” He sighed and stood up. His hair was flattened on one side, stiff as paper. I watched as he tried to neaten the clutter on the desk, piling the scattered papers together. “I guess you heard that Rhonda’s back in town,” he said at last.
    â€œYeah,” I said.
    â€œYeah,” he said. “Fucking everybody’s heard.” He stared into my eyes, and I tried to keep my face noncommittal, but I could feel my expression wavering, the muscles moving beneath the skin. Finally he looked away and picked up his ashtray, dumping it into the wastebasket. “I don’t know, man,” he said. “I just don’t know.”
    The motel, the Bonaventure