Bill Bryson At Home Novels & Stories

“That’s why it worked.” The car slowed as we turned onto the long drive back to the house. Lights were on inside. Too many for this hour. I felt it shift. The sense that the world we’d stepped into that afternoon was already catching up to us. Inside, the house was awake. Bryce sat in the living room, arm still in its sling, posture tense but upright. Lena’s mother stood near the fireplace, phone in hand. My father leaned against the mantel, arms crossed, expression unreadable.

she said gruffly, then turned around and trudged back up the creaking wooden stairs. I stared at the still-steaming apple pie. Then, ever so carefully, I took a small bite. The tart filling burned the tip of my tongue, and suddenly, tears came streaming down without warning. In 20 years of living in my family's magnificent estate, not once had I ever known what it felt like to be cared for. And yet now, on my birthday, in the most dilapidated basement in this entire city, I had been given a gift that was warm and sweet.

He was like a father to me, so I owe him this much as a visit and besides, I wasn't ready to go home. I shrugged, "Sure. Why not? I'm in no hurry to go home." He grinned,"Great. By the way, we moved to a new house a few months after you left, so just follow our lead." I nodded,"Fine by me." Then shrugged. I'm not so sure about Bryson's mom though. *********************** "Whoa." I breathed as I got out from my car. Bryson's house was definitely huge. It was a cream colored Colonial mansion, fit for a very influential family such as the Weiz. It was really beautiful in fact, I couldn't help but compare it to Derek's gorgeous brick walled mansion.

Bryson, the great gentleman kissed another girl that wasn't Melissa. "Bryson signed a business contract today worth 2.5 billion dollars and will be signing another worth 10 billion dollars tomorrow. I think that is something we can celebrate as a family," Jacob chipped in. "Hmm, that is good to know. Congratulations Bryson," Mrs Rebecca said sounding like the congratulations was forced out of her. "By the way, where is Mr Jackson?" Jacob asked trying to introduce a different conversation. "Business trip. Nothing interesting," Mrs Rebecca replied cutting the conversation short.

When he accepted my explanations and even helped me in Robert's case, I drew a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Bryon is no longer living with us; he has finally moved to the city, to the condo where he had been staying before, which is now where he resides, to be closer to his university. Although his behavior is sometimes annoying, I admit that something is lacking in the house when he eventually leaves. Plus, I owed him something because he didn't tell my dad that Sierra and I were dating.

We maintain appearances. “Finally,” Bryson mutters from the couch where he has dumped himself, not bothering to look up from his phone. He is sprawled out like he owns the place with his white shirt wrinkled and his eyes rounded with dark circles. He traveled with me, so he looks just as miserable as I feel. But indeed, we are finally back.

Leslie shot back, "Get out of here. I've got plenty of stamina. I can go three days and three nights straight when I get back. My wife won't suspect a thing." One by one, every man on that bus took a turn with me. By the end, I was completely drained. My legs were shaking so badly I could barely stand. Behind me, the men chattered noisily, their faces full of smug, satisfied grins. "Leslie, you'd better cover your tracks when you get home. Don't let your wife find out." "Oh, shut it. Nothing decent ever comes out of your mouth." The bus lurched and rattled until it finally pulled into the village entrance. The door hissed open.

I took the elevator down without stopping. *** Bryan was already home when I arrived. He was back from Arthur’s since midday, already in his pajamas despite it being six in the evening. He was on the living room floor with his building blocks, constructing an ambitious project, at least to him. He looked up immediately I entered, his bright face filled with happiness of a child whom his parent’s arrival was still the best part of the day. “Mom. Look.” He pointed at the structure. “It’s the Beaumont estate.”

“Sure. We're just on duty to watch the baby grow.” Everybody laughed before we walked into the living room where Cara was setting up the table for dinner. She was like family and Kane had asked her to continue living with us even after marriage. Bryson moved out after he married Hannah citing “privacy issues". They had a house built near to ours. They even had a pool. Kane pulled a chair out for me to help me sit while Bryson had to pull out a chair for his wife and set a baby a chair for his son. Poor guy was working so hard.

So, he grabbed a handful of his mints candy and stuffed them into his mouth while he paced about the spacious room. A month ago, he never would have thought that he would leave the luxury of the large mansion to stay in one of his apartment homes but he was there now and there was nothing he wanted to do about it. When he was certain that his neighbor had ceased crying, he headed out. Heaving a sigh of relief, he sauntered past her door back into the elevator where he received a call from Gabby. “I'm on my way, Gabby. I will be there soon.” Tyler mumbled while hoping that for his sake, Gabby had done the wise thing by throwing a private party for his birthday. One that didn't include crimes