Dadbod, part 5 (Patreon)

Since I moved to Cresthaven, I’ve been having this recurring memory making its way into my dreams. It’s of the first time Dad showed us how to woodwork. Bobby gave up almost right away, because of course he did - this was back when Bobby was still with us - but I took to it right there and then. Dad placed the little block of lumber in my small hands and said,

 ‘Picture what it is you want to make. See it in your mind’s eye.’

I thought real hard. Bobby just laughed and went off to do God knew what else. 

‘Could I turn it into a dolphin?’ I asked my Dad, already drunk with creative power before I’d even carved my first chip. 

‘Well, you might wanna try something a little more... simple, first,’ Dad chuckled. 

I remember how much that ticked me off. 

‘But… I wanna make a dolphin,’ I told him. 

So he carefully showed me how to handle the carving knife, took me through the steps, made sure I didn’t slice my little fingers off. Looking back, I’m pretty sure he did a lot of the work, but he made me feel like I’d accomplished something. By the end we’d carved this skinny, slug-looking thing that I couldn’t have been more proud of. 

That was back when my folks gave a damn. 

When I woke that morning there was a sheet of paper on my bedside dresser, something neatly scribbled down on it. When my reading glasses brought the words into focus, my heart sorta lurched as I remembered. 

“Yoichi Nomura”

I saw his huge, powerful frame again in my mind. The big beautiful baker. 

It was a Saturday and I had the day off. So, I got up and made some toast and coffee in my tiny kitchenette (couldn’t keep the belly waiting), and sat down by the window watching Cresthaven wake up, thinking about Yoichi’s matching handwriting. 

He was definitely the one who’d sent me the mystery box of muffins, there could be no doubt about that. But why? Had it been as a friendly ‘Welcome to town’ kinda thing, or was there more to it? God, I hoped there was more to it. I knew exactly what I was hoping for. But I couldn’t let myself get pulled down that road. It was wishful thinking, and my experience with Todd had taught me to know better. 

I didn’t know how Yoichi had known where to leave the box of muffins, either. Was he a stalker? Pffft. That was highly unlikely; who’d wanna stalk me? 

I munched my toast, letting these same thoughts go round and round in circles. It was getting me nowhere. 

There was a brief moment where my hand reached for the phone to call Paula; she’d know what to do. But I stopped myself short. She was busy these days. 

The simple truth was, well, I was just gonna have to ask Yoichi myself, wasn’t I? I had the number and the address of his workplace. Would Sunset Bakery be open today? I could call them... 

But I wanted to see him again. Physically. In person. 

Well, Dicky, you’d better get dressed and haul your 290 pound ass down there.

I had a vague notion of how to get to the Sun Bakery; me and Paula had talked about going there enough times. I was pretty sure I could take the burgundy tram and it was like five stops west. 

I took a window seat on the trolley and felt my nerves build. I hadn’t explored much of West Cresthaven but however nice it might’ve been, I was too preoccupied with restless energy. 

Was there a chance I was making a huge mistake? What if Yoichi hadn’t sent me the box? What if it was just a huge coincidence? Was there a way that I could ask him without asking him? 

With each stop, my heart sped up. 

Let’s just say he’d taken a liking to me when I first moved to town; what was to say he hadn’t changed his mind by now? I was bigger these days, after all. Maybe he took one look at me in the map store and that was enough to turn him away. Perhaps all that stuff with the bear carving was just his way of being polite. 

My stop came up. I felt like an emotional mess. 

I just had to... just had to... What did I just have to do? 

I got off the tram. This part of town was a little fancier than my corner. Lots of people out for their Saturday strolls. It was a beautiful day. 

I saw it in the distance, the bakery. A trill crackled through me. 

Come on, Rich, you got this.

I clenched my fists without realizing, and strode off. There were people sat on an old low brick wall in front of the bakery, and there inside - Oh God, there he was. Serving customers with that incredible smile, his baker’s apron stretched tight across his massive chest and barrel-belly. Delicately picking out baked goods with tongs while another staffer dallied behind. Perhaps Yoichi ran this place?

I don’t know what drew my eye back to the group sitting on the wall, but it was obvious they were there purely to ogle at the enormous beefcake baker inside. As I got closer I noticed that... 

Oh no...

It was Todd and his friends. They were eyeing up Yoichi and laughing amongst themselves. I was gonna have to walk past them to go in there. 

Dammit, why?!

I could already feel myself turning red. Why did they have to be here? 

I started thinking maybe I could come back another time, that they hadn’t seen me yet, when I heard, ‘Oh you gotta be kidding me.’ And I just knew it had been said about me. 

‘Is that him?’

‘That’s him. He’s even fatter than I remember.’

‘Oh my God, haha.’

I felt my face burning scarlet while they gossiped openly about me. Then Todd called out, ‘He’s not gonna be interested in you, you know!’

Again, his friends laughed. 

My breathing was speeding up, and my throat felt like it was drying up. 

‘I wouldn’t even bother,’ he added. 

I noted that with each insult, he glanced back to his friends. Maybe for validation. 

I tried to steady my breathing. 

‘He’s just standing there...’

‘What’s he doing?’

‘Probably came for donuts. That would figure.’

When I spoke, it didn’t come out too strong, and my mouth felt dry, but I held my nerve. 

‘Why are you like this?’ I asked Todd, drawing a little nearer. I could still see Yoichi’s beautiful bulk out of the corner of my eye. 

Todd pulled a face like he’d just sucked on a lemon, then guffawed to his friends. 

‘Pfft,’ he told one of them. ‘Oh my God, listen to this clown-‘

‘Why don’t-‘ I faltered, tripping on my words. God, I wished my face wasn’t so red. ‘You could be kind, you know. You could choose to be kind, but you don’t. Why?’

Again, Todd turned to his friends and started to make a mock-impersonation of what I’d just said, but I interrupted. 

‘I’m talking to you,’ I said. Some small piece of confidence began to kindle somewhere inside me, probably driven by the anger of having this moment utterly ruined by Todd and his cronies. ‘The least you can do is face me and address me like an adult.’

Todd started to rise, and I drew up closer, standing upright to my full height, and perhaps this changed his mind since he slumped back into his position. 

‘I don’t know who the hell you think you’re talking to!’ he spat. ‘What’s your problem, chunk?’

‘You know you don’t have to be like this?’ I asked him. ‘This is a choice you’re making. This - sitting here, judging and insulting - You can choose not to be like this.’

‘You don’t know me!’

‘No, you’re right, I don’t.’ His friends hadn’t expected this response, and their titters and snickers began to die. ‘I don’t know you. But I still invited you into my home. Into my bed. And you repaid me with needless cruelty.’

Todd went to speak but I wasn’t done yet. 

‘Maybe you should think about why you behave this way. Maybe something happened to you that’s made you like this, and that’s something you should deal with, I don’t know. But you don’t have to be cruel. You can be better than that.’

Before I turned to walk away, I just caught his mouth opening and half-closing a couple of times. Yoichi would have to wait; I was in no frame of mind to talk to him now. I just needed to get away. 

‘Can you believe that?’ I heard Todd ask of his friends who, this time, made no response. 

I turned the corner. I felt like walking home. 

At a safe distance away, I let out a long sigh and shook myself off, looking up to the heavens and absolutely not letting that asshole get to me. Whatever was in my eye was damn well staying there. The walk home would be a little on the lengthy side but it felt like what I needed. I’d return to the bakery another day, I guessed. 

I didn’t know this part of town but it wasn’t too hard to navigate my way back. There was a nice, flowered, suburban park I was cutting across. Part of me imagined kicking one of the flowers as though it were Todd’s teeth. 

Why did people have to be so damned horrible to one another?

A cyclist was coming up behind me so I stood aside to let them pass. 

But I heard the tires come to a stop beside me, crunching and skidding ever-so-slightly. 

When I looked up, it was him. 

‘I saw what happened back there,’ Yoichi said, dismounting his bicycle with a gracefulness that was at odds with his huge size. How the vehicle didn’t buckle under him was a mystery unto itself. ‘I’m sorry about those guys.’

In my mood, I was kinda surprised at seeing him and not surprised at the same time. It was like my heart had already been through the wringer and now nothing was going to shock it.

Still, it was awesome to be this close to him again. 

‘Shouldn’t - shouldn’t you be manning the store?’ I asked. 

‘Annalise can take over for a while,’ he replied. 

I nodded, still shuffling along. He was walking his bike beside me. Now that he was here, I didn’t know what to say. This all felt a little surreal. I guess I hadn’t prepared for this. 

‘What you said to them,’ he continued. ‘That... I thought that was pretty cool.’

Oh God, how much did he hear? I couldn’t be sure the flush hadn’t left my face yet. 

‘I don’t know,’ I replied. ‘I just...’ I didn’t speak for a while. All of this felt weird, somehow. I didn’t want him seeing me like this. ‘I haven’t started on another bear carving yet.’

‘Oh, that’s okay,’ he said. And the way that he said it was just the warmest, sincerest... Goddamn, he was marvelous in every way. 

When I’d imagined what I was going to say to him today, it hadn’t been anything like this. I was so annoyed at Todd and his lackies for ruining the moment for me. 

I stopped in my tracks.

‘How do you put up with those guys just sitting there, staring at you?’ I turned directly to Yoichi and asked. ‘Especially while you’re working.’

He made a face like he was thinking, adjusted his glasses. ‘It doesn’t bother me, really,’ he said. ‘I’ve got work to do. They’re like... a backdrop, or something.  Not even that.’

I admired this so much. It was difficult not to be totally in awe of this man, not to hang on to every word he said. 

‘Oh!’ He suddenly added. ‘I got you this.’

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small white box.

‘Thank you.’ I took it and opened. Inside was a cake, slightly larger than a muffin, and beautifully decorated. ‘Thank you so much, this is - That’s really kind of you.’

He hesitated. ‘I, uh, also... I also sent you a box of muffins, handmade, when you were new to town. Or at least I assumed you were new. I saw you wandering around the market asking for a job, and I heard the pet stall man tell you about Midtown Maps, so...’

I nodded, and smiled. 

‘I got the muffins, they were delicious, thank you.’

Then something jolted through me, almost in a panic. 

‘Oh my God! I’m Richard, by the way.’

‘Yoichi,’ he beamed, pronouncing it differently than how I’d been thinking it in my head (Yoh-eechy, not Yoy-chi).

When we shook hands, I felt his strong sausage fingers clasp firmly around my palm, and had to hold in a shudder. 

‘I know,’ I said. ‘It was on the notepad at work.’

‘Oh yeah, right!’ he laughed heartily, his massive chest and gut bobbing to and fro, causing my stomach to do backflips. 

I wanted to ask him why he was gifting me muffins and cakes, but it seemed almost rude to ask. Or presumptuous, or I didn’t know what. So instead I said, ‘Hey, do you - do you have time to maybe go get some coffee?’

‘I’d like that,’ he nodded and smiled. 

Then he added, ‘And something to eat.’