“Don’t say it,” he warned.
It looked like the little fur-ball had already gotten Coach trained. Funny how that happened.
◊◊◊
Chapter 27 – Payback Sunday April 30
Duke and I came back from our morning run to find my parents already up. When I let him in, I followed Duke inside because I smelled cinnamon rolls heating up in the oven.
“What’s the special occasion?” I asked.
Mom wrinkled her nose at me.
“Go take your shower. If you don’t hurry, your dad will eat your share,” she warned.
Dad looked around his paper and nodded that he would. There had to be some law against this. But what was I going to do about it? I imagined complaining to the cops that my dad ate my cinnamon roll. Then again, if I brought them some to try, they would understand.
Not wanting to risk it, I hurried upstairs and took my shower in record time. When I came back downstairs, Mom was taking them out of the oven, and Peggy had entered the kitchen with Coby and Dave. I stepped over and kissed my boys on top of the head. I picked up Coby when he reached for me and sat down with him in my lap.
Mom served everyone and brought me tea. Something was up, and the twinkle in her eye told me she was waiting for me to ask. She would just have to wait until I’d eaten the two rolls in front of me.
I was taking my first bite of the yummy goodness when my son reached up to try to grab it away from me.
“Do you want a bite?” I asked Coby.
“Uh, uh,” he grunted as he tried to reach it.
“He’s his father’s son,” Mom commented.
I tore off a small piece and handed it to him. It went into his mouth in a flash. Yep, definitely my son. He liked it and wanted more.
Dave began to babble to his mother that he wanted what his brother was having.
“I guess he doesn’t want cereal this morning,” Peggy said as she cut up small pieces of cinnamon roll and put them on his high-chair tray.
“I’ll have to tell Granny she has two new fans,” I said.
We all watched the boys polish off almost a full roll. They would be bouncing off the walls soon from all the sugar.
“We should take the boys to church today,” I suggested.
“After they ate that? I don’t think so. I want to be able to go back,” Mom said.
“So, what’s up?” I asked.
“I have some interesting news,” Dad said.
That took me by surprise a little because I assumed my mom was the one with the news.
“That is?” I asked when he just stared at me.
I hated it when he pulled a Dawson on me and went quiet. He grinned because I’d lost the battle of wills this time. He’d always told me that in a negotiation, he who talked first lost. I rolled my eyes in response.
“Ms. Dixon called me and said that Dixon and Dixon had bought out Rigby and Thompson and that Tom will be moving back to run the office.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Word got out about how Rigby Thompson treated you as a client, somehow, and their business began to dry up,” Dad said.
Everyone thought my mom was the one they should never cross. That announcement gave me the sudden insight that my dad might be more of a force. My dad knew just about everyone and never had anything bad to say about anyone. He was someone people liked as soon as they met him. I suspected that he’d quietly put the word out, and this was the end result.
My first instinct was to ask him, but it would have been pointless; he wouldn’t tell me. He’d dealt with it, and it was over with.
“Thanks, Dad. That really is good news. It will also give Mary a reason to stay and run the restaurants after Tracy goes off to LA for college,” I said.
“We never considered that,” Mom said to tweak me.
I just raised my eyebrows. It sounded like my parents had planned this out. If they’d taken down Mr. Rigby and Mr. Thompson for their role in what happened with Cal and me, I’d bet that Mr. Fox, the scumbag, wasn’t far behind. He would look good flipping burgers.
◊◊◊
When I got back from church, I was about to leave to do another yard cleanup for my grandmother when my phone rang. Caller ID showed a number I didn’t recognize. I’m not sure why I didn’t just reject it since almost half of them were robocalls, anyway.
“This is David.”
“David, Alex.”
Alex was my new friend I’d met in Greece. The last I’d heard, his dad had almost been abducted with the help of some of their security. I’d asked Pia, ‘Little Tony’ Giovanni’s sister and his go-between, to help them. When I left New York, she’d assured me they were safe.
“How’s everything going?”
“It’s starting to calm down. I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but my grandfather was in the drug trade. While I’m pretty sure my uncles still are, my dad never was,” Alex explained.
“I might have heard a rumor to that effect. So was your dad’s attempted kidnapping part of that?”
“Yeah, we’re pretty sure of it. Dad would be considered a soft target because he isn’t in the business. We think they planned to take him to gain leverage on my uncles.”
“Why did they plan to take me?” I asked.
“Money. Kidnapping is a big business in Colombia. We surmise that they thought they would take both you and my dad and get a payday.”
“I’m glad it’s not such a big thing here in the states.”
“It happens more than you think,” Alex warned me.
He was probably right.
“Are you back home?”
“Not yet. The Giovannis have been putting us up. Dad plans to move us to California soon. My sister and I start college in the fall, and Dad says that might have to be put on hold if he isn’t sure of our safety. We’ve been accepted to UCLA, but I’m not sure that will work out.”
“Why?” I asked.
“They want freshmen to live in the dorms, and Dad isn’t satisfied they have any secure enough. If it doesn’t work out, we may have to get a place off-campus.”
“With your dad’s money, he could make a dorm secure,” I joked.
“Better yet, he could build one,” Alex shot back.
“I bet they’d put his name on it. It would be a huge tax write-off.”
“He’ll get a kick out of us spending his money like that,” Alex said.
“I’m glad to hear you’re all safe.”
“Thanks. And David …” Alex said.
“Yeah?”
“I want to be your friend. I had a great time in Greece. What you did for us makes me want to get to know you better. I don’t want to lose touch.”
This was one of those moments when my life goals kicked in. If I said ‘yes,’ I would be obligated to follow through and be Alex’s friend. If I said ‘no,’ I would be off the hook, and we would just be acquaintances.
“I’d like that,” I decided.
We arranged to keep in touch and rang off.
◊◊◊ Monday May 1
The stress level had ratcheted up to the point where I almost felt it as I walked down the hall to my locker. The school year was coming to an end with finals next week. Prom was Friday, and we had our first sectional game tonight against Rockford Christian.
I found Dare and Chrissy at my locker, waiting for me.
“Did you know that you and Gina have better scores in math than I do?” Dare asked.
I wasn’t sure where he’d gotten that information, but I would guess he was right. Dare had a bad habit of being too smart for his own good. Brook and I had tried to set him straight on how to take tests. If you had a multiple-choice question in math, you picked the closest solution and called it a day. He’d missed a few because he considered none of the answers to be correct due to rounding. By being such a perfectionist, he had allowed Gina and me to keep up with him, grade-wise. The fact we were ahead of him was about to make his head explode.