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They still needed to be involved, monetarily and otherwise. She had two kids from two different guys, so at least whoever this joker was who’d put that bun in her oven was either a moron or he thought solely with his dick (which was another term for moron, but there was a nuance of difference).
Scott knew what Louise was thinking, which was why he said, “You do the crime, you pay the fine.”
Louise stretched out her lips.
I couldn’t hold on these drinks any longer, neither could Jessie delay on her Jessita specials. Late delivery cut into your tips.
So I repeated, “When and where and I’m there,” before heading out with the drinks.
I glanced at Tito on my way, and it didn’t surprise me he wasn’t scribbling, reading or staring out the window.
His sunglasses were trained on Luna, Scott and Louise.
It was weird, but he missed nothing.
And honestly, if he had superpower hearing, and he could hear what was happening at the bar, it wouldn’t surprise me if Luna had a fifteen-hundred-dollar bonus in her next pay packet.
’Cause that was how Tito rolled.
Case in point, the new tires I needed for Tweety last March that would have cut into my saving-for-a-house fund were reimbursed just like that.
You didn’t say thanks. You didn’t make a big deal of it. You didn’t demur. Not that Tito would get pissed or insist. He’d just wander away from you while you were talking, so it’d be a wasted effort.
I’d dropped the drinks, and my phone had vibrated again to remind me of the text, so I pulled it out on my way back to the bar to get the water pitchers and do a loop on refills.
And I stopped dead in the middle of the space.
The text was not from Cap or anyone else I might expect.
It was from the person I would least expect.
The person I spoke to briefly on my birthday, his birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas…
And Father’s Day.
It was from my dad.
Feeling a feeling I knew but never liked, my hands shaking, I opened the text and read,Hey there, darlin’. Coming out for a visit next week. Staying at the Hermosa Inn. I know it’s short notice but would love it if you could carve out some time for your old man.
I jumped and nearly dropped my phone when I heard a growled, “What is it?”
Scott was standing close.
I forced a smile toward his hard-with-disquiet face (was I that easy to read? yikes!), shoved my phone in my apron and said, “Nothing, just my dad.”
Louise had also gotten close and they exchanged concerned glances.
“He’s coming for a visit next week,” I said faux-blithely.
Scott’s lips thinned.
Louise’s eyes got big.
Yep.
Totally adopted.
They might not know (or they might, Luna might have told them, but she didn’t tell me if she did, and I was glad she didn’t share that intel with me) what had happened to my family, but they knew my dad was not a big part of my life.
