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“How’d you end up here?” Dog asked, wanting to hear his son’s version.
“She left me over there last night so she could go out. She showed up early this morning and woke me up. Gram and Gramps weren’t even up yet. Dragged me outside, had the car already loaded with shit and everything.”
Dog frowned. “Where the hell was she going?”
Billy shook his head. “I could tell she’d been drinking, so I took the keys from her. She threatened to leave if I didn’t give them back. Said she’d just start walking. I didn’t know what to do, so I got behind the wheel. Told her I’d drive her wherever she wanted to go if she’d just get in the passenger seat and stop trying to grab the keys. She finally did, and we got up on the interstate.”
“You don’t even have your permit yet,” Dog reminded him of something he knew the boy didn’t need reminding of.
“I know how to drive, Dad.”
“And where the hell did she want to go?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure if she even knew. She told me to drive to Albuquerque.”
“Albuquerque? What the hell’s in Albuquerque?”
Billy shrugged again. “Hell…” he glanced at the Crash’s daughter. “I mean, heck if I know. I think it was the first thing that popped in her head. I drove her here instead. Boy, was she pissed about that.” He shook his head. “I figured Crash could help me settle her down until you showed back up. I didn’t know what else to do, Dad.”
“You did good, Son. You did the smart thing.” He patted his shoulder. “Did
she seem sad to you?”
Billy frowned. “No. Just pissed. Why?”
Dog shook his head. “Never mind, just trying to figure out what this is about.”
“You gonna fix this? ‘Cause now she’s pissed at both of us.”
“Don’t worry, Son. I got this.” They stared at each other. “You okay here for a minute?”
Billy, already wise beyond his years, lifted his chin toward the door to the rooftop, a slight grin pulling at his mouth. “Gonna take more than a minute, Dad, and we both know it.”
Dog swiveled his head, following the direction of his son’s gaze, and then he grinned back. “True.”
Billy’s eyes returned to the child bouncing on his belly.
“She likes you, huh?” Dog asked, squatting down and nodding toward Crash’s child.
Billy lifted her up in the air over his head, and she squealed. “She’s my best girl, aren’t you, punkin’?”
When he dropped her back down, she pleaded in her baby voice, “Do it again. Do it again.”
He tossed her up again to a fit of giggles.
Dog rubbed the top of his son’s head and rose to his feet, his knees cracking. “Be back in a second.”
“Yeah, sure. A second.” Neither of them believed that lie. They exchanged a smile, and Dog moved off toward the stairs that led to the roof.
CHAPTER SIX
As Red Dog walked out onto the rooftop that overlooked the city and the Bay Bridge in the distance, Mary twisted to look from her seat on one of a pair of Adirondack chairs.
“What are you doing here? How did you find me?”
Dog strolled over to her. “How do you think?”
“My mother?”
