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CHAPTER EIGHT
Gritting his teeth, Tim tried not to mangle his steering wheel beneath his vise-like grip as he burned up the road toward Edenton.
That kid of his had landed himself in trouble yet again, but because Tim was a Dowd and the Dowds went way back in the area, he had some connections. Most criminals would have had to stay in jail until the magistrate could set their bail on Monday morning, but Kevin had a certain kind of privilege. The sheriff knew whom to call to make things happen on a Saturday night, and knew Tim would be ready with cash in hand to complete his end of the deal.
“He’d better know how lucky he is,” Tim said to no one through his clenched teeth.
He’d left Valerie walking around the outside of his house taking measurements. While he’d wanted a bit of a cooling-off period to get his head screwed on straight, Kevin had tossed the ultimate distraction grenade into the evening. Tim’s mood was fucked all to hell, and if he were lucky, Valerie would be gone by the time he got home. He simply didn’t know if he could pull off the “Suave Seducer” act while pondering if maybe it’d be for thebestif he let the kid spend some time in the clink.
It’d be bad optics for Tim and the business, but he didn’t know what else he could do.
He got Kevin collected and into the truck and didn’t say a word.
Of course, Kevin was fine with not saying anything, either. He slumped low in the seat with his greasy, shaggy brown hair hanging into his eyes, and drummed his fingers along the sides of his arms.
No “thanks for getting me.” No “sorry for ruining your night.” Not even a “damn, I, hoped it’d be Mom this time.”
Kevin stared at his unlaced basketball shoes and sucked his teeth.
Tim slammed the door.
He’d let Heidi have her turn with him. She didn’t have many ideas, but she had patience. For the time being, she was coming out ahead.
Tim stabbed the key into the ignition and navigated out of the narrow downtown throughways toward the highway.
Heidi kept telling Tim to save his breath when it came to lecturing Kevin, but he couldn’t hold his tongue. He cut his gaze to the right and took in his son’s aloof expression and his relaxed posture.
Not even a little bit scared.
Had Tim been in his shoes, he would have been terrified of what his father had in store for him. But of course, he actuallyrespectedhis father.
“You know, if you’d been anyone else’s kid,” he said, “you would have stayed in that cell until Monday morning or later if they couldn’t come up with the money to bail you out.”
“You shoulda left me there, then.”
“You know what? Next time, I will. No, actually—there’s notgoingto be a next time, because I’m cutting you off.”
Kevin sucked his teeth. “Whatever, man. You can’t cut me off.”
Never “Dad” anymore. Just “man” and “dude.” Tim swallowed down the acid spiking up his throat. “Oh, yeah, I can. You may think I don’t pay attention, but I know how much money you’ve blown through, and I know your car is in your mother’s name because she bought it, not you. A guy whose trust fund was still flush wouldn’t need his mother to make the lease payments on his Camaro. Obviously, you’re not responsible enough to have a car at this juncture, so I’ll make sure your mother takes it back. If you need to get around, you can beg a ride from your hooligan friends, and the next time you get in trouble, you can askthemto bail you out.”
“They can’t bail me out if they’re in jail, too.”
“So, what does that say about the company you keep? Huh?”
“Whatever, dude.”
“Call medudeagain, and I’ll strap a bag to your back, slap a nametag to your chest so the stewardesses can keep track of you like an eight-year-old, and put you on the first flight to Florida for your grandfather to collect. I should have done that five years ago when he told me to. You don’t respect me, but maybe you’ll respect him. He’s not gonna take your shit.”
Tim couldn’t have missed Kevin’s flinch if he’d tried. Kevin had always been afraid of the man and his old-school brand of discipline. What Dad said, he meant, so his threats were promises. If he’d said that if he caught Kevin smoking pot in the high school parking lot again that he would make him move a one-ton pile of bricks two blocks at a time, Kevin would have believed him. If Tim or Heidi had said the same thing, Kevin would have laughed in their faces.
Tim didn’t understand what the difference was. Something wasn’t connecting.
“Do what you gotta do,” Kevin said.
Tim ground his teeth some more. By the end of the night, he’d probably need either a brand-new mouth guard or an appointment to have his crowns repaired.
He pulled into the lot of Heidi’s condo and parked in one of the visitor spaces. He didn’t even know if she was home. Being that it was Saturday night, there was a good chance she was out prowling. Most of the time, he didn’t envy her for having a life.
