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I wink at her knowing she means it not just about Red Oak, but our new life in general.
It isn’t until the plane is lifting off the ground that I remember exactly what I was doing before Trotter’s text came.
Cash.
In my panic to get to the airport because I thought someone was dying or had been in an accident, I forgot to text or call him to tell him what’s going on. And I can’t do anything about it now because we’re about to be in the air.
Damn it. I was really looking forward to spending some time with Cash, learning what he’s been up to since we first met almost sixteen years ago.
I think about how I’ll explain that I got a text and forgot all about him and our plans. Maybe I can blame Trotter. Technically, it was a mis-use of the 9-1-1 text because this isn’t a life-or-death situation, though my mother might argue that. Rather, my motherwillargue that. She’ll be fit to be tied to say the least.
So will my dad, but he’ll be far more understanding than she will be.
What Dorothy said earlier about suing the city and police department isn’t far off. She’ll fail, obviously, but she’ll try her damnedest to pass the blame onto everyone else and make them suffer for her mistake.
I watch out the window as we speed through the air to get to Nashville, where I have to bail my parents out of jail, and hysterical laughter bursts out of me.
Dorothy gives me a knowing look and grins. Brooklyn looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“You okay over there?”
“Just dandy,” I say, wiping the tears from my eyes. “I can’t believe this, though.”
“Do you think Grandma will be wearing an orange jumpsuit? Or one of those striped black and white ones like in the old movies?”
That image does absolutely nothing to help my laughter calm down.
“Oh gosh, I really hope so.”
She smiles. “Me, too.”
“What were they up to?” Dorothy wonders.
“No idea. I assumed they went back to Chicago after they left Red Oak. Their little detour must have been spare of the moment since the plane was still in Gatlinburg.”
The rest of the short flight to Nashville is fairly quiet and it isn’t until we touch down that Brooklyn says to me, “Mom?”
“Hmm?”
“Weren’t you supposed to go out with Cash tonight?”
“I was, yes. And I forgot to tell him we had an emergency and I needed to leave town.”
She pulls an eek face and says, “Better text him when you can.”
“I will,” I promise.
Unfortunately, the minute we get off the plane, we’re surrounded by chaos.
The car Trotter said would be waiting is having some sort of engine trouble because the hood is up and there are three men staring down at the engine with a perplexed look on their faces.
“Sorry, ma’am. Not sure what’s going on and none of us are mechanical so we’re going to have to have it towed somewhere.”
“That’s not a problem. I can call an Uber.”
“We can have another car here in fifteen minutes.”
“No need,” I assure them.
