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Not ‘his’ son.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’m honestly a little paranoid about even being near a window,” I admitted.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that, at least,” he said, waving toward the windows at our side. “They’re mirrored. In the daytime, no one can see inside. And the backyard is safe too. There’s a stockade fence and then lines of evergreens that stretch a few feet above that.”
Maybe it should have felt like trading one prison for another. But the difference here was, Aurelio was offering us safety. Not bars to keep us in, but to keep others out.
“Shit,” he said when his phone buzzed on the counter. “Sorry,” he added, wincing over at Judah.
He went to his phone, his face getting tenser as he read.
Then, with a deep sigh, he tucked the phone in his pocket, then found a notepad and pen, and brought it to me.
“What’s this for?”
“I need a list of what you are going to need while you’re here,” he said. “Sizes. For you and Judah. Obviously, he needs a crib. Some toys. Books. But if there’s anything else I’m not thinking of, write it down. Big or small. And food. I always have food here, but if he has any preferences that I don’t have…”
“This is too much,” I said, my mind spinning with just how much we would actually need if we were staying more than a day or two. And how much that would all cost.
It was different with Warren.
I picked out and demanded tons of stuff for Judah, things he didn’t even need, out of spite. Wanting to make him hurt a little, even if it was just in his pockets.
To that, Aurelio sat and thought for a second, likely knowing that a basic assurance that it was no big deal wouldn’t set my mind at ease.
Finally, he looked back at me and said, “Let’s put it this way. Because of you, a deal that would have made me a hundred or so grand richer has now made me almost four hundred grand richer. You deserve to spend a chunk of that windfall, don’t you think?”
Well, when he put it that way, I did feel a lot less guilty about it.
“Okay,” I said, nodding.
“Okay. Here,” he said, taking the pen, and jotting his number down on it.
“Oh, uh, I don’t have a phone,” I said.
I’d gotten so accustomed to that over the past two years. It was hard to believe I used to be so attached to mine.
“I have that covered,” he said. “Give me one second,” he added, then made his way out of the room.
“Can we clean up, buddy?” I asked when Judah abandoned the toys, and came over to me. “Like the little kitten book?” I added, knowing he loved that one where the kittens learned to clean up all their toys after they got so piled up that there was no room to even play anymore.
Judah pouted but went over to his cups, getting lost in them again, and forgetting all about cleaning up.
Aurelio came back, ripping open a box, pulling out the contents, checking the interior of said box, then handing it to Judah, who took it eagerly, using it to start stacking with.
“Alright, phone is covered,” he said, placing the phone down on the table next to a card with what seemed like a lot of minutes on it. “You just have to add the minutes,” he added, reaching for his own phone, and jotting down my new phone number.
It was a burner phone, of course.
Warren and his men used and tossed them all the time.
But this was a nice one. Looking similar to the expensive-seeming phone Aurelio was holding. Access to the internet and everything I might need to try to figure out my next moves.
A lifeline to the whole world, that was what a phone was.
“So once you set it up, snap a picture of your list, and send it to me. I will get it all handled before I come home. I have a…meeting today. But it won’t be more than an hour, and I can focus on getting you guys what you need.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling a little dazed.
