Chapter 15 A Different Idea #3
He chuckled and leaned toward her. “Woman, I don’t know when your sister’s comin’ home, and I don’t think she needs to walk into the house and hear me fuckin’ you. Agreed?”
A cross between a frown and a grimace pulled at her lips and he nearly laughed. “Yeah, that might require therapy and I don’t need another bill.”
“Right. Then we need to get dressed and deal with those boxes you mentioned.”
She draped her arm over her eyes. “Ugh. There’s like twelve boxes out there, and the ones on the bottom are heavy. I have no idea where we’ll put them if we move them.”
He lifted her arm off her face, and lowered his weight onto her while cupping her cheek with his free hand. “We’ll figure it out, sweetheart. But to do that, we gotta get up first.”
She stared up at him with those warm brown eyes. “You’re right. Let’s tackle this project.”
Five minutes later, they hit the button to open the garage door to let out some of the heat.
“Middle of the day in late June isn’t the best time do something like this,” she muttered.
He wandered to the boxes and did a quick count. “Yeah, but there’s only ten here. Do you know what’s in ‘em?”
“No, and I keep forgetting to ask Cat if she knows.”
Punc pulled one of the smaller boxes off the top of the stack and opened it. “What the hell? Why does your mom have a box full of empty backpacks?”
Savannah sidled up to him. “Let me see one of those.” She pulled a bag wrapped in clear cellophane out and frowned. “I wish Cat were here. I swear these are the trendy backpacks all of her friends had at the end of the school year.”
“Okay, but why would your mom have a whole box of them?” he asked, pulling down another box that was the same size.
He lifted the lid and found more empty backpacks inside.
Savannah held the bag up for closer inspection. “Let me grab my phone. This says Sprayglow…but I swear that’s the wrong name. Mainly because Cat gave me so much grief when she first told me about these. I couldn’t keep the name straight.”
Punc shook his head. “Hold on a sec. Let’s see what’s in the larger boxes. I’m thinking you can stash these backpacks in your room or something.”
She tucked the bag into the first box while he grabbed another box from the stack.
This one was a little heavier, but still felt like whatever was in it was lightweight.
He set the box on the floor, opened the flap, and reared back.
Inside were a bunch of stuffed dolls with large rabbit-like ears and in-set plastic faces featuring a creepy grin with nine large square teeth peeking out.
“What the hell kind of doll is that? And why does it look familiar?” he asked.
Savannah laughed. “That’s a Labubu and it looks familiar because your niece has one compliments of Catalina and Mom. They bought one for her at Christmas right when they became all the rage. If I’m not mistaken, it cost around seventy bucks.”
“Are you shitting me?” he asked.
She shook her head and peered into the box. “I’m not, but something tells me these aren’t the real deal because part of the fun is the surprise of unboxing them.”
Her tone had shifted, but he couldn’t put his finger on what was going through her mind.
“Was your mom runnin’ a side hustle?”
Savannah glanced at him with a dour look on her face. “I doubt it, but Dad might have been.”
He turned his head a touch. “Fences normally move shit with higher ticket prices, babe.”
She tipped her head to concede his point. “Yeah, but Dad’s never been very good at being a fence. My every instinct says these boxes are his.”
The boxes on the bottom of the stack were taller and wider. He tipped his head toward them. “Let’s check those and see what else we’re dealing with.”
She nodded.
Punc slid another box aside, and found the bottom box was taped. He pulled his keys from his pocket and cut the tape. A variety of pastel colored water bottles sat inside. Except these weren’t bottles, they appeared to be Stanley cups that were hot ticket items over a year ago.
Savannah huffed out a humorless laugh and grabbed one of the cups. “Oh, yeah, this has to belong to Dad.”
“You don’t know that for sure, babe. Your parents were divorced. Why would this shit be stashed here?”
Her head tilted. “Dad lives in a trailer in a somewhat rough part of town. He doesn’t have the space to keep the boxes and definitely can’t keep them secure. I don’t know what all this might have cost, but if Mom got that loan for Dad…I could see this being the reason why.”
Punc narrowed an eye at her. “Do you really think he convinced your mom to take out a loan for tens of thousands so he could get boxes full of backpacks, water bottles, and the creepiest dolls I’ve seen, probably ever?”
She shot him a wan smile. “To be fair, the name brand versions of all of those products are the hottest items right now…well, except the cups. He’s a year or two late on that. Dad never was an early adopter.”
He shook his head. “What are you talking about? All of these things have name brands on them, Savannah.”
She chuckled. “Take a closer look. Stanley cups have their logo printed on them, but this logo says ‘Standard’. Obviously wrong. Same with the backpacks. I know Sprayglow isn’t the right name.
I’m pretty sure it should be Sprayground.
Dad is the epitome of Rita’s favorite old adage, ‘He knows just enough to be dangerous.’ He knew what was hot…
he just didn’t have the exact brand names. ”
“This is messed up, babe,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“That’s my family, Ted. Are you sure you want me to be your woman, now that all the cards are on the table?”
He swung an arm out at the boxes, knocking a Labubu doll to the floor. “This doesn’t reflect on you, baby. Until this afternoon, you didn’t have the first clue what the hell was in these boxes. Your dad’s a fuck-up. That’s on him, not you.”
“But the debt is on me. And he’s still a criminal,” I said in a soft voice.
He widened his eyes. “That doesn’t reflect on you either.
Hell, it impresses me to no end that you’re so much better than he’s ever been.
You’re bustin’ your ass to cover this shit, and that’s who you are.
You do your damnedest to do the right thing.
No offense, babe, but I don’t think Doug’s done the right thing in decades - if ever. ”
She stared up at him. “Thanks, honey, but it doesn’t change that fact Dad has a way of dragging us Smythe girls down with him.”
Punc shook his head. “That shit stops now. He’s not dragging you down ever again. Not to doubt your instincts, babe, but it’s better to be certain about it.”
Her eyes widened and she nodded. “Yeah, and I’m gonna go call Dad right now. Let him know I’m clearing out Mom’s house and I found her dolls, her brand-new bags, and her extensive drinkware collection, but I’m not into pastels. I’m pretty sure he’ll get the gist and finally call me back.”
“You do that. I’m gonna move the boxes inside and pull your car and my bike into the garage. Then we can take a shower together because I’m already drenched in sweat and it’s hotter than Satan’s asscrack out here.”