Seven #3
To bring the tension down a little, I asked about Chaz’s three boys and Pat’s four girls.
Pat’s oldest was graduating from high school in June, and the idea that her college acceptance letters would be coming soon was freaking Pat out.
Not that he had to worry—I knew Iris was thinking of the University of Chicago, if not for her first choice, then certainly her second.
Apparently, from the grunted replies, the broods of both men were good. What was not was how Kola had been treated by Mr. Parker.
Pat moved over beside me after Kola showed him what had been done. “I would kill anybody who touched one of my girls like that. I’ll talk to the doc, and if he says, yeah, that the injury is consistent with Kola’s story, I’m gonna have this guy picked up. You hear me?”
I nodded.
“Did he threaten you? Kola says you told him to back off.”
“He was too close to the kids. If it had just been me, I wouldn’t have worried.”
He nodded and put a hand on my back lightly. “Kids stay home tomorrow, J, all right?”
“Okay.”
Chaz and Pat walked out to go and find the doctor, and Rick Jenner—my friend Aubrey Jenner’s husband—walked in, followed by two women.
“Oh.” I smiled at him as he walked over to me, hand extended for me to take. “I figured you’d send somebody. I didn’t think the managing partner of Riley, Jenner, Knox, and Pomeroy would be the one in my son’s hospital room.”
He smiled warmly. “It’s actually Jenner Knox now, Mr. Harcourt, and I’m the founding partner; Tobias Knox is the managing partner because I like to golf.”
“I hadn’t heard. Congratulations, Rick.”
“It’s because you and the marshal don’t come to parties that you’re invited to.”
“We don’t live in your tax bracket either.”
He chuckled. “I’ll see you tonight though, right?”
“I dunno. We’ll see how Kola feels.”
“No, Pa,” Kola whined. “I have to go to Auntie Dyl’s. She’s gonna make s’mores on the stove. Micah said it’s awesome.”
Micah—Dylan’s son, her oldest, but closest to Kola in age, only a year younger—often made big plans that his mother had no prior knowledge of.
“We’ll see how you feel, baby.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Let me talk to your lawyer, okay?”
He squinted at me. “Isn’t he Uncle Dane’s friend?”
“Yes, he is,” I told my son before turning back to Rick. “Sorry, tell me what to do.”
“Well, for one, I hope it’s broken because a break will heal faster than a sprain, and what we’re going to do is sue that school to the ground.”
I shook my head. “Oh, no, I just want Mr. Parker not to be able to be near my kid, either of my kids, at all.”
“You want him barred from school property?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “Okay, I can do that. But you’re sure that’s all?”
“And he should pay for this doctor visit, don’t you think?”
“Again,” he sighed, “you’re being very nice. If this were me, I’d sue him for everything he’s got.”
I made a face. “No, you wouldn’t.”
“Yes, I would, but that’s how I am.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“I’ll have papers delivered by one of these nice people with me; this is Theresa Lin and Nadira Kothari.”
I smiled at both women.
“Whoever shows up will go over everything with you, and we’ll get the papers signed and filed. Right now, Theresa will head over to the courthouse to get a restraining order filed.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he echoed me, patting my shoulder.
I was finally starting to feel a little better.
I called Dylan on the way to the loft and explained that Kola’s finger was broken and that I wasn’t sure if I should leave him with her. The plaintive whining in the background notwithstanding, she begged me to drop them off.
“It sounded like fun, and you never go out, and it’s just to your brother’s house and back.”
“Yeah, but what if assassins come to your house after—”
“Really? Assassins? Are you sure they’re not ninjas?”
“This is serious.”
“I get it, but your life always looks like this in one form or another, and I don’t think anyone is coming after you or the kids.
I don’t think Sam would have allowed you to not go into protective custody if that was really the case.
Think about it seriously for a minute as well as what you know of your man. ”
She was right.
“And really, on my street?” She scoffed. “Who has more busybody neighbors than me?”
“Oh yeah, you win,” I muttered under my breath.
“Hello! Mrs. Applebaum and her best buddy, Mrs. Flores? And Mrs. Wong? Dear God.”
“So, you’re saying that my kids would be safe with you?”
“Auntie Dyl, come get me!” Hannah squealed.
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“I just feel like Kola needs—”
“I want s’mores!” my son whimpered. “Auntie Dyl—”
“I hear the chanting of the peanut gallery behind you, by the way.” She snorted out a laugh. “C’mon, baby. Gimme your kids. I promise not to sell them to the circus.”
I started laughing.
“Unless I get a really good price.”
“I hope Chilly didn’t make you crazy.”
“He made the dog insane. I was fine. I have a great picture of him hanging off the end of her nose.”
I groaned. Sheila, Dylan’s Saint Bernard, was nothing if not long-suffering.
“So?”
“Pretty peas, Pa.”
“Please, not peas,” I corrected my daughter.
“Pees.” She started giggling. “Kola pees!”
“Pa! Hannah said I pee!”
“But you do pee. We all do.”
He thought for a second. “Oh yeah.”
“Fine,” I told Dylan, chuckling over my son. “Make sure the ring leader at the circus gives you top dollar.”
Her snort of laughter made me feel normal for the first time all day.