Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

" O kay, what's wrong?" Darius said when we were out on the double-lane highway on the way to school in Bearton.

I have no secrets from Darius. I mean, sometimes he's a little bossy, and he likes to make decisions for both of us, but I can handle that and he gives good advice, so I unloaded. "Max is leaving again, heading out to the A.T., and Maggs is hurt. And my mother didn't come down to breakfast which is not like her, she always gets up to make sure Ozzie and I are fed. Maybe she didn't get up because of Max. Maybe she thought it would hurt too much?—"

"Maybe she just wanted to sleep in for the first time in years," Darius said, keeping his eyes on the road because his dad would kill him if he got distracted and caused an accident. His dad is very protective of the public. And Darius. And me. "Your mom always seems pretty chipper to me."

"She's pretty chipper to everybody, " I said, annoyed. "But she's not happy. We used to dance all the time, she'd put on ‘Three Little Birds' every morning and dance while she made breakfast. And she'd make art things, weird wonderful things like her saints. She's not doing any of that anymore. And I'm leaving in the fall for college and Ozzie's gone and she'll have nothing . "

"Pops," Darius started with that "you're overreacting" voice of his, but I overrode him.

"She's always serving people. Max is the first time she's been different, the first time she's been even a little bit selfish, wanting something for herself, and I want her to have him. I mean, she likes him and he's leaving ." I shook my head. "I have to do something about this."

"Poppy," Darius said.

"I just don't know what. "

"Well, keeping in mind that your mom is an adult?—"

" Darius. "

Darius sighed and pulled off the road. Again, if he has an accident arguing with me, his dad will go ballistic. "So what you need to be happy today is this guy Max staying in town."

"Yes."

He nodded and got his phone out of his jacket pocket. A moment later he said, "Dad, I need a favor." He listened for a second and then he said, "Poppy's upset. There's a guy she does not want to leave town. He's at Oddities and will be leaving from there, heading . . ." He looked at me.

"He's heading for the A.T. Going south."

"Heading for the A.T. Going south."

"With a big black dog named Maggs," I added.

"With a big black dog named Maggs." Darius listened and then said to me, "Description."

I leaned toward him and spoke into the phone. "Dark, silent, old, over fifty anyway, crummy clothes, but strong. He threw Junior, the guy that tried to make my mom leave the shop, into the street. The dog's a long-haired black German Shepherd, gorgeous."

Darius took the phone and I moved back into my seat. "Did you get that?" he said to his dad. "Right." He looked at me. "Dad says fifty isn't old."

I rolled my eyes.

"Name?" Darius asked me.

"Max Reddy. "

I heard Darius's dad say something loud, but I couldn't quite get what.

"I think my dad knows him," Darius said, straight-faced, and then he answered his dad again. "No, he hasn't killed anybody that I know of. Threw some loser into the street."

"And turfed out Norman," I said.

"And threw Norman Oswald out of Oddities. Poppy wants this Max to stay with her mom, so I don't think she's scared of him."

"No," I said. "Max is a sweetie."

Darius rolled his eyes at me. "I think my dad has seen a different side of Max." He listened again and then said, "I think Poppy's worried about her mom. Sounds like this Junior guy and Norman are trying to hurt her or something, and Poppy thinks Max can stop them." He listened and then turned to me. "Dad says Max can stop them and anything else that shows up. But he's nobody to mess with, so are you sure you want him to stay?"

"I'm sure." The idea of my mother being with somebody she liked who was nobody to mess with? Hell, yes.

"Go," Darius said into the phone, listened for a minute, and put it back in his pocket. "He's on it."

"You are a wonderful person," I told him and leaned in and kissed him again.

He put his arm around me and smiled at me, that lazy smile that always got me, and said, "You know, we have perfect attendance; we could skip today."

"Have you met your father?"

"Right." He let go and put the car in gear and pulled back on the highway.

I felt better. A lot better. Darius's father was nobody to mess with, either. If he wanted Max to stay, he'd find a way to make that happen. Nonviolently—he was big on nonviolence—which is weird because he looks like somebody who could take out a whole town: big Black guy, muscles and sharp eyes and sharper brain. Very hot for an old guy, although I have not mentioned that to Darius.

Who is also very hot .

It was kind of odd that his dad somehow knew Max. Then again, this was Rocky Start. Odd was our thing.

"We probably don't have to go straight home after school," I said, and he grinned.

"Probably won't," he said cheerfully.

I really love Darius.