Chapter Sixteen

Cash

I chuckle, I do love my dad. He has successfully distracted my mom and saved me from having to come up with a reply which would have meant that I wasn’t lying. I try not to lie to my parents too often if I can help it. I lie to them far more often than I actually want to.

“Sorry baby,” mom says. “What I meant to say was, are you okay and having a nice time?”

I laugh again, “Yeah, Mom, we are all good; we’re just listening to music.”

“Okay, well, make sure you get some sleep soon. I know you don’t have school at the moment, but if you get your sleep schedule out of whack now, you are going to find it harder to get back into the routine of school when you go back.”

The guys laugh this time.

“Kat, you have been telling us that every summer since we started school,” Riot points out fondly.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that it has now become one of those things that we will be saying to our own kids at this point,” Jensen adds.

She laughs, “Well, I just want to make sure that you guys get enough sleep. Besides, am I wrong?”

“No, Mom, you’re not,” I reply honestly.

“Well then,” she says proudly and then adds, “hi boys, are you all okay?”

“We’re good,” Trick replies with a smile.

“Are you having a good time mom?” I ask, and then add, “how’s dad?”

“I’m good!” Dad yells, “I’m waiting for your mother to hurry up so we can go dancing.”

I smile, “Sorry, Dad, we’ll go.”

“Don’t you dare,” Mom says and then shouts to my dad, “you can wait. I’m talking to my baby.”

“Mom, really, It’s okay,” I reply, knowing that I need her to want to end this conversation pretty quickly because we’re in a car following some dangerous guy, and we are most likely going to have to get out and do something when he stops, and that something is probably not something that my mom is going to need to hear.

“No, I want to talk to you. I feel like we have been gone for ages,” Mom replies.

“It’s only been a few days,” I remind her, “you will be back in three days, which is not long at all. Are you having fun?” I ask her again, since dad distracted her the first time and she didn’t answer.

She becomes animated, and less in mom mode as she replies, “Yes, it’s been lovely to get away. We had dinner at this gorgeous little Italian bistro place, and they were actually really authentic.”

Mom is a bit of a snob when it comes to Italian food, whereas Dad, who is half Italian and half American, really couldn’t care so long as it tastes good. It has been an amusing argument between them for as long as I can remember.

“That’s good,” I reply. I’m trying to keep my tone light, but I am aware that any minute now the guy we are following could turn off or stop and then we’re in trouble. If I end the conversation quickly mom is going to become suspicious.

“We went to see loads of sights, too,” she continues, entirely in the swing of storytelling mode now. “There was this amazing bookshop, not in the touristy part of town, that I bought some books from. We spent hours there, and I picked up gifts for the others as well.”

She just carry’s on talking and telling me all about what they have been up to, and while I listen and hum in all the right places, I share a concerned look with the others. We are all aware of how long my mom can talk for when she gets going.

I’m trying to think of a way to get her off the phone without her getting offended and realizing that’s what I’m trying to do. If I say anything that sounds vaguely like a problem, then she is going to panic and send some of the other parents over to check on us just to be safe, as she likes to call it.

I have got to be really careful about how I get her to go. The last thing that we need is for her to be worried.

“I found this beautiful scarf for Jenny that I know she’s going to love,” she continues happily, “oh and in that bookstore, I was telling you about, I found a signed first edition of one of Rich’s favorite books. So of course I had to get it for him.”

“My dad?” Jensen asks.

“Yeah, of course; who else would I be talking about,” Mom replies teasingly and then carries on. “Oh, and we found a cheese shop, and they had some really interesting combinations, so I am bringing some home, and I thought we would all have a cheese and wine night. Obviously, you boys won’t be having the wine, but you can definitely try the cheeses, we will make it into a whole thing, oh maybe we can make it into a themed thing,” she pauses and yells to my dad, “Marc, wouldn’t that be good? We could make it into a thirties theme or something and get everyone to dress up.”

“Yes dear,” Dad replies, sounding amused, “that sounds great. Why don’t you call Jenny and Lily, I’m sure that they would love to help you plan that.”

“You’re just saying that so that you don’t have to help me plan,” Mom replies.

“I would never,” Dad replies with fake incredulity, and it makes both my mom and me laugh.

“You so would,” she replies. “But as it turns out, I would much rather plan the party with Jenny and Lily than I would with you anyway.”

“See, really, I’m thinking of you.” Dad replies, and I can just picture his grin.

“You are not,” Mom replies. “Oh, we could do chutneys and things as well.”

“Yes, that actually sounds quite nice,” Dad replies.

I wince. He has definitely opened himself up for a retort from my mom phrasing it like that.

Right on cue she says, “Oh? You sound surprised, do you not usually like my party ideas?”

She pretends she is offended like this quite often and every time she does it my dad falls for it and then they both end up giggling like teenagers. I am incredibly lucky to have parents that really truly love each other like they do.

Predictably, my dad immediately starts to grovel, “Kat, you know that’s not what I meant. I love your parties.”

“Do you think they are even aware that we’re still here?” Jensen stage whispers out of the side of his mouth.

I shake my head and chuckle, “Probably not. But we all know that if I hang up on her, I face a fallout of epic proportions.”

The guys all wince, and I am relatively glad that the target that we are following is still driving and hasn’t tried to pull over yet. I just hope that he carries on for as long as it takes my mom to remember that I am still here. If past experience is anything to go by, then it hopefully won’t take her too much longer to remember. Although Dad is usually the one that reminds her that I’m here, and he is currently preoccupied with groveling to my mother, so he may not remember for a while yet.

I start to get twitchy.

We have been traveling for a fair amount of time now and this road is so quiet, especially at this time that we are really risking him realizing that we are following him. If he hasn’t already.

The only way we will know for certain is if he pulls over and waits for us to pass, which is a dangerous way to check if someone is following you, but is pretty much his only option out here since it’s not like you can drive in a circle like you would in a town or city.

“Kat,” I hear Dad say, having listened to them burst out laughing, “Cash is still on the phone.”

“Oh merda,” she curses in Italian, “Cash, honey, I am so sorry. I saw an opportunity to wind your father up and I took it.”

“That’s okay mom,” I reply, and then add, “it really is getting late now though, I think the guys want to watch a film and you were supposed to be going dancing.”

“Oh, you’re right,” she replies, “night baby, love you.”

“Night!” my dad yells.

“Night, guys, love you.”

With that they both finally hang up the phone and just in time to.

Trick’s eyebrows raise, “Well, that was good timing; he’s literally just made a turn.”

“Slow down a minute and I’ll see if I can find it on maps and see what’s down there, we don’t want to be turning into a private driveway,” I say, my fingers already doing the task.