“I heard about your audition. They picked you out of two hundred young actresses.”
“I did the audition on a whim. I couldn’t believe they picked me. All the filming will be in Brooklyn, and it won’t interfere with school in any way.”
“You know I’m going to be visiting the set, right?”
“Come on, Dad. It’s not like I’m a baby.”
“You’re my baby.”
“So I’ll be the only member of the cast who has a chaperone?”
“I don’t know about that.”
She looked at me, thinking I meant I wouldn’t be visiting the set. Instead I said, “Maybe other cast members will have chaperones as well.”
You can’t always be the fun dad.
Chapter 19
No matter how annoyed my children might be with me, it was a rule that we eat dinner together as a family every night. We were lucky to have an excellent chef in Mary Catherine, and recently she had been assisted by Ricky.
Tonight Ricky had shown her how to make a lovely lasagna. I could tell who had made the dinner before they said anything. Mary Catherine focused on meat and potatoes, reflecting her Irish upbringing, while Ricky was developing a talent for seasonings. It was a miracle that I didn’t weigh six hundred pounds.
The other family tradition was my grandfather’s grace before every meal. He had a knack for hitting just the right tone and subject. He spent his days as an administrator at Holy Name, but occasionally he would deliver a sermon, and there were few priests who could match him—though I would never flatter him by saying so.
We all joined hands around the long table, which held an empty chair for Brian. He would stay in Buffalo for at least another few weeks, and I planned to visit regularly.
Seamus started the prayer. “Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this wonderful meal. Thank you for letting us all be here together. Thank you for looking after Michael on his dangerous job and safely bringing him back to us once again.
“Please protect our Brian as he recovers from his injuries. And dear Lord, please look after our beautiful Juliana on her grand adventure.”
Everyone mumbled, “Amen.”
When I raised my eyes, I saw that Juliana was smiling broadly at her great-grandfather. When you’re one of ten children, any extra attention is a big deal.
When she looked across to me, her face returned to a scowl. I understood that. Someone had to be the tough guy.
Sitting next to Juliana, her sister Jane had her back and gave me a similar look. Why not? Whatever they could talk me into letting Juliana do, Jane would be able to get away with soon as well.
At least the acting gig was scheduled around her school and counted toward a course in acting.
I avoided the silent confrontation by looking at Seamus and saying, “Anything big going on at Holy Name? Have to perform any exorcisms? Anything unusual?”
Being a subversive himself, Seamus rarely reacted when I prodded him. As he had often told me, I was a good person, if not necessarily always a good Catholic. That was the important thing.
He said, “Now that you mention it, I do have a new assignment along with all my other duties.”
Mary Catherine said, “What’s that?”
Seamus said, “I’m mentoring a new priest at the church. He was transferred from Bogotá, Colombia. He’s green, but he has some interesting ideas about handling the kids. And I like being able to shape people’s attitudes when they’re new to the priesthood.”
He looked across the table as if challenging me to comment. I refrained from saying how much he liked shaping people’s attitudes about everything.
Chapter 20
Alex Martinez was tired of wasting time on the cop. These big jobs with multiple hits could be draining. She didn’t like juggling hits like this, but she was in it for the money, and this job paid well.
Taking a break from Bennett, she focused on another hit. One of the Canadians she’d been hired to deal with was back in town. She’d spent the day understanding where he went and what he liked to do. There wasn’t much planning to this particular job.