Chapter 10
Connor fell right into the roll that the Hendersons had wanted and more importantly, what Tabiq needed. It wasn’t security that he handled, but they didn’t have a drug enforcement division there either. The police department was still being trained, or better yet, re-trained to do things by the book.
It had been almost three months since he arrived in Tabiq and they weren’t any closer to having a force up and running. He agreed with the Hendersons, it shouldn’t be run by outsiders, but it was going to take time to weed out who could be bought and who couldn’t.
With the resort up and running, that meant tourists were starting to come more frequently. Actually, since he’s been there, the resort has been full. Good for business. Great for the staff working there, but it also meant a heightened alert regarding contraband as well. The Tabiqian people had enough hurdles to overcome. They didn’t need to add drugs to the list.
“I should only be gone a week, maybe two,” Connor said to Alex.
“You’re about to be an uncle. Take the time you need. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn to like it,” Alex said.
“Why does everyone think I don’t like kids?” he asked.
“I’m going to go with the face you make every time one runs up to you.”
“Damn. Is it that bad?” he asked. Alex nodded. “I don’t dislike them. I’m…just not good with them.”
“And you know this how?” Alex asked.
“Do you know you’re as bad as your brother Shaun? What is it with all the questions?”
Alex laughed. “Wow, I’m that bad? I’m going to have to work on that. But that doesn’t mean you can avoid the question. I mean, you say you’re not good with them, so I’m just looking for proof.”
Connor didn’t want to say. It was ridiculous. But also it was traumatizing for him. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Since your flight doesn’t leave for an hour, I guess you have time to tell me.”
“In high school do you remember having to take a parenting class?”
“I’m not sure we went to the same school. But no, I don’t remember one of those.”
“Well they made everyone take the class. It was supposed to prepare you to be a parent someday.”
Alex said, “Nothing prepares you for that.”
“Well I failed the class. The only class I’ve ever failed,” Connor stated.
“Is that like failing gym or art? Because who fails those?” he asked.
“Me.”
“Okay, spill it. What did you do to fail?” Alex asked.
“First they gave us an egg to watch,” he said.
“A chicken egg?”
“Yes. And we were supposed to protect it. And make sure nothing happened to it.”
“So what did you do? Drop it?” Alex asked.
“That would’ve been easy. I decided the best place to keep the egg safe, was in the refrigerator. I forgot to tell my mother about the assignment. I think we ate it in a cake the next day. Not good.”
Alex chuckled. “Yeah. I can see that as an instant F for a grade. But you’re not going to put a kid in a fridge so I think you’re safe.”
“Nope. Not done. Next one, we needed to carry this stupid doll around with us all the time. I had a date with one of the girls in another class. We went back to her house and made out in her room.”
“You got her pregnant?” Alex asked.