Chapter Sixteen: Third Party
Lucinda
“Mom, can you help me with my science project? It’s a bit hard and I don’t understand some things about the frogs.” Sarah’s vibrant blue eyes were staring back at me seeking an answer.
Answers, I wasn’t sure I could provide. I didn’t have the faintest idea about frogs and what the assignment entailed, but for the sake of my little sweet pea, I wanted to find out. “Tell you what, why don’t we go to the source? Why don’t we go down to the wharf and find out if we can see them for ourselves? Right now I have to get you to school so you won’t be late for class. If we take our flashlights at dusk, we can see if we can hear them at least.”
Sarah’s eyes widened and she jumped in her seat with excitement. “Can we Mom?! I can’t wait to go. Let’s go see!”
Grinning at her enthusiasm, I knew it would at least be good for mother-daughter bonding. “Yes honey, we can go. But we have to plan it. I will ask your dad.” I picked up my cell phone from the counter checking on the time. “Let’s get those little legs moving to the car because we are running out of time. School will be starting soon. We want to miss the traffic.”
Sarah grabbed her backpack swinging from side to side. “Traffic, schmaffic. Traffic schmaffic,”she chanted, causing me to giggle.
Sarah and I made our way out of the door to the car and sang all the way to school with the radio. I pulled up outside.
She then peered up at me. “Mom, do you like Dad?”
My gaze remained forward over the steering wheel. These types of questions were inevitable. “I do like your father. He’s a nice man. We like each other.” Chalk and I were building trust, and despite the situation he was dealing with at the club, I was able to spend more time with Sarah and develop our bond. Chalk had loosened the reins.
“If two people like one another, then they should be together,” Sarah said firmly. “They should live in the same house, especially if they have a child. All my friends have two parents.” She put a little finger to her rose colored lips and batted her eyes at me a few times. “Oh wait, Gina doesn’t. She only has her Mom. Her Dad died.”
I recognized what she was doing…emotional guilt tripping 101. My lips lifted a bit in amusement. Kids learned so much so early and there was no way to stop it. “Honey, all that matters is that both your mother and your father love you, whether we like one another or not. I do like your father very much.” I didn’t take it any further. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to explain and I wanted to work on how to explain it to her. Something I needed to get on a united front on.
“Okay Mom, I believe you. I think Dad likes you too. He always smiles when he says your name.”
“Does he?” Now, a full smile came to my lips, content with the fact that Chalk did care about our relationship and was willing to grow it.
Her head moved from side to side like one of those clowns at the fairgrounds. “Yup. All the time.”
“You’re the best, kid. I love you.”
“I love you too. I have to go. I want to ask my teacher about the frogs. There’s one species I’ve seen that I don’t know about.” Sarah’s arms reached out to hug my neck.
I hugged her back, kissing her forehead. “Okay. Bye, sweety, have a nice day.”
“I will, Mom.” Sarah opened the door and stepped out to join the other kids running onto the school grounds.
The pressure in my stomach from my inquisitive child terrified me. Sometimes I didn’t know if I was being a good mother or not. I guessed my thinking was the same as most loving parents. Did I do a good enough job? Was it right what I told her? My only wish was that Sarah didn’t grow to resent me for not being there in her formative years.
School drop-off was always perpetual chaos as cars ducked in and out of spaces wanting to drop and go while kids darted in between trying to get to their friends before class to talk to them. This part of parenting is what I dreaded. I was due at Chalk’s for a coffee to talk about the upcoming parent/teacher night he wanted me to attend with him.
Less than five minutes later, I arrived at Chalk’s house. He opened the door and I could see the newspaper on the table. “That the article?” I asked as he looked up at me.
“Yep. It’s damn good too. Should see the write-up on me and my pool skills. ‘Undefeated pool veteran runs an open competition that operates weekly with a large prize. He invites others to come in and test their skills against him.’” Chalk closed up the paper, handing it to me to read with a proud look on his face. “Might bring more people to Wheelz and finally give me some real competition to deal with.”
Secretly, I felt glad because he wouldn’t be working with that headstrong chick Angie anymore. Something about her that still rubbed me the wrong way. The story I told myself was that I was over it, but deep down, if I saw her again, I knew I would probably turn my back on her. “I wish I knew how to play pool so I could beat you. You’re a little too smug.” I took the paper from Chalk.
His cobalt eyes danced with mischief. He leaned over the paper, crushing it a little to plant a kiss on my lips. “You’re lucky you’re sexy. Helps your cause,” he teased and laughed.
I smirked and read the paper. “Holbeck’s Heroes Come On Two Wheels. Interesting title. Hmm.” Small dig, but I kept reading and found I couldn’t stop. All of the things I didn’t know about the club and their history were coming to light, and the more I read the article the more fascinating it became. The details about the chilling information on Rocky and his involvement in the death of the mystery body floating in the Mississippi River. Silence ran the room as I devoured every word.
Chalk had been looking at other documents he had laid out on the table.
“This is really good,” I commented after finishing. “She did an amazing job, great write up on you too.”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect the level of detail. I hope that part about the murder link will get rid of Rocky showing up. He wasn’t at the pool game last week and that was before the article came out. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”
I nodded. “Reading this article, it pretty much points to him, so if he does try to come back, it’s going to be warfare. The way she’s painted it is clever, and it makes it sound like he killed the guy. Thing is, I'm worried for her. If you write something like this, you have to think about the consequences. This Rocky guy could come after her. I’m sure he’s going to. He wouldn’t let this go, would he?” I questioned. My concern didn’t run that deep, but I did wonder what the club’s thoughts were.