“Not please. I was thinking something like, ‘Gee, Aaron, can your balls dumb down things for my balls? I’d be ever so grateful to know how babies are made.’ Yeah, something like that.”
Farah was rolling around on the floor and no help to Cooper who clearly wasn’t saying what I suggested. Lark finally unlocked the door and smiled at Cooper who exhaled like a pissed bull.
“You’re welcome,” she said, grinning.
“For what?”
“I talked Aaron out of mocking you as badly as he wanted. This was the tame version. So you’re welcome.”
Cooper shook his head and finally smiled. “I’m happy for you guys. In fact, now Farah and I can practice on your kid and get our fuckups out of the way before ours comes along.”
“Screw that,” I said, patting his shoulder. “That’s what Tucker’s kid’s for.”
“Hell yeah,” Farah said, finally on her feet again. “We’ll get all our parenting kinks out with Scarlet. Maddy knows what she’s doing and can fix what we break.”
Cooper smiled at me while Farah gave Lark a hug. “Has she seen pics of you as a kid?”
Humor gone, I flipped him off and he laughed. “That’s what I thought. Just wait until the sun comes out tomorrow.”
“Asshole.”
Cooper laughed all the way to the kitchen where the steaks waited. Soon, the grill was hot and we were eating. Farah and Lark talked babies while Cooper and I talked powerful sperm. Eventually, we just talked about RVing around the country one day with our kids.
Road tripping to the Grand Canyon was on my mind when Lark and I arrived home. My happy dreams were ruined the moment I noticed Deputy Dickhead sitting on my porch swing.
“Lame,” Lark whispered, climbing out of the car and taking my hand.
“What do you want?” I asked him in a hard voice. “And get off my porch.”
“I’m here on police business.”
“Where’s your uniform?” I asked, eyeing his Branson tee.
“You know anything about Larry Clark’s Corvette?”
Staring into his dark eyes, I smiled. “I heard the asshole torched it for the insurance. You mean like that?”
“His stepdaughter moved in with you then his car was destroyed. Seems like too much of a coincidence.”
“That’s the thing about the law,” Lark said, her arms wrapped about my waist. “Things can seem one way, but it doesn’t matter unless you’ve got proof.”
“What makes you think I can’t prove Barnes torched your dad’s car?”
“Because you showed up wearing your dorky shirt, instead of a badge and handcuffs.”
Dickhead started to mouth off. I could see in his eyes he planned to make a snide comment and that wasn’t happening.
“Get the fuck off my property and don’t come back unless you’ve got a warrant. Since you’ll never get one, let’s be strangers from now on. Now leave or I’m calling the cops.”
Deputy Dickhead wanted to say something. He opened his mouth to say it, but Lark walked past him to unlock the door. The fucker gave me a dirty look, but he left. Despite all his strutting around, the cops knew who ran Ellsberg and it wasn’t them.
Chapter Thirty Five - Lark
Larry didn’t approve of Denny’s. He claimed it was a trashy restaurant for drunks and bikers. His dislike suited me just fine since I didn’t want him visiting. Yet, I always had a soft spot for Denny’s. Growing up, my mom would bring us to eat there occasionally. We mostly went around the holidays when she didn’t want to cook, but wanted us to have a nice dinner. Years later, Denny’s still stirred happy memories of a childhood often filled with not so pleasant days. Those holidays were the best and I remembered how much Phoenix liked the chicken nuggets. He would giggle when eating them and my little brother had a wonderful laugh.
My mind was on kids again when I noticed my mother waiting to be seated. She looked more tired and older than normal. Her hair wasn’t fixed up and her makeup seemed rushed. Of course, the spring brought unexpected heat with it and Mom was used to lounging in the air-conditioned house most days.
“Hi,” I said, grabbing a menu. “Are you meeting someone here?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
Glancing around, I saw the restaurant was pretty quiet. After asking another waitress to watch my area, I took my mom to a quiet spot and hoped she hadn’t come to give me an ultimatum. There was nothing I wanted from her anyway.
“How are you?” I asked when she stared out the window.
“Larry is angered by your selfishness. He thinks I raised you poorly. Maybe he’s right, but I do understand why you’ve run off. You and Raven are Hancock women and we have a way of leading with our hearts and never our brains.”
“Aaron is a good man. I won’t listen to you say otherwise.”
“One of my first loves was an artist,” Mom said, smiling wistfully. “So full of passion and creativity and I was attracted to it all. I imagined a long life with him. It lasted eight months and the last four were awful. Do you know why?”