"You serious?" Patrick asked incredulously. "You really want to park your car over at the Stadium?"
"Why not?" I asked. "I'm sure we'll get a good spot. You said Gene got us box seats, right?"
"Yeah, although they're technically in your name," Patrick replied. "Something about donations to politicians or something. I didn't realize the rules were that strict, but I'm cool with it. Guess I'm going to have start paying my bar tab too."
"Most likely," I said with a chuckle. "If I can ask, why are you still driving that old beater anyway?"
"Well, in good weather I drove a moped for years, and I kind of enjoy it, the open air and all. Since then though, I just haven't had the time to go car shopping. I don't even drive this thing to work that often, I'd probably just get harassed by the other city workers."
"Well, let me go grab my keys, we'll take the SUV," I replied, turning and heading back inside. "If you don't mind, my house staff can watch your car."
Ducking inside, I saw Mark standing close to the door, looking out the small side window. "Well?"
"I'll keep an eye on the car," Mark said with a smile. "You have your phone and everything, right?"
"Don't have the gun, but you haven't taught me how to shoot it yet anyway,” I wisecracked. "But yes I'm going to be careful. If anything, it's just a football game."
"I know, but still," Mark said. "Tell you what, let me get his keys from him."
I rolled my eyes and nodded. "Okay, I'll take an extra thirty seconds getting the keys for the SUV. I'll even pull it out so that he doesn't get a look at that electric motorcycle of yours."
I left Mark and headed into the kitchen, which connected to the garage area. Sophie was sipping some cocoa and smiled. "He's just being overprotective, you know how he can be."
"I know. It's actually kinda cool," I remarked, leaning over and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Just tell him I'll be home by nine, unless the game goes to overtime. Until then, you can become reacquainted with your old car."
"Don't worry, we won't break in the back seat, that car is way too small for that," Sophie replied. "Tabby?"
"Yeah?"
"Be careful."
"I will. Love you guys," I said, grabbing the keys from the hook board by the door and going into the garage. Pulling around, I saw Mark and Patrick in conversation, Mark holding the keys to the car in his hand. It was interesting, as I realized for the first time that Patrick was a little bit taller and bigger than Mark.
"Hey guys. Patrick, this is Mathew Bylur, one of my staff. Mathew, this is Patrick McCaffery."
"We were just getting introduced," Mark said, turning. From the corner of his mouth, the side that was hidden from Patrick with the way he was turned, he gave me a sort of half smile, which I took as a good sign. "I promised the Councilman I'd take care of his car while you two were gone. Would you like me to give it a wash?"
"No thanks, really," Patrick replied. "I'm still embarrassed enough to be driving my date's car to the game."
I shut off the engine and got out. "If you want, I'll drive. We can be very women's empowerment around here if you want."
The stadium was only half full when we got there, but then again it was only a preseason game. The Spartans were coming off a so-so season, and our city's always been rather fickle in terms of fan support. When the Spartans do well, games were packed and just about everyone was wearing Spartan shirts. Meanwhile, when the Spartans were in the division basement, you couldn't find a Spartan shirt just about anywhere, and massive amounts of tickets had to be comped out and papered over to avoid broadcaster blackout rules.
Since the Spartans had picked up some pretty hot free agent talent in the offseason, and were sporting a third year running back that had done some pretty good stuff when he took over as the starter last season, fans were giving the Spartans a chance this year, and we actually had to wait a few minutes in line before we got through the gate. Once inside however, we were greeted by a VIP usher who led us up to our box. We got there about ten minutes before they did the pre-game activities and settled in.
"So what do you think?" Patrick asked, looking down on the three quarters full stadium. "I'll be honest, I've never been able to sit up in one of these."
"I got to watch a game last season," I admitted to him, "just after I started working with Marcus Smiley. It was when I was an intern at Taylor & Hardwick's, and they gave me tickets as a reward for bringing them so much business. Although it wasn't as private as this, we had to share with ten other people."
I could tell Patrick was obviously a bit deflated, he had hoped to impress me, and I reached over, patting his knee. "Don't sweat it, money doesn't impress me, Patrick. Although this is a nice gesture. I appreciate the effort you went through more than any dollar amount."
Patrick looked me in the eyes, a small smirk on his lips. "This is certainly going to be different."