P.S. Your ceiling fan is noisy as hell.
Letty’s heart sped as she read the note, but immediately calmed when she saw that Miles had just gone out for a little while. If there was anyone that she trusted enough to handle her son, Gabriel, it was Miles. Calming down a little, Letty put the note on her dresser and opened her bedroom door. Miles was right. They were back before Letty had even opened her eyelids. The obnoxious sounds of The Wiggles belted from the TV in the living room, as the quartet of brightly dressed men sang G’s favorite tune “Hot Potato.” G was sitting in the middle of the living room in his wooden rocking chair, laughing loudly at his television program. Miles, who was sitting next to him on the rug, stared at the TV with a bewildered look on his face.
“Kid’s shows have gotten much, much worse since the eighties… Holy shit,” Miles griped as he peered up to Letty as she walked down the stairs, one by one.
“That’s his favorite,” Letty said with a laugh. “It could be worse. At least he grew out of his Barney the Dinosaur phase.”
Miles remembered the purple singing dinosaur well. His brother, Landon, was more than a little obsessed with Barney.
“Thank God,” Miles said with a laugh. “Did you sleep all right?” he asked Letty, his eyes looking bright despite the two hours of sleep he managed to capture.
“Very well. You did not, though,” Letty said with a raised set of eyebrows.
Miles shrugged. “I take what I can get.”
“So you got new threads, huh?” Letty said as she admired Miles’s new jeans, boots and black Henley.
“Yeah… Got some stuff for the kid, too.”
Letty tried to think of what it was that G could possibly need, but when nothing came to mind, Letty asked.
“What did you get him?”
“Go ahead, G. Show Mommy your new kicks.”
With a happy smile on his face, G rose from his rocking chair and toddled over to his mother at the foot of the stairs.
“Look! Boots!”
Letty laughed at her son as she admired the tiny biker boots that adorned his feet. They were almost identical to the ones that Miles was wearing.
“Ha! They’re adorable!” Letty said with a broad grin on her face. Then looking up at Miles she said sheepishly, “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to. Me and G, we’re buddies. Right kid?”
“Right, dude!”
“See?” Miles said with a smirk. “Now go get dressed. We’re starving.”
“Okay, let me just get a quick shower.”
“Hungry ma!”
“Okay, okay! I’m hurrying!” Letty said as she ran back up the stairs. A moment later the bathroom door slammed shut as Letty began to get ready.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
KNOX CAPADONNO pulled up outside La Veranda Café with a stony look in his eyes. Stepping out of the car, he shook out his suit jacket, casting a glare up at the building. Glancing around him, Knox keenly eyed his surroundings, making sure that he wasn’t being trailed. The Carrion Strip shopping center was relatively empty. There were just a few shoppers carrying shopping bags to their cars. An elderly woman wearing a thick overcoat pushed a shopping cart towards the grocery store. Satisfied with the lack of traffic out and about on a Saturday at ten a.m., Knox walked through the front door of the café. In his breast pocket, his cell phone began to vibrate. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and brought it to his ear.
“Yeah…” Knox said as he answered the call.
Dustin’s deep voice rattled through the end of the phone. “Yo, you still in town?”
Knox winked at the barista as he held his cell phone to his ear.
“Yeah. I’m in town ’til Monday morning. I’m due back in New York on Tuesday,” Knox said with a short tone. “Why, whaddya need?”
“Old fucker’s gone off his rocker… again,” Dustin complained. “Threw his motherfucking glass of orange juice against the wall. This weekend nurse… She didn’t cook his eggs like Letty does. When the girl got sassy and said, technically, it wasn’t her job to cook for him, he fired her. Bitch just ran out of the house screaming.”
Knox broke into laughter, loudly cackling into the phone.
“It’s not fuckin’ funny, Knox!” Dustin complained. “He’s a fuckin’ menace.”
“Aye, is Landon there? I wanna talk to him.”
“What are you gonna do about the old bastard?” Dustin demanded to know.
“I’ll handle it. I’ll be over later today. Landon?”
“Yeah, yeah… Hold on.”
“Hullo?” Landon asked as he grabbed the phone from Dustin.
“I got your text,” Knox said cryptically.
“Okay… so what do you think…” Landon asked.
Knox held the phone to his ear as he ordered his coffee.
“Hey Knoxy,” the blonde barista said with a wink.
“Verrrrronica….” Knox said stretching out her name as far as it would roll off his tongue.
“What’ll it be, babe?”
“Americano. Extra sweetness.”