Page 29 of A Week Away

“He’s old. Married. He’s got like six kids.”

“What is old to you? Your mom’s age or your grandparents’ age?”

“Like in the middle.”

“So, fifty?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

That was sobering. I’d be fifty in two years. And yes, when I was seventeen I would have thought that was old. It just didn’t seem as old as it used to.

It was easy to find the car since it was almost four decades older than everything else there. He unlocked his door and got in. I waited for him to reach over and unlock the passenger door. When he did, I put my bag on the floor and climbed in.

“What else? Do they get along?”

“She thinks he’s great. Most of the time.” He was taking the anti-theft bar off the steering wheel.

“And when she doesn’t think he’s great?”

“She just likes to get her way. Everyone does, don’t they?”

“She’s worked for him a long time, right?”

He turned the key and pushed the R button. “Yeah, I guess twelve years or so.”

“Your mom went to work for him right after she became a paralegal?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know how she paid for her schooling?”

He shrugged. As we drove out of the parking lot, I asked, “How’d your mom find the job?”

“I don’t know.”

“She never said?”

“I guess she got it the normal way. Like through a newspaper ad or something. These aren’t important questions. My mom’s job doesn’t have anything to do with what happened to my dad.”

“So what does?”

He didn’t say anything. We sat at a red light. I asked, “Do you think Mr. Cray might have connections with The Partnership?”

“He’s a lawyer.”

“They have lawyers, believe me. Haven’t you ever seenThe Godfather?”

“We’re Italian. We boycott movies like that. They’re all made up.”

CHAPTERNINE

September 14, 1996

Saturday, early evening

We ate Taco Bell in the car. I would have thought he’d be more careful of the car. It really was in beautiful condition, but I was getting the feeling in a year it would look a lot like his bedroom.

When I finished my grilled, stuffed chicken burrito, which I barely considered food, I said, “You mentioned your mother’s friend, Heather. They were together when your mom and dad met. I’d like to see her next.”