I couldn’t sleep, going over in my mind the plan Barry dictated. It would’ve been too rushed to do it that night; Barry wanted one more day of going over all the steps. Also, Steph still felt crummy, so he wanted to give her another day to recover, and I figured he was hoping Mom might come around.
I sat up and listened to the two couples talking softly from their nooks. Jenny already in dreamland, her snores loud enough to call sailors back to land in a fog.
“You feel worse or a little better?” Troy asked Steph, barely above a whisper.
“The same, like I ate something bad.”
“I think it’s nerves.”
“Maybe.”
“How would it make you feel to tell you I am falling in love with you?”
I nearly retched out loud.
“Awww, Troy. Really?”
“I mean, with other girls, it never was like this. The circumstances were different, we weren’t robbing banks and evading the law.”
She giggled at that.
“Actually, this is the first I’ve lived with a girl before,” he said. “Besides my sister. And it’s been cool. Like, I love how you hum when you’re eating something you really like.”
“I do?”
“You never knew that? Yeah, you do. It’s super cute.”
“I like that you get these wrinkle lines around your eyes when you smile. Like an old man.”
“I am old compared to you.”
I couldn’t hear what they said next, but it sounded like he was biting her shoulder playfully.
“Stop making me laugh, it hurts,” she said.
“Your stomach?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you think about what we talked about?” he asked.
My ears perked up.
“You mean…leaving after this next one?”
“Yeah.”
“I dunno.”
“Do you really want to stay with them?”
“Mom and Dad?”
“All of them?”
“No. Well, I dunno. Maybe it would be good to leave for a while, get some space. Mom’s been crazy lately, she’s barely coherent, and Dad, he’s like a different person.”
“We’d have enough money if we pull off this job, to go anywhere.”
“We don’t have to decide now.”
“Okay, I don’t want to give you more anxiety.”
“Hey, Troy. I love you too.”
The sound of them kissing made me turn my focus to Barry and Mom. While I was upset that Steph might be ditching us, I really couldn’t blame her. Why not take an out if she had one? But what would that mean for the remaining Gimmelmans? With one kid gone, I wondered if Barry and Mom would want Jenny and me to follow suit.
“I need you to get out of this funk,” Barry said to Mom, as if it was an order.
“It’s not as easy…” She sighed. “It’s not like flipping a light switch.”
“Let’s get to the root of it, baby.”
“Bear,” Mom hissed. “My mother said I’m not her daughter anymore.”
Audible tears.
“Okay, okay, Judy, calm down. Listen, your mother is reactive. She says things she doesn’t mean. Always been like that.”
Sniffle. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You’re still her only daughter, that will never change. And she still loves you, even if she’s angry with you. You can call her again when the time is right. Let’s give her a moment to calm down.”
Mom blew her nose.
“Now we’re not hitting the Federal Reserve, I made the decision. This will be our last bank, and we’ll head up to my brother’s until there’s no heat on us whatsoever, then we can decide our future. Whether that’s Paris, or…wherever you want, baby.”
He talked to her in a soothing, laconic way, still maintaining the Texan accent.
“Your brother’s,” she said, far from happy.
“I don’t want to make any rash decisions about leaving the country. And California is far enough away from where we’ve caused some chaos. We’ll still keep the RV if we need to flee, but we can regroup there.”
“I hate Connie. And their kids. Your brother ain’t a peach either.”
“No, he isn’t, but he’s blood, and working for the travel industry might come in handy. Get us to the right place, ya know?”
“I guess.”
“What if we choose Spain and it’s not right? I don’t want to be bouncing around. I want to take our time to think about our next home. And maybe we wind up in California, not necessarily San Bernardino, where Mort is, but anywhere we want. This bank tomorrow night, Judy… It’s huge. I figure we’ll pull in major coin.”
“Are you mad I won’t be part of the heist?”
“Naw, you are. You’ll be in the RV with Steph. Making her feel better, too. Being her mom.”
“Am I a good mom?” she asked, so hopeless. I wanted to hug her right there, even though I should be telling her that she had things to work on in the mom department.
“Hey, hey, baby, the best mom there is. Those kids love you like crazy, and I know how much you’re nuts about them.”
“You don’t think we’ve been…”
“Been what, Jude?”
“Selfish,” she said, swallowing the word like it was a sin.
“No, no, selfish would’ve been being complacent. Not giving our kids the best. We got almost a hundred thousand bucks in just a couple of weeks, and we’re about to net a whole lot more. We’ll give those kids anything they want. And we’ve given them adventure. Life is about adventure. Didn’t we used to say that when we were young and free? All we wanted were adventures, one after the other, so we never felt stuck.”
“I love you, Bear.”
“And I’m madly in love with you, Jude. Through all our ups and downs, I never stopped. Never will.”
Smooch. Smooch. Smooch. Their kisses, growing more intense. I knew where this was heading, so I threw on headphones, an old Bangles tape with “Walk Like an Egyptian.” I listened to it over and over, rewinding and catching right when the song would begin again until, eventually, sleep came.