Walking out of the office Dave’s sole intention had been to kick both of Kathy’s parents out of his restaurant. However he thought better of it. The most important thing his parents had taught him was that if people truly wanted to change, they had to do it. No amount of love and protection could do this for Kathy. She had to stand up to her parents on her own. But he would be by her side every step of the way.
“I really don’t know why she’s making such a big deal about it,” Telia announced to everyone sitting at the bar.
“I’m with ya.” Evaan turned to the couple—Dave’s unsuspecting parents—sitting a few stools from them. “Don’t you think after a certain age children shouldn’t be embarrassed by their parents anymore?”
George looked at Evaan with curiosity. “I guess it depends on what you did.”
“We embarrass our children all the time,” Renee piped in.
“Yes, you both do,” Jake commented with a frown.
“I just don’t see the biggie,” Evaan explained. “As if we all don’t have sex. We’ve seen her naked.”
“And,” Telia added, “your son has a nice ass.”
“Thank you?” Renee glanced at her husband then at a horrified-looking Kathy ten feet from them.
“I can’t believe you said that, Mom.”
“Why? The man is prime.” She looked Dave up and down then licked her lips.
He felt like a piece of “prime” meat with creepy served on the side. Evaan seemed to have the same look when his gaze moved to Dave.
Kathy looked ready to blow. No longer was her face pasty white; now the deep shade of crimson showed her anger instead of mortification. Clenched tightly at her sides were hands white from lack of proper circulation while she stood rigid and straight as a pole.
Wanting to say something to cut the tension, Dave cleared his throat. “Ah-hum. How about a round of drinks, Jake?”
“Sure. Sex on the beach?”
Giving his brother a mild stare, Dave then moved to kiss his father and mother. “How you guys doin’?”
“Good.” Renee took a sip of her martini. “Enjoying a different kind of conversation with Kathy’s parents.”
“I’m sure.” Walking behind the bar, Dave began to help his brother.
“Little early for drinks,” George commented to Renee.
“I need this,” her voice grumbled before knocking the whole drink back. “Another, Jake.”
Dave and Jake knew their mother well, and seeing that George didn’t argue with her, he understood too. She was only trying to mellow out her temper. Renee had always been a fierce woman. Even as children they had feared her temper. As adults they looked to her for how to handle sticky situations like this one. She always seemed to be able to come out of a commotion with the least amount of scars.
“I think I’ll have one too,” Kathy told Dave.
“Aren’t you working?” Evaan asked. “Or is what you were doing in the back room called ‘working.’ ” He winked at her then turned to his wife. “I’d love to get hired here if that’s all it takes.”
“You’re both gross. Give me a shot, Jake.” Kathy swallowed it and then signaled for another.
“Telia.” Renee turned to the woman with copper-colored hair. “You’re quite a lady. What brings you both here? Besides Kathy of course.”
“Well, we’re pleading with our daughter to help us.”
Kathy rolled her eyes. “Here we go.”
Evaan spared his daughter a glance. “We really need phones. The ones we have aren’t good and we can’t get ahold of her if we don’t upgrade.”
Telia put her arm through Evaan’s and leaned into him. “What if something happened to her and she can’t get us.”
“ ’Cause you’d be my first call.” Kathy slammed the glass down and motioned for another. When Jake hesitated she gave him a look that would frighten the devil himself.
“She’s so damn difficult. Never understood that family should share everything.” Telia directed this toward her daughter.
“Not everything, Mom.”
Dave cleared his throat again. “How long do you plan on staying?”
Evaan looked at his wife and then down at their joined hands. “Not sure. The vehicle needs repairs and its getting crowded with the three of us.
Kathy choked on her drink, literally. And as Dave ran around the bar to help, Renee stood up and started slapping her on the back. “You’re okay, honey. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”
“Thank you,” Dave said to his mother. He then turned his attention to the woman he loved. From the look on Kathy’s face he had a pretty good idea who was with her parents—Todd. But he still hoped he was wrong.
“Our friend isn’t well,” Telia told them. “He’s been traveling with us but really needs a bed to sleep in.”
“There are some cheap hotels in the area,” George suggested.
“We’re more than a little strapped for cash right now.” Telia looked at her daughter with mournful eyes.
“You both are so transparent it’s sickening,” Kathy told them with a little slur in her voice.
“Todd’s sick, Karma. He needs a bed and—”
“He has your bed. You’re not staying at my place. Forget it.”
Evaan had the nerve to look shocked. “I can’t believe you’d turn your own parents away.”
Kathy gave a rueful laugh. “I’m a heartless bitch. Isn’t that what you called me when I refused to pay for your cell phones the last time you made an appearance?”
Dave’s heart went out to her. No child deserved to be treated this way by their parents.
“I was angry and with Todd being close to death we thought you’d be understanding. Obviously we were wrong,” Evaan insisted.
“He’s not knocking on death’s door. I saw him a few weeks ago,” Kathy said while waving her glass in the air.
“Yes, he is!” Telia rose from her seat and stood toe to toe with Kathy. “You loved him once and he still loves you. How can you do this? Your father and I—”
“Okay, everyone, out back.” Jake motioned with his hands. “Now. I’m not in a business to have family squabbles in my restaurant.”
“Oh,” Stuart said, obviously disappointed. “It was just getting good.”
“Sorry, old boy.” Jake rocked back on his heels. “But if you want to follow them out back, I won’t stop you.”
Renee picked up her third drink, ready and willing. Dave considered telling her this was an argument between Kathy and her parents but knew it wouldn’t do any good. When Evaan stood to head back, Jake cleared his throat.
“Ten-fifty. I’d rather you pay your tab before heading out.”
Evaan looked at his wife, then Kathy, then Dave, and back to Jake. “But he said they were on the house.”
“No. Dave gave one round to everyone. You had drinks before that.”
Evaan puffed his chest out. “Are you charging them?” He thumbed toward George and Renee.
“My parents raised us and took care of us. We don’t charge them, we charge customers.”
“Oh my.” Telia eyes began to water. “Are we going to have enough for everything we need?”
“Not our problem.” Dave stepped forward. “You can’t go into a restaurant, order whatever you want, and expect to get it for free. We’d be long out of business if that’s how it worked.”
Evaan threw down ten dollars. “She’s poisoned all of you against us. We’re not bad people.”
“That’s debatable.” George took a long sip of his beer while keeping his eyes on Evaan and Telia.
“Ten-fifty,” Jake repeated, while motioning to the lonely bill.
“Telia, honey, let’s get out of here. It’s obvious these people aren’t going to help us.” He dug in his pocket and threw down all the change he had but still held short on his tab.
“Shame on you!” Telia seethed. “Not helping others who have less than you. Total snobs.”
“We help those who help themselves,” Dave told them. “And by the sound of it, you prey on the kind-hearted. Good thing we’re not. Right, Dad?”
“You bet.”
“Karma, we’ll speak about this later at home.” Telia raised her chin and spun toward the door.
“No, we won’t. I don’t want you in my apartment, I want you to leave.”
Evaan and Telia walked out of the Lion impervious to what their daughter said.
“Damn it. This was just getting good.” Everyone turned and looked at Stuart who shrugged his bony shoulders. “You get to be my age and this is where you go for action.”
“Another shot, Jake,” Kathy announced by slamming her glass down onto the counter.
Every muscle in Dave’s body tensed and his jaw ached from grinding his teeth. Lowlifes repeated continuously through his mind. Swallowing hard, he moved to Kathy’s side. If this was how he felt, he couldn’t imagine how she did.
Kathy downed her drink just as her cell rang. Flipping it open, with more force than necessary, she told the caller, “Not now.” And hung up.
“Who was that?” he asked.
“Nobody.”
But it had been somebody and Dave really wanted to know who. He followed her back into the office where they had made love only a half hour earlier.
“Who was that?”
Kathy swept her arm across her desk and sent papers, pens, pencils, and whatever else was on it flying. “Nobody.”
But his distrusting mind couldn’t let it go. She didn’t treat people like this and he didn’t like how she was reacting. “I want to know who it was. I can make it right.”
“Excuse me?” She turned on him as tears streamed down her face. “What does it matter? You can’t fix everything, Dave.”
“You won’t know that unless you give me a chance. Who was it, Kathy?” He didn’t mean to growl out her name, it just happened. And with that bite of anger in his voice, Dave realized he better get himself under control before he pushed her away.
“Go bully someone else. I’m sick of being the scapegoat and punching bag. I deserve better than that. And you know what? I’m gonna have it.”
“I’m not bullying you. I just want to know so I can help.”
“Too bad!”
Disbelief over her lack of trust forced Dave’s voice to rise. “I deserve to know, Kathy!”
“Why? Because we slept together?”
“Yeah. No. You’re my woman and—”
“Go to hell. I’m my own woman.”
“Was it your ex-husband?” When she ignored him, his heart crumbled. “I’ve tried to earn your trust. I have done everything I know how to and yet you still won’t let me in.”
“And this is why,” Kathy’s meek voice pointed out as she backed away from him.
“Don’t do that. Don’t back away from me because we can make this right—together.”
“No, we can’t because this is how it’s always been and how it’ll always be,” she said while crossing her arms.
“It doesn’t have to be, Kathy.” With his patience evaporating quickly, Dave tried one more time to reason with her. “You can start changing this whole mess right now by telling me who that was on the phone.”
“No.”
“This is bullshit, Kathy.” Dave slapped a hand down on her desk and leaned toward her. “You want love, trust, and respect? Well what about me? Don’t I deserve it, too? What are you hiding?”
“I’m not hiding anything,” she told him.
“Then why can’t you even look me in the eye?”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” When she attempted to walk past him, Dave moved in her way.
“You know, Kathy, you don’t want to be like your parents and yet in some ways you really are. Look at your place. Empty. As if you’re afraid to put down roots. Here I am trying to be there for you, and you’re pushing me away.”
Wide-eyed and shaken Dave braced for the slap that never came when she stood before him but said nothing. “Well?” he asked.
Kathy merely moved around him and out the office door.
“Really?” he called after her. “You’re going to run like they do too? Not think twice about who you’re leaving behind?”
“What’s going on?” George asked.
“Nothing.”
“Something,” Renee insisted.
A black cloud of sadness shrouded him. “She walked out on me without a word.”
Renee took her son’s face in her hands. “She needs time.”
“I’ve given her time, patience, and love.” He looked around his empty office. “She’s not coming back.”
“You don’t know that,” George tried to convince his son.
“Doesn’t matter. It was only a matter of time anyway.”
Renee placed her hands on her ample hips. “Now that’s just stupid talk.”
“Maybe but it’s true. You guys were right; I shouldn’t have said anything about my past.”
“First of all,” George began, “we never said you shouldn’t tell her and—”
“Nope, you didn’t come out and say it but I should have known better. Hell,” Dave laughed at the reality that was just starting to sink in, “she was probably looking for a way out and this was the perfect opportunity.”
“What’s going on?” Jake asked.
Dave turned to Jake. “I fucked this up, big time, and Kathy left. I doubt she’ll be back.”
“What! We need her, you jerk.” Jake patted his brother on the back, none too lightly. “It’ll be okay. She’s a chick, bro, they’re all emotional.”
“Maybe.” He sat with his head in his hands. The beginning of a bad headache was knocking on his temples. “I feel like I’m going to be sick.”
“Yeah, well… you can’t. We have a business to run and there’s three more hours of your shift left.”
“You’re going to make me work it?”
“What the hell gives you the right to be surprised? Kathy just walked out and we’re already two short tonight and starting to get busy. Dad said he’ll help behind the bar and Mom will take orders. Your pussy ass is going out there, Kathy or no Kathy. You started something and by God you’re going to finish it.”
“Geez, Jake. You don’t have to be that way about it.” Dave stood with the weight of three tons on his shoulders. “I wasn’t gonna give you a hard time.”
“Good.”