Up in Smoke (7 page)

The kid pushed my shoulder. “Twenty G’s, just like I said.”

“You said two,” I replied sternly back to the kid.

“Yo, Link! We got a problem,” Bear shouted over my shoulder across the room to Lincoln. His voice bounced around the room, finally reaching Lincoln.

The knot twisted harder.

In a loud whisper, I said to Bear, “Hey . . . Robert said two thousand! What is this? I don’t have that kind of money.” Lincoln walked over to us from the table.

“What’s the problem?” Lincoln asked, looking at all three of us.

“Bobby’s friend here doesn’t have your money.” He growled under his breath my direction, setting my heart off in pounding that I couldn’t stop.

Lincoln pulled his head back and scoffed. “What? I’m sure Bobby’s friend can get it to us tomorrow, right?” Lincoln asked, looking over at me.

Shaking my head, I said, “I don’t have that kind of money lying around.”

“You told Bobby here that you were debating on Vegas. That’s a ten thousand dollar buy-in. Obviously a man of your caliber can afford twenty grand.”

Shaking my head, I said, “Robert . . . um . . .” I furrowed my eyebrows at the kid as my heart beat harder. Then I exploded in frustration. “This kid lied to me! He told me it was two grand! Not twenty!”

“Bobby, is this true?” Lincoln asked, shooting a deadly look over at Robert.

“It was twenty,” the kid replied, lying.

Lincoln looked back at me with a lowered eyebrow. “You thought you were going to sit down and have a chance at fifty grand with a two thousand buy-in?”

“I thought there were more than a few people playing when I heard it. Then when I got here, the thought never crossed my mind.”

Lincoln laughed as he raised a hand out to me and shook his head. “No. Don’t try to play me for a fool. Make it right, Rick. You’re a man of honor.” Lincoln slid his hands in his pockets and walked away without another word. On his way across the smooth cement floor of the warehouse, he stopped and looked back. He said, “Drop it off in the mail slot of the door you came in by tomorrow night at six.” He turned and continued his stroll across the floor.

Bear had hardly opened the door before I darted out and across the parking lot to my car. My heart pounded in my chest as sweat beaded on my forehead. I struggled to hold my key steady enough to unlock my door.

“Blaze!” Robert shouted, startling me from across the parking lot.

I steadied my hand enough to get the key in the hole and unlock the door. I quickly got inside my car and started it. The kid was just outside my car window now. “What do you want?!” I shouted through the still rolled down window. “Just leave me alone, kid!”

“Dude, I’m sorry; I didn’t realize I told you two. It was twenty.”

I rolled up the window and shouted, “YOU make it right then!” Backing out of the spot next to the Porsche, I sped over to the gate and waited for the kid. He came over and opened it. Not even giving him a look, I peeled out of the parking lot and back toward my side of town.

A
fter getting out of the Valley, I pulled into a grocery store parking lot to catch my breath. Still trembling as I turned off the car, I pulled down the visor and looked at myself in the mirror. I had never been through anything like that before in my life. I was terrified. Suddenly, I heard a honk behind me. With a quick jerk of my body in the seat, I turned around. I was relieved to see it was just a couple of cars honking at each other in the parking lot.

“Get yourself together, man,” I said out loud, slapping the visor back up against the roof. Flinging the car door open, I stepped out and took a deep breath of the cool night air. Taking another deep breath, I felt my nerves empty themselves out onto the wet pavement below. Leaning over the back end of my car, I yakked again. I wiped the brim of my mouth and stood upright, relaxing my back against the trunk for stability.

Suddenly, I let out a laugh.

“He sells diapers . . .” I said. Turning myself over on the trunk, I pushed myself fully upright with my hands. My nerves settled.

Shaking my head, I felt myself return to a state of normalcy—well, as normal as I could feel right then. I got back into my car and put it all behind me. My daughter and wife were at home with the grandkids. I needed to focus on that. Not some diaper guy from the Valley. Pulling out of the grocery store parking lot, I left feeling a lot better than when I’d arrived.

Back at home, I was greeted by two of my daughter’s three children. Natalie was seven years old. She ran up and wrapped her arms around my leg as she smiled up at me.

“Grandpa!” she shouted.

Philip, the three-year-old, came running also, and he latched onto my other leg. “Grampa!” he shouted up at me.

Smiling down at both of them while I patted their heads, I said, “I missed you two so much!” I lifted my eyes up to my daughter, Beth. “I wish every time I came home I could have this kind of greeting.”

She laughed a little as she came down the hallway to join us near the front door. “Hi, Dad.” Her smile was warm and beamed with joy as she put her arms around me. She was such a happy woman. Even if her husband was working a ton back in Coeur d'Alene, she never complained about it.

“Where’s little Gregory?” I asked.

“He fell asleep on the couch waiting for you,” Susan replied with a bit of an undertone to her voice.

I nodded, but I didn’t say anything.

“Game went pretty late?” Susan asked as I picked up the grandkids from my legs and brought them into my arms.

“Yeah. Almost won,” I replied, walking down the hallway past her.

“Funny . . . because Cole called asking to talk to you,” Susan retorted with a sharp and accusing tone.

My gut turned at her words. She caught me right in the act. My mind raced from idea to idea, trying to find a lie. “That’s odd. Kane invited him along with the others to come. Kinda wondered why he wasn’t there.” After I said it, I knew it didn’t make any sense and that she was on to me. Making my way into the kitchen, I set the kids on the floor and got drink cups for them.

As I handed them each a cup of water, Susan cut into me from over near the island. “He acted like he knew nothing about it,” she said, trying to be quiet.

“Hmmm . . .” I replied. Looking over at Beth, I asked, “How was the drive in? Hit a lot of traffic on the way?” I hoped Susan would drop it.

Beth shook her head. “It wasn’t too horrible. There was one wreck though that looked pretty bad. A semi-truck full of bees fell over into a ditch, bees loose everywhere. It was a mess.”

“Oh jeez, did you see it happen?” I asked, looking at her across the counter as she stood next to Susan. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Susan’s gaze fixated on me. If steam could come off the top of her head, it would have right then. I could sense it and I avoided looking at her.

“No. They just had cones out and tons of police as I drove by. I searched the radio after I passed the scene to find out more about the wreck, and that’s when I heard it was a truck full of bees.”

“Huh. Strange. Jonathan wasn’t able to get the time off this time?”

“No, they’re short staffed right now; it was pretty short notice, anyway,” she replied.

“Grandpa. Could we go to the mall?” Natalie asked as she wrapped an arm around me after dumping her cup into the sink.

“It’s too late for that,” Beth said as she looked at the stove’s clock. “In fact, let’s get you two into bed.”

Philip began crying as he reluctantly walked over to his mother with his arms out for her to pick him up.

“Aww,” I said, tilting my head as I watched him.

“Don’t let his cute face fool you,” Beth said as she took him up into her arms and grabbed onto Natalie’s hand. She led them out of the kitchen and down the hallway toward the spare room.

I smiled as I watched them walk down the hallway. Susan came over to me. I tried to make an escape by turning to leave the room, but she stopped me.

“Rick,” she said sharply.

“Yeah?” I replied, looking over at her.

“Where were you?” she asked. She sounded more concerned than angry.

“Playing poker,” I replied.

“Don’t lie to me, Rick. We’ve been married far too long for these games,” she replied, leaning a hand on the counter as she tilted her head and looked at me.

“It was poker, Susan.” I took a breath in and let go as I continued. “But it was with some guys I know . . . not the station guys, but other ones. A guy from the casino invited me to it.”

“Why did you lie to me?” she asked, lifting her hand off the counter and taking a step closer to me.

Taking a step back, I said, “Why do I have to explain myself all the time?”

“This is a marriage. You can’t be untruthful to me . . .” She paused for a moment. “This is unlike you, Rick.” She came closer and touched my arm. “Are you okay? Are you going through something like . . . a midlife crisis? You can tell me. That’s what I’m here for.”

Pulling my arm back, I said, “Stop it, Susan! This is why I didn’t say anything. It turns into something bigger than it is. Just drop it, please.” Seeing Beth come down the hallway out of the corner of my eye, I raised my eyebrows toward the hall to try to stop Susan from talking about the poker anymore.

“Did they go down okay?” I asked, side-stepping away from Susan.

“Yeah,” she said, coming into the kitchen. She rested her arms onto the counter and let out a big breath. “Natalie’s been such a handful lately . . . starting to get a real mouth on her.”

Susan came over to Beth and put an arm around her. “She’s getting to that age. I remember it like it was yesterday with you. You started paying more attention to your hair and listening to the radio.”

Standing up, Beth smiled over at Susan. “Yeah. Instead of radio, it’s YouTube and an obsession with my phone and—she’s so mouthy!”

“You gained quite the little mouth on you, too. Maybe it’s payback,” I said, trying to keep the mood light.

Susan said, “Just nip it in the bud before that habit turns into a problem. A problem is when you have a teenager with a mouth!” Shaking her head, Susan said, “You were such a handful!”

“Thanks, Mom.” She proceeded past Susan and into the living room to scoop Gregory up into her arms. “I wish they could just stay this young forever,” she said to us as she stood at the couch with him in her arms and a soft smile on her face.

“You want them to stay two? I hated that age—no offense,” I said, coming into the living room as she held him in her arms.

“Yeah. But they’re still just babies when they’re two . . . still willing to cuddle a whole bunch and be babied.” She left the living room and headed down the hallway to the spare room.

Susan came into the living room and right up to my face. It annoyed me. “You’d better not make lying to me a habit, mister!” She pushed her index finger into my chest, driving my agitation through the roof. Who did she think she was talking to?

Laughing under my breath, I glanced past her out the window toward the guest house. “Yeah, just like you don’t make shopping a habit.”

“Don’t you dare! You know I used shopping as a therapy mechanism after my mother passed away. I have a budget and I stick to it. Bills are paid. I never lie to you about purchases either! Don’t compare it to this! We go away to the casino twice a month. That should be enough.”

Her words cut through me. The casino getaways were good for us, but they weren’t enough for me. I had to keep doing more. I looked at the floor and sighed. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’m getting tired.”

“Because I’m right,” she replied righteously. Standing there for only a moment longer, she turned and walked into the kitchen.

Leaving the living room, I headed to the stairs to make the climb up to bed.

“Going to bed, Dad?” Beth asked, stopping at the base of the stairs when I was about to reach the top.

I smiled and looked back at her. “Yeah. It’s been a long day. I’ll see you in the morning if you’re up.”

“I have a two-and-three-year-old that are up at six every morning. I’m sure I’ll see you.” She jogged up the stairs to meet me halfway. Her arms wrapped around me. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you too, dear,” I replied before giving her a soft kiss on the cheek. My mistakes in life were plenty, but Beth was a huge reminder that I’ve done something right.

Releasing from our embrace, I continued to the bedroom and settled underneath the covers. Looking over at the picture of my wife that sat next to my Bible on my nightstand, I felt a slight twinge of sadness creep over me. She was so hurt by the little she knew; if she ever found out the truth, it wouldn’t just end us—it might just break her.

After saying my prayers, I reached over to the lamp and turned it off. Rolling over, I thought to myself,
I have got to find a way to make this right.