“Yeah! Exactly!” Maury said loudly, nodding his head eagerly.
“Well, I’m really glad that you did,” David said, “because I’ve never seen Jimmy so happy.”
Jimmy blushed immediately, unable to resist a giant grin. “Aw, Dad, I really am. Like, so very happy.”
“As long as he’s good to you, I’m happy for you,” David said, “but I do hope you’re not planning to ever represent him.”
“Huh?”
“When you finish law school,” David clarified. “Might be a tiny bit of a conflict of interest, don’t you think?”
“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it like that,” Jimmy said, scratching the back of his neck. “I want to help people, innocent people, and Cold is a lot of things, but...”
“Innocent sure as fuck ain’t one of them,” Maury finished for him with a snort.
“But deep down, he’s seriously a really good person!” Jimmy insisted passionately.
“I know that,” David soothed. “Look, it’s thanks to his not-so innocent connections that we were able to get me out of jail and get justice for your mother. Being a criminal doesn’t disqualify him from being a good man, and I appreciate everything he’s done, but I don’t want to see you compromising yourself.”
“I won’t,” Jimmy said firmly, even as his stomach swam awkwardly. “I know who Cold is. Yes, it’s difficult sometimes to wrap my head around the things he does, but I do love him. And he loves me.”
“He’d fuckin’ better,” David said with a wink, affectionately patting Jimmy’s shoulder.
“Wait, what in seven flyin’ fucks did I just fuckin’ hear?” Maury cackled madly. He stared at David as if he’d just grown a second head, gasping, “Somebody got all fuckin’ hard and shit while they were in the big house, huh? I ain’t never in my fuckin’ life heard yous cuss!”
“First time for everything!” David laughed, Maury’s colorful declarations easing the tension that had been building. He beamed at his old friend, asking seriously, “Look, I know it’s during business hours, but would you like to come with us to see Eliza?”
“Holy fuck,” Maury gaped, his brow pinching in sympathy. “That’s fuckin’ right. You’ve never even been out to her fuckin’ grave. Goddamn that fucker Duplin, goddamn him right up Satan’s hiney hole.”
“Now there’s someone I definitely don’t want to see,” David sighed, the lines of his face drawing back and his age showing through. “Maybe one day I can forgive him, but that day is not today.”
“Never sounds fuckin’ good to me,” Maury snorted, waddling toward the door. “Come on, let’s go see Eliza.”
“You’re sure it’s okay to close up for a little while?” Jimmy asked as he and David followed Maury out.
“Are yous fuckin’ kiddin’ me?” Maury scoffed. “This is my fuckin’ place. I’ll burn it down if I fuckin’ want to!”
“Doesn’t Cold technically own it?” Jimmy asked with a sly smile.
“Bah!” Maury waved his hands, ushering them onto the sidewalk to lock up. “I ain’t fuckin’ scared of him. Big ol’ tall and ugly should be scared of me and my fuckin’ wrinkly balls hauntin’ him for all of his days.”
“What?” David asked, staring between them and completely clueless as to what any of that meant. “I sense a story here.”
“Oh, it’s a doozy!” Maury snickered, slapping David’s back. “Come on, I’ll tell yous all about it on the way.”
Jerry was there to open the limo door for them, and he greeted them with a cordial smile. He tipped his head to Jimmy, asking politely, “To the cemetery,monsieur?”
“Could we stop somewhere nice for flowers first?” Jimmy fidgeted, glancing anxiously inside the limo. Maury was telling a very enraptured David about the time he threatened to haunt Boss Cold by waving his genitals in his face. “I feel like we should have something, you know?”
“I know just the place,” Jerry said with a knowing smile. “Trust me,monsieur.”
“You’re the best, Jerry!”
Jerry stopped at a local flower shop where Jimmy discovered that he could get whatever he wanted without question. “For the Boss,” the owner told him, graciously helping Jimmy pick out a large bouquet of sunflowers. They had always been his mother’s favorite, and he offered them to his father to take.
David smiled sadly when he saw them. “They’re perfect,” he said, cradling them to his chest. “Thank you.”
To Strassen Springs Memorial Gardens they went, a lush and well-manicured cemetery with lots of trees and flowering bushes. Jerry even knew where to park to find Eliza’s grave, a simple granite headstone with her name chiseled across it with the words ‘Mother, Wife, Friend’ below.
