“I’m so grateful to have them off the streets that—look, there’s the police.”They watched as Syble was arrested.She would get resisting arrest, too, if he didn’t miss his bet.The way that she was fighting with the officers who had her was enough to make him feel sorry for them.He was glad when she was handcuffed and put into the back of the cruiser.“She went a lot harder than I thought that she would.I wonder what she said to them.I can imagine that it wasn’t all that nice.”
Driving to park across the street from the hotel, they pulled up in time to see Allen being arrested as well.He looked a little bloodied and worse for wear, but he was in cuffs too and on his way to sitting in the back of the cruiser that had come for him.He’d never been so glad to see someone arrested as he was the two of them.He knew that he’d sleep better tonight just knowing that they were off the streets and in custody.Now all he had to worry about was if Zander would be able to use what he’d found about them to put them away for a while.
“I don’t know how to thank you for this.”He said it had been his pleasure, and it had been.“I can go back to my place and sleep better tonight.Just knowing that they’re going to be going to jail for a little while makes me feel so much better.”
“I understand that.It’s been a long time in coming.”It had only been about three weeks, but it felt like forever to him as well.“I can help you pack up if you want, and I’ll take you home.You will still need to be careful until the trial.I don’t see them getting out to cause more damage, but you never know about the judge that is coming through to hear the pretrial things that are set up about them.”
“I’ll be careful.I don’t know that I know how to be anything but careful.Now I can go and visit my mom without worrying about them finding out where she was.”He told her that he’d take her nowif she wanted to go.“No, you’ve done enough for me today.Just knowing that you were coming to get me made me feel so much better.”
When she got out of the car and crossed the street, he thought about what Shirley had said to him just before he left.That Carrie would be good for him.He thought that he was doing all right for himself; he couldn’t imagine what she was talking about.Going back to his home, he was sitting at his desk an hour later with no idea what he’d been thinking about or if he’d gotten anything done today.He needed a nap and a good run.Both of which he was going to do right now.
~*~
Demi was having fun with his brothers.They met up at least once a week to have a good meal together, and tonight was the night.As soon as Knox showed up, he told them that the other Jameson family had been arrested and were in jail.He said that Carrie was moving back to her old place even as he spoke.
“You didn’t help her?”He said that he’d lent her his car to drive her things home, but she wouldn’t hear of him trying to help her pack.“She’d be like that, too.I’m betting that if you hadn’t given her your car, she would have toted things to her place on her own.She’s stubborn like that.”
“I know.”He looked at his brother and wondered why he hadn’t started dating Carrie.As far as he could see, they’d be a perfect match.They both liked their solitude and were smart.There were other things that they had in common, but right now, all he could see was that they were missing out on the best time of their lives, not being together.“What are you mumbling about?”
“I was just thinking that you and Carrie would make a good couple.”He said he was the second person today to have said that to him.“Really?Who else can see you two together other than half the state?”
“My cook.”He nodded, thinking that his brother wasn’t seeing what they could all see.That they really would make a perfect couple.“I’m not going to date Carrie.She’s like my little sister or something.I’m just glad that we have a good relationship like we have right now and not have to worry about dating and stuff like that.”
“Maybe she needs to be with Zander.Did you think of that?”He said that she’d eat Zander alive; he was just too kind for someone as ballsy as Carrie was to date.“Ballsy?I don’t see that.Now, Alex and even my wife included are ballsy, but not Carrie.She’s too delicate.”
“Really?That’s what you see when you look at her?Christ man, have you met her family?And the very fact that she’d come out on top of them makes me think that she’s stronger than even your wife and Alex.Shipley might be a little more so than Carrie, but I see a strong woman who has put up with a lot with her family and still has a good outlook on things in her life.She’s also very smart and good to have in your corner.”
“Sounds like you do like her.”Knox said that he did, but she wasn’t his type.He didn’t know what his type was, but he knew that Carrie wasn’t it.“You’re good friends too.That’s always a plus.I think you should take her out and see what sort of stars line up for you.”
“I don’t want to date her.She isn’t my type.”When he sounded a little angry, Demi apologized to him.“It’s all right.I’m sorry.It’s just that I know that I don’t want to date her, and having her pushed on me isn’t something that I want either.She’s a good friend, and I’d like for her to continue to be, so I don’t want to mess it up by asking her to date me.Understand?”
“Yes, I do.And I’m sorry.”Knox waved him off, but he still felt bad about making him angry.Deciding to change the subject, he told him how the breakfast thing was going at the school.And about the teachers returning on Monday.
A month ago, seventeen teachers were given a month off without pay.When asked for a list of things they might need for their classrooms for the end of the year, they’d gotten padded lists of things like pallets of water and microwaves.What a second-grade class would need with a microwave is what got them to look at the lists a little better.There were things like gift cards that they wanted to paint their rooms when they had just been painted.Also, one of them wanted a case of paper plates and plasticware to use in their room.The kids didn’t eat in the room, so no one could figure that out.When it was established that they were ordering things for their own homes, the board of the school laid themoff without pay for a month.He wondered if any of them would be returning starting Monday.
David Sheen, the school principal, wanted to fire them all, but since teachers were in short supply anyway, they decided the best course of action was to give them time to reflect on what they’d done.Demi didn’t think it would do any of them any good, but he’d not been in charge.He just did the breakfast thing.
“I heard that was going great for the kids.And the pancake breakfast was by far their favorite.I don’t know if I could cook that many pancakes for a bunch of kids or not.It must take you forever to get them all fed.”He said it was easy once he got into a rhythm.“Still.You’d have to be really good at being in a rhythm for you to feed two hundred kids pancakes and sausage in an hour.”
“I’m great.”They both laughed about his joke, and he was glad that he no longer seemed mad.“I have a lot of good help, too, and some of the parents are coming in to eat as well.We don’t charge them for coming in, and I think that it benefits them as much as the kids.I was told that it was the first hot meal of the day that they’d get if not for me being in there cooking.And I don’t mind doing it.I get to see my boys while I’m working.”
Demi had adopted his wife, Mandy’s nephews, when they’d been nearly killed by their father.As it was, he was in prison for the rest of his life, and not beating them daily when they’d been living at home.Samuel had killed their mother in a fit of rage and had asked the cops, when they showed up, if they’d turn their backs for him to murder the two kids as well.It didn’t bode well for him when he confessed to killing Betsey, his wife, while standing over her with a ball bat, either.
They all talked over one another for the two hours they were there.He’d gotten a really good steak from the menu, and his brothers had done the same.It wasn’t like they couldn’t have it anytime they wanted, but it was nice that they could all get together and have a good meal once a week with just themselves.The women did the same thing, and he knew that they enjoyed it as much as he did.
They didn’t discuss business when they were together like this either.It was a time for them to catch up on what they’d been doing all week and to relax.The staff here was used to them and how they tipped, so they got great service when they were there.The Warehouse was one of his favorite places to eat, as Martha had taken them all there when he’d graduated from college.
Martha Grable had been the best mother-like figure they’d ever had when the van they were driving broke down in front of her house.She’d been kind to them, loving as well.She’d also taught them to be good men and how to invest their money.They’d nearly doubled their money with her help, and he missed her every day.
“I was thinking about the holidays this morning.I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is nearly upon us.Remember some of the good times that we had with Martha?Those were the best.”Locke brought up Christmas then and said how it had been the first time they’d celebrated the holiday since they’d been born.Zander nodded as he continued.“I remember sitting at her table, where everything was right there, and wondering where we were going to stash the food when there were leftovers.Dad would have had a fit to see us all sitting around a table that he didn’t get to be the head of.”
Dad had been an abusive bastard and a drunk.It was nothing for him to beat them daily, even as grown men, and end up in the hospital.He’d look for reasons to beat on them or not.It didn’t matter if they’d done anything wrong either.He was just a bastard looking for trouble all the time.When he’d been put in jail for trying to kill one of them one Saturday evening, they’d loaded up in the van that Locke had purchased and left town.Never once had they been back and were happier for it.He died some years later, all alone in the house, and not one of them cared.
After the bill was paid, Locke usually picked up the bill.They went to their separate cars and talked more.It was funny to him, really, that they were so close in living next to one another and yet they would get together like they’d not seen each other in a month.He really loved his family and was glad that they got along so well.
“Did I tell you I’ve bought some lottery tickets?”They all laughed and said that they had too.“The lottery winnings are huge this time.If we could win that again, I don’t know what we’d do with it all.We’re rich enough now as it is.”
About twelve years ago, now, Locke had bought a winning lottery ticket.He played the same numbers every week in that it was their day of birth, and played twenty-three on the last number because two of them were born on the same date.He’d not only won the biggest jackpot the lottery had ever had, but he shared it with all six of them to make them all billionaires.And since meeting Martha, they’d more than doubled their winnings to this day.None of them had to work, but they all had jobs.No one suspected they had all that money, and they liked it that way.No one would come to them with their hands out.
