Me: Wild. Everything good then?
James: Oh yeah. The most excitement we’ve had in a while. I’ve been following this guy. The murderer. Have you?
Me: No. How are you following him? No one knows who he is.
James: I know, but I follow the crimes. Not gonna lie, it’s kind of badass. Hunting down and killing child abusers is impressive. Not that murder is right.
Me: No, of course not.
James: But we both know how ineffective the justice system can be sometimes. Especially when these pricks have money.
Me: Yeah.
James: Anyway, how are things with your sister?
Me: I’m hanging out with an old high school friend tonight for dinner. The trip is going well.
James: Awesome. I’ll let you get back to it. Just wanted to let you know what was going on.
Me: I appreciate it.
I tuck my phone back in my pocket, taking a few deep breaths to calm down.
“You okay?”
I startle when Nantes returns. “Yeah. Just a coworker.”
“Oh. Work stuff?”
“Nothing major.”
“That’s good.”
He sets down a large bowl of salad, then returns to the kitchen. When he comes back, he’s holding two heaping plates filled with lasagna.
He sits across from me, smiling. “Hope you like it.”
“I’m sure I will.” I put some salad on my plate. “So, let me hear it. What happened to being a doctor?”
He laughs dryly, scooping salad onto his plate. “It’s pretty classic, actually. The dream versus the reality. I was working myself into the ground, and while I did enjoy when I could help someone feel better, it was mostly paperwork and battling bureaucracy and insurance companies. I thought being a doctor would be everything, you know? I thought I’d be happy. Just like my brothers though. None of us could see ourselves running a winery.”
“What changed?” I take a bite of my lasagna. “Hold on. Oh my god, this is so good.”
Nantes laughs. “Thanks. What changed was Deo coming home. I was watching him from the sidelines, and the pride he felt made me feel things I hadn’t in a long time. I was so desperate to make a name for myself that I’d lost sight of my grandfather’s mission. It feels good to build the family legacy. Better than I imagined.”
“That’s brave. Stepping away from all that schooling and effort you put in took guts.”
“No shit. I really thought my dad would lose it, but he was too happy to have me on board to complain.”
“I’m happy for you.”
He smiles, taking a bite of his meal. “What about you? Happy?”
“Happy enough. My work is important, but like I said earlier, it does take it out of me sometimes. Like, I’ve had this case for a few months. This little girl who started having night terrors out of the blue. Her family couldn’t figure out what was going on. She wouldn’t talk. At school, she’s a different kid. Plays, laughs, listens to her teachers. She gets home and shuts down completely.”
“Damn.”
“She had a social worker who did home visits, and everything looked good, you know? It was clean, kids taken care of, involvedparents. So they sent her to me to see if I could get her to talk. It took a while but eventually she told me there was a bad man in the house.”
