“Believe me, something else was on my mind. Getting them like this made better sense.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Cherry. Fuckers deserved it after what they’ve been doing.”
“I don’t understand why they did it. They’re all from affluent backgrounds, why would they want to do that kind of thing, it’s not like they need the money.”
“Some people are evil like that, looking for an excuse to hurt innocent people. They would have escalated. It really was only a matter of time. They were already getting worse when they hurt you.”
“Then it’s even better that you’ve stopped them.”
“We’ll see.”
“What does that mean?”
“We need to make sure it sticks.”
“Okay, well I wanted to say thank you. And…”
“And what?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing.”
“What aren’t you saying, Cherry?”
I practically hear her swallow down her fears. “Do you want to come over?”
“You want me to come over?”
“I asked didn’t I?” she says. “Let’s not pretend this is easy.”
“I’d love to, but I can’t tonight.”
“It’s okay, I know your busy and… other things.”
“It’s not that,” I say, wanting to laugh at her not being able to mention what we talked about the other night. “Oscar is in bed.”
“Oh.” She pauses, both of us remembering our first interaction and how I told her to forget she ever saw my son. “Noah, I didn’t tell anybody. I mean, I had no reason to. I could have done cos I thought you were an ass when you got mad about it.”
“I remember, Cherry.”
Standing up, I walk to the kitchen counter and pick up the monitor. Oscar is fast asleep, poor kid was exhausted after I’d finished entertaining him. I’ve never had anyone around him before, but he should stay asleep. Or Speedway could come in and watch him while I go to her place.
But she has seen him, she knows about him. Shit…
“I understand.”
“You could come here.”
Her end goes silent, she’s thinking about what it means that I’m asking her to come over when my son is here. I’m still trying to figure that out myself when she agrees.
“Be careful.”
“Yes, I know.”
I can see the eye roll in my mind’s eye.
“See you soon, Cherry.”
