John again. Mitch cupped his hand over the mouthpiece. “Be right there. I’m signing off.” Back to Mary, he asked if there was tuition to be paid.
“I had to put up half in order to enroll him.”
“Text me what I owe you.”
“You don’t have to worry about—”
Enunciating each word, he said, “Text me how much I owe the school for Andrew’s tuition.”
“All right. Take care.”
“Hold on. I’m not finished.” He took a stabilizing breath. “Unless it’s a medical emergency, don’t you ever make another major decision regarding my son without consulting me.”
“Mitch!”
“Coming,” he shouted to John over his shoulder. Then into the phone, “Did you get that, Mary? Notever.”
He disconnected without a goodbye, pushed away from his desk, and stalked over to where John was waiting for him, a deep cleft of concern between his eyebrows. “Everything okay?”
“No.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“No.”
He shouldered past John and went into the office, where he pinched the bridge of his nose and took a moment to compose himself. Mary’s comments about his being an absent father hadn’t been off-the-cuff. She’d given this a lot of thought, and her underlying message had left him both annoyed and spooked. Like walking into a spider web.
But he felt John scrutinizing him, so, for now, he shelved that issue and focused on his job. He asked, “What’s up?”
John motioned him into a chair. “You look upset.”
“Mary.”
John went around his desk and sat down. “Andrew all right?”
Mitch gave a half smile. “He’s great. He met a bunny rabbit today. Make thatwabbit.”
John smiled. “He’s overdue a visit with Uncle John and Aunt Beth.”
“How’s Beth doing?”
“Fine. Getting close.”
“Another month?”
“Doctor says maybe sooner.”
“Those last few weeks are tough on them.”
John nodded. “Beth says she looks like a whale.”
“With Angela it was a blimp. I thought she looked beautiful.”
“She did.”
An awkward silence followed the mention of her name. Mitch turned his head to look out the window. John shifted in his desk chair, making the springs squeak, but eventually he eased into the reason for summoning Mitch into his office.
“Sorry for rushing your call,” he said, “but Lear and Nix are on their way in from Bayou Coeur. I needed to talk to you before they get here.”
