My mouth dropped open, and I whipped my head to stare at Chase. “No! I’veneverknown my parents to do something like that.”
“Is Sheriff here telling you about our morning?” Dad asked as he and Mom wondered over to where we stood.
“He said you paid him a visit this morning,” I offered.
“Sure did,” Dad said. “And boy am I glad we did. You shouldseethe weapons he has on his property.” Dad looked at Chase. “I mean, heallegedlyhas on his property.”
Sheriff laughed. “I thought maybe your dad might be interested in the small stash of firearms Iallegedlykeep on hand at all times.”
I frowned. “Dad, you are adamantly opposed to violence of any kind. Especially gun violence.”
Dad leaned in until he was inches from my face. “He has arocket launcher!”
“Allegedly,” Chase said.
“Allegedly,” Dad agreed.
“I hadn’t seen your father so excited in a long time,” Mom said. “Did my heart good.”
I gaped. “But they’reweapons.”
“Freakin’amazingweapons,” Dad said. “Did you not hear me sayrocket launcher?”
I looked over at Mom, but she seemed oblivious to my despair. In my twenty-five years of breathing life on this planet, I’d never known my dad to talk positively about weapons of any kind.
“I know,” Mom said, “I’ve had to be the bad guy all morning and tell him, ‘Larry, you can’t have a rocket launcher in the peace van.’ He’s not taking it well.”
“So are you ready to get that bracelet off, young lady?” Judge asked as he and Lance ambled over.
No. Because then I’m going to have to leave.
“I am.” I turned to Lance. “What’re you doing here? Don’t you have court or something today?”
He ruffled my hair. “I just stopped by before my next appointment to see how things are going.” He gave me a searching look. “How are things going?”
“Fine.” I licked my lips and glanced at Chase. “Chase is going to let me stay at his place—upstairs—until the weekend so I can participate in Saturday’s protest.”
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear I saw disappointment flicker in Lance’s eyes. “So you’re leaving then after that?”
I slid another glance at Chase. “Well, yeah. I don’t really have a reason—I mean, I figure this whole mess will be settled. So I probably should be moving on, right?”
Lance, Sheriff, and Judge all three looked at Chase.
Not wanting to make Chase any more uncomfortable than he obviously already was, I picked up my crutch leaning against the wall and excused myself. I didn’t want to hear his answer.
I decided to head over to see how Mimi and the girls were coming along.
“Should we be naked on Saturday?” Mimi asked.
I laughed. “What?”
“Saturday for the protest,” she said. “Should we be naked so we get more attention? Maybe chain ourselves to a fence post?”
“I ain’t chaining myself naked to no wooden fence post,” Gilda said. “I’ll probably get a splinter.”
“Yeah,” Mimi said, “you probably shouldn’t. You already got one stick up your butt.”
Ingrid and Mimi fist bumped, and I bit down hard on my tongue to keep from laughing. These women were a hoot.
