Her gaze held mine a little too long, and then she bypassed me and stepped inside.
“April, I don’t…”
“If something’s going on, I have the right to know.”
“Why?”
“Because when my child is over here, I need to know he is happy and well-cared for.”
“Yes!” MGM hollered from the sofa. “My highest score! This is the best day of my life.”
“There you have it.” I gestured to our offspring. “Clearly, he’s not suffering.”
April took a spot at the table. “I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on.”
And so, I sat on the chair opposite her and gave April a highly pared down version of events, carefully removing any talk of misdemeanors or blackmailers named Marty shaking me down. In my version, Michelle had caught me taking money from an emergency fund to play poker with the boys. I hated lying to her, but I couldn’t risk her using it against me and taking MGM away. I couldn’t lose one more kid.
Luckily, April accepted my selfishness at face value. In fact, she was blaming Michelle and not me. Cool. Dodged a bullet there.
“She can’t just keep your kids from you, Scott. You have rights too.”
“There’s nothing I can do if I don’t know where they are.”
“You do know. According to the brother-in-law, Michelle is staying at one of her family’s hotels in the LA area, right?”
I nodded.
Her eyes lit up with sudden purpose. “Do you have a phone book?”
Knowing where she was going with it, I dropped a monster telephone book on the table, and we spent the next half hour making a list of every Carver-owned property in the county. Fourteen in total, with April circling the ones she thought most likely.
“My God,” April said, scanning the list. “How rich are they?”
“Rich enough to take everything away from me… and still have time to make brunch.”
“And she picked you?”
“I know. Imagine my surprise.”
We exchanged smiles, and I felt better knowing I had at least one person on my side… even if I had to withhold vital information to get her there.
“You wanna meet up after work tomorrow?” April asked, using her pencil to circle an area on the atlas map. “We can hit the ones in this radius.”
“We? Like… you and me?”
“You got anyone better in mind?”
“I mean, I have a thousand roommates, but they’re all spiders… so no.”
“See? That,” April said, laughing. “That right there.”
“Huh?”
“Your charm. That mix of soft-hearted and smart-mouthed. That’s how you landed the hotel queen.”
I cleared my throat, searching for a smooth pivot. “Remember that loving feeling, April, because I have something to tell you.”
Her shoulders dropped a fraction. “Okay.”
