He seemed likable enough, but Sassy had taken a stance months before, vowing never to fall for a businessman. She’d recently discovered how cruel and capitalistic her father’s real estate business was, and how ruthless he had to be as the best realtor in the city. The night she found out, she and Davey had been sitting with friends, talking about this and that, when one complained that his parents had lost their house to the bank, and some real estate guy had bought it.
Squinting against cigarette smoke, the young man had said, “I was born in that bedroom. Nothing wrong with it. It was the only pad I ever knew, but The Man trashed it, you know?”
“Bummer. They knocked it down?” Davey asked.
“No, man. They renovated the whole thing. Totally changed it. Then he bought our neighbour’s house and did the same. Then, like, three more houses went up for sale, and now the neighbourhood is so expensive no one’s got the bread to live there. A whole street, wiped out for profit.”
Sassy kept her mouth shut about her father and what he did for a living. “Why’d the other neighbours sell their houses? They must have gotten a lot of money for them.”
“Gentrification, man,” another girl groaned. “Fat cats killing the whole world with their green. I say we should all just hang on the streets. Screw ’em.”
Sassy had to laugh. “Yeah, but only in the summer.”
From that conversation, Sassy learned that renovated houses cost too much for most people to afford. Her father did that: buying up old houses, fixing them, then selling them for big cash. After he worked on them, only the rich could afford to own them. Where was everyone else supposed to go? That conversation had changed how she regarded her father. She loved him, but to do what he did, he’d have to be cold. And greedy.
At the same time, she was uncomfortably aware that his income paid her rent. She kept her mouth shut on that, too.
“I have to ask,” Tom said. “What’s jail like?”
Any good feelings she had started to develop toward him evaporated. “What a question.”
“I’ve never been. Until today, I’d never even been in a police station. I’m curious.”
“I don’t recommend it.” She walked on, annoyed and keen to change the subject. “So lemme get this straight. If you are my father’s partner, that makes you a conniving, thieving capitalist like him, right?”
His jaw dropped. “Wow. What a thing to say.”
She smiled, pleased with herself, and kept walking. Tie game.
“Maybe he shouldn’t have bailed you out,” he muttered behind her. “I wouldn’t have. I don’t usually get along with Marxists.”
“You’re probably too old to understand what we’re all about.”
She wasn’t sure why she’d snapped like that. She admitted to the occasional tantrum, but she wasn’t usually rude. She blamed the hours spent waiting in the police station, all by herself.
His footsteps stopped. “Unless you want to walk all the way, you should come back here. This is my car.”
Slightly embarrassed, she went around to the passenger door of his navy-blue Buick and got in. The car smelled new, so she told him that, hoping to smooth things over a bit.
He patted the dash. “Nineteen sixty-six Buick Skylark. Beautiful, isn’t she?”
“Uh-huh.”
She didn’t know or care about cars, but she decided to keep that to herself. She faced the window as he pulled out of the parking spot and made his way into traffic. The new-car smell was a bit strong, so she rolled the window down and let the wind toss her hair. After a few minutes of riding and thinking, Sassy couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Is he furious?”
“Who? Your dad? I’d say so.”
Tom was resting his elbow out the window, and the sun was beaming onto his sunglasses. From this side she could see a little curled line at the side of his mouth. Not a smile, a smileline. She wondered if it disappeared when he got mad. Right now, though, he looked amused.
“What’s so funny?”
“You. Your dad lets you live your happy hippy life and pays all your bills, and all he asks is one thing: keep a job. Instead, you skip off work, get arrested, then beg for mercy. Incredible. No kids of mine will ever be spoiled that way.”
Sassy’s cheeks burned. “It’s none of your business.”
“That’s a good thing,” he replied frankly.
