Okay. Lucky wouldn’t put out search warrants on them today to see if they kept a stash of pot in the house for recreational use. He had bigger fish to fry, or rather, burgers to cook.
He had the partner, but the kids were borrowed. Sooner or later they’d leave with their mother.
And the house would be quiet again.
Somewhere along the way he’d learned to hate quiet.
***
Lucky sat at the kitchen table, watching the sunrise. He’d let Bo sleep for a while. Poor guy spent the better part of the night driving Todd and Ty around Atlanta hunting for poofballs, or snipe or what the hell ever on their cellphones. And tonight?
Tonight they’d stay indoors, watch movies on the big screen TV—the louder and funnier the better, and ignore the fireworks going off at neighbors’ houses. Bo hadn’t had a PTSD episode in a while now.
Lucky would do his damnedest to ensure he didn’t tonight.
Strange, though. At one time, an act of God or Congress couldn’t get Lucky out of bed before nine.
Charlotte came in and poured herself a cup of coffee. “Can I join you? I want to talk to you about something.” The dark circles under her eyes said she hadn’t slept well.
What now? “It’s a free country,” he said, but he meantYou’re always welcome with me. And she was.
“I been thinking…” She sat down beside him and took a sip of plain black coffee. Brrr… How’d she drink the shit without sugar?
“What you got on your mind?” He sipped coffee and pretended not to worry too much. For her to beat around the bush, this must be something bad.
“Nobody asked me about the house and the boys’ college funds after Victor’s arrest, and I sure as shit wasn’t going to say anything.”
Funny how she never seemed to swear in front of her kids, acting the perfect Mom and scolding them if they cussed, but whenever she and Lucky got together, time turned back and they were as comfortable together as they’d always been.
God, how he’d missed her.
“Anyway, with Todd starting school down here, Ty’s a bit jealous his brother’ll get to hang out with Uncle Ric… I mean, Uncle Lucky.” Charlotte set her cup on the table with a clink.
“He can come visit when school’s out. That is, if I’m not on assignment. They both can.” It’d be nice having the young ‘uns around from time to time. Not to mention how well they’d bonded with Bo.
“The boys think you’re totally cool.” She propped her arm on the table and rested her head on her hand. “Ty’s changed his mind about joining the Navy. Been talking about following in your footsteps after graduation.”
“Oh no!” Easy for a kid to hero-worship a living-in-the-fast-lane felon, but the kid would follow in his lawless footsteps over Lucky’s dead body. Which, if he waited long enough, might happen two or three more times before Lucky finally wound up with a headstone in a graveyard for real.
“I don’t mean the drug running part. I meant law enforcement.”
Oh hell. “No. Too dangerous.” Lucky wouldn’t wish the ugliness of the streets on anyone, especially blood kin.
“You worried about him?”
“Aren’t you?”
Charlotte grabbed Lucky’s chin and yanked him around eye to eye with her. “I’ve worried about you every single day since you left home. Didn’t you know? You’ve given me quite a few heart attacks over the years. And here you are, the same ole cocky banty rooster, hell bent and determined to fight. It may have taken you a while to get your head out of your ass, but I’m told you’re a pretty good narcotics agent. If that’s what my son wants to do, yeah, I’ll worry for him. But if he’s determined, you know as well as I do it’s damned near impossible to change a Lucklighter’s mind.”
Yup. Lucky did.
“And having someone around who knows a thing or two you can’t learn in a textbook can only be a plus.” Charlotte let go of his face. Lucky missed the heat of her hand. “Anyway, I been considering my options. There’re a few small towns between here and Clemson where a decent house costs about a third of what mine would sell for.”
Lucky’s heart slammed against his ribs. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I miss my brother, my kids miss my brother, and we’ve wasted enough time. I won’t get all underfoot and in your way, promise. You know I’m not like that. But I want you and Bo in my life. Besides, I never been away from my babies.” She paused to sip her coffee. “I’d like to be close enough to see Todd when I want to. And you know how I always wanted to be a nurse?”
“Yeah.”
