chapter 2.24
Alex
I don’t know when Knight’s mood changed...maybe it’d been the sessions with Dr. Gray, maybe he’d just entered into the last stage of grief which was “acceptance”, but little by little, my sweet, loving husband came back to me.
We’d shared a nice afternoon lovemaking session right under our kids’ noses. Jackson was doing his homework outside and Dakota was over at a friend’s house. I loved it when we could get away with that.
Still flushed from our time together, I was about to light the grill. Since we’d released Liz, I was pretty much delegated to cooking on the grill. If I burned it, I could cast it off as “barbequed”.
“Guess what?” Knight asked with an impish grin.
“What?” I said.
“I’ve just signed us up for culinary classes. No more grilling. It’s time we branched out.”
I don’t know when Knight’s mood changed...maybe it’d been the sessions with Dr. Gray, maybe he’d just entered into the last stage of grief which was “acceptance”, but little by little, my sweet, loving husband came back to me.
We’d shared a nice afternoon lovemaking session right under our kids’ noses. Jackson was doing his homework outside and Dakota was over at a friend’s house. I loved it when we could get away with that.
Still flushed from our time together, I was about to light the grill. Since we’d released Liz, I was pretty much delegated to cooking on the grill. If I burned it, I could cast it off as “barbequed”.
“Guess what?” Knight asked with an impish grin.
“What?” I said.
“I’ve just signed us up for culinary classes. No more grilling. It’s time we branched out.”
“Really, baby?” I couldn’t believe it. If you’d asked me even one month ago, I’d say Knight would rather wear a gown with jewels than ever be caught cooking. “Why the change of heart?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I figured it’d be fun cooking with you in the kitchen.” He kissed my cheek, making me go nuts for him again.
Just then Jackson interrupted. “Can you guys go make out somewhere else? I’m trying to do my homework.”
I turned around and said, “You should be happy your parents are in love, Jackson. We should hear you celebrating, not complaining.”
Out of the blue, Jackson hollered, “You’ll just be arguing any minute so I won’t be celebrating anything.”
“How can you say that, son?” I asked. “We haven’t fought in two weeks.”
“Gee, what is that? A world record or something? We better call Guiness.”
“You shut your mouth, Jackson,” Knight yelled. “You don’t treat us like that.”
Shit. The two of them were way too similar and would be at each others throat any minute.
“Knight, let’s just drop it. Jackson’s been having a hard time.”
“I don’t care if he has a freaking life explosion, he doesn’t talk to us like that. Ever!”
“Like that ever stopped you,” Jackson snarled. “I’m out of here.”
“Where are you going?” Knight crossed his arms.
“To the basement where I can get some peace.”
“Hey, we’re not finished here.”
Getting an enormous headache, I rubbed my temples and said, “Knight...just let him go.”
When Jackson stomped into the house, I said, “Knight...have a heart. He just broke up with Celia. He’s not happy right now. Please don’t provoke him.”
“But babe, he should respect us even when he’s angry. He should talk to us about it, not lash out.”
“That’s like the pot calling the kettle black and you know it.”
“Yeah, but I’m learning and he should, too. He shouldn’t follow my bad behavior.”
I laughed, stroking his cheek. “I think it’s in the genetics, babe. You both are hot heads.”
Placing his hand over mine, he lifted the side of his mouth. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
******
Jackson
By the time I got downstairs, I felt terrible for yelling at my parents like that. I don’t know, but every time I’d see someone enjoying their relationship, it made me angry. Like someone bragging that they were happy when I was miserable.
I decided I’d apologize to them as soon as I got done with my homework.
After I finished in the bathroom, my cell phone buzzed. “Hey! What made you decide to call me?”
For some reason, hearing Luci’s voice calmed me down. I hadn’t really seen her in months and couldn’t believe it when her name showed up on my screen.
Her cute, cheery voice rang in my ear. “Can you meet me at Simbacks? I’ve got a question for you.”
“A question? Hmm...that sounds interesting. Why can’t you ask me now?”
She paused for a minute then said, “Because there’s an explanation that goes along with it plus even more questions, I’m sure.” She sighed into the phone. “Will you just meet me, Jackson?”
I laughed hearing her frustration. “Okay. Let me see if I can go. Probably won’t be for a few hours. I have tons of homework. Is seven okay?”
“Sure.”
******
After I nearly had to grovel at Pop’s feet for my earlier behavior, my fathers finally let me go meet Luci.
When I saw her, I arched an eyebrow. “What’s up with that shirt?” I asked. It was a play on words that I thought was very out of character for Luci. Victoria would have been all over a shirt like that but Luci?
She shrugged, laughing. “What? You don’t like kitties?”
“Seriously?” I decided to change the subject. The conversation could get very weird very fast. If she had been Victoria, I would have had fun with it, but Luci? I just didn’t know her very well.
When we got inside, the rich aroma of coffee washed over me like a warm fire. I couldn’t wait to order.
But Luci ordered for both of us. “Hey,” I said, “I can get my own. Unless you’re thinking this is a date,” I joked, putting my fingers as guns and winking.
Wincing, she said, “Uh...no...this is definitely not a date, Jackson. I just thought since I asked you here, I should pay to thank you.”
Face burning, I put my hands in my pockets. “Oh, yeah, well that was a joke, Luci.” Why was I all awkward around her? Ever since that Winter Ball fiasco, I just wasn’t myself in her presence.
As we settled into one of the booths, I said, “So...what’s up? Are you planning on a coup to oust my aunt from the city or something?”
That made her laugh. “Something like that. How’d you guess?”
“Well, seeing as it’s your full time job to make my relatives miserable, it wasn’t hard. What’s your plan this time?”
“I need to ask you if you would help us.”
“Help you. You and who else?”
“I-I can’t really say. My informant wants to be anonymous. It seems your aunt is under investigation for suspicion of fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.” She picked at her nails then said, “And it is all linked to trying to swipe the Richardson legacy from your father. Your grandfather may have been the person behind it all, but since he’s gone, there’s no one to protect Lana. She’s up to her neck in circling sharks.”
“Wow,” I whispered. I couldn’t say I was surprised at all. According to Pops, my grandfather had changed toward him in the last ten years, probably because he wanted the legacy for himself. “But what does this have to do with me? Isn’t this something for the FBI to handle?”
“We’re not at that stage yet. A private investigation company is handling things right now. Once we have the proof we need, we’ll hand over the evidence to the FBI. We have to be careful. Antonio Richardson’s friends run deep through the government. For all we know, he has his key people in the FBI. So if they’re dirty, they won’t help. We have to go public first. We were wondering if you could talk to your father about it. How he first found out about the Future Is First stocks. You know that’s the company that lost most of his money.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know anything about my father’s company. But if you want, I will ask him.”
“And if he could cooperate with the investigation company, that would be helpful. If we’re right about our suspicions, you’d get your legacy back. I know that would make your father happy. Right?”
I shrugged. “I really don’t know what would make Pops happy, but learning about this definitely won’t. But you can count on me. I’ll help in any way I can. I can’t stand Lana and if this is true, she should rot in jail.”