“Don’t make fun of me,” Ben said. “I haven’t been in the game for over four years now.”
“I read the blog, Dad,” Tanni said. “And you spout some form of that motto at the end of every single entry. Who are you trying to convince? Your readers or yourself?”
“How old are you? Sixteen?” Ben laughed. “The world will be screwed when you actually know what the hell you’re talking about.”
He sighed and rubbed at his face, the salt and pepper scruff on his cheeks and chin making an audible scratching noise. Ben moved from the door and sat on the edge of Tanni’s bed, smiling down at the comforter that still sported oversized, brightly colored flowers.
“Listen. Do me a solid, okay?” Ben asked.
“If you promise never to say do me a solid ever again,” Tanni replied.
“Promise,” Ben said. “Just look after your sister. Alright? I know you want to sneak off from your mother to go spend time with what’s his name.”
“Who?” Tanni asked, her eyes going wide.
“You know, the guy you’ve been texting with for the past month,” Ben replied. “You think I didn’t notice you were sending love texts to some boy? What is his name? Alex?”
Tanni’s face went pale and Ben laughed.
“Chill. It’s all good,” Ben said. “I’m not the dad that wants to buy a shotgun and cram it up his daughter’s new boyfriend’s butthole. Not that dad, okay? Considering what your mother and I were up to in high school, I have no room to talk. Not to mention the hell your grandfather put me through.”
“Pops was a good man,” Tanni said, the color returning to her cheeks. “Don’t say one bad word about him.”
“Your grandfather was a good man,” Ben agreed. “He just never thought I was.”
“You did end up losing a couple hundred thousand dollars of his money,” Tanni said and shrugged. “Can’t think why he’d have been pissed at you.”
“Who told you that?” Ben asked then shook his head. “Never mind. I know your mother did. But that is in the past. And it’s not like he didn’t have plenty of money left when he passed away.”
“Which is locked in a trust fund for me and the Norms,” Tanni said. “Safely out of reach from you or Mom.”
“I’m not that bad with money,” Ben said. “I used to make a living at money management, you know.”
“Playing professional poker is not money management, Dad,” Tanni said. “Setting up IRAs and 401ks for middle managers is money management.”
“Which is why I have the check book,” Maggie Rodriguez-Kimura said as she walked into the room. “And why you have new clothes and get fed every day.” The woman leaned down and kissed Ben on the forehead then ruffled his hair. “Isn’t he just adorable when he tries to act like he knows what the hell he’s talking about?”
“Is adorable the right word?” Tanni grinned.
She pushed off the bed and gave Maggie a big hug.
“Take care of him,” Tanni said.
“I always do,” Maggie replied, kissing Tanni on the cheek. “But I do agree with your father. Watch over Norma and if you do leave to go hang out with Alex, take her with you. I know it’s not sexy fun to have your little sister around when you’re with your—” She paused and gave Tanni a serious look. “When you are with your new squeeze, but do not dare leave Norma alone with your mother. She’ll end up coming back with a blue Mohawk and inappropriate body parts pierced.”
“My mom lives in Olympia, not a circus freak show,” Tanni replied then nodded. “But, yeah, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Norma all packed?” Ben asked, giving the two women a confused look.
“Norma is all packed,” Maggie said, ignoring the look. “Tee? You ready?”
Tanni pointed to a single backpack. “Yep.”
“You don’t want to bring more than that?” Maggie asked.
“Nope,” Tanni said. “Norma is the one that needs half her room put into suitcases when she leaves the house. Not me.”
“You pack that crimson skirt?” Maggie asked. “The one that goes great with your grey sweater?”
“I packed both,” Tanni said.
“Good,” Maggie said. “You look cute as hell in that outfit. It’ll be perfect when you go out.”
“I thought we just established that Tanni wasn’t going out,” Ben said.
“No, we established that Tanni wasn’t going out without taking Norma with her,” Maggie said. “You can’t expect a teenage girl not to go out at all on the weekend, Benjamin. That’s just asking for deception.”
“I’m the actual parent here, ya know,” Ben said. “So why do I feel like I’m the outsider with you two sometimes?”
“Because you’re an idiot,” Tanni said.
“An idiot with a cute ass,” Maggie said.
“Ew. Gross,” Tanni laughed.
“Daddy!” a girl screamed from the hallway. Footfalls echoed into the room then ten-year-old Norma Clow came bursting in, her clothes covered in sawdust. “We have a Code Seven Hundred emergency! Jail break! Jail break!”
Then the curly haired redhead was gone, a few specks of sawdust floating to the carpet in her wake.
“I’m guessing there is a guinea pig on the loose,” Maggie said, kissing Ben. “I’ll let you deal with that while I run back to my place and grab a couple of things for the trip.”
“What is over there that isn’t here?” Ben asked. “You’ve been living here full time for a year now.”
“There are some items that I haven’t brought over,” Maggie said. “Personal items.”
“She has all her sexy underwear at her apartment,” Tanni said. “Not the night on the town underwear, but the underwear that is only on for a minute before it is off.”
Ben and Maggie looked at Tanni for a couple of seconds. Maggie smiled and blushed. Ben scowled and blushed.
“Go,” Ben said to Maggie. “I’ll be over to pick you up by three.”
“Sounds good,” Maggie said, kissing him again. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” Ben said.
“DADDY!” Norma screamed from down the hall.
“Jesus,” Ben said. “How the hell does a guinea pig manage to escape so much?”
Blood Cruise is available from Amazon here!
The Breach Page 22