The Nerd Who Loved Me

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  "Why didn't she want to meet me before?"

  Lainie could tell Dexter had put a lot of thought into this, and he deserved as much of the truth as she dared give him. "Daddy didn't tell them about you until now."

  Dexter turned his head toward her. "Why not?"

  She wasn't about to get into the moral stance of his grandparents. "He wasn't ready to settle down and be a daddy. If he told them, they would have expected him to do that, so he didn't tell them."

  "If he didn't want to be a daddy, then why did he make a baby?"

  Lainie decided that was enough truth for one morning. She didn't want to use the word "accident" when it came to someone as awesome as Dexter. "Let's just say he was confused. Come on, now, I need you to get dressed and go in and eat your cereal."

  With a resigned sigh, Dexter climbed out of bed and started taking off his SpongeBob pajamas, a gift from the TTTS. "Mr. Harry wouldn't be like that."

  Her heart beat faster just hearing his name. She'd thought of little else but Harry all night long. "What do you mean?"

  "If he made a baby, he'd stay there and be a daddy. He likes kids."

  "Yes, I believe he does." Her heart ached for the im­possible, Harry as the father of her children, including Dexter, of course. Harry would welcome Dexter as his own—she could already see that. But it didn't matter. She was going to New York with Joey, because that was the hand she'd been dealt.

  As Joey drove the gold sedan to Lainie's apartment complex, he thought how glad he'd be to get rid of the damn thing and finally drive his Vette again. But it was good he had this car for now, because he needed a back seat to transport the kid. He glanced at the Game Boy on the seat next to him. That should keep Dexter distracted for a while. The clerk who'd sold it to him had said all kids loved those things.

  He pulled up in front of the apartment at six-thirty on the dot. Usually he didn't care much about being on time, but today was different. Today everything had to go like clockwork.

  When he got to her front door, he noticed it had been replaced. Well, that was good. Somebody else besides him had paid for a new door. He'd been afraid that ex­pense would come out of his pocket, but apparently not.

  He rang the doorbell and worked on his smile. By the time she opened the door, he had it going on. "Hey, Lainie, good to see you."

  She didn't smile back. "We're ready."

  "Glad to hear it! Hey, Dexter! How's it hangin', buddy?"

  Dexter didn't look real happy to see him. "Okay," he said.

  "Don't you have a hug for your daddy?" "Not really."

  "Maybe we'd better just go," Lainie said. "We'll have plenty of time to get acquainted on the plane."

  "Right, right." Joey hoped the Game Boy would do the trick with Dexter, though. If not, he'd buy him more stuff at the airport. Kids liked getting stuff. He always had.

  "Let's get Dexter settled in the back first," he said when they reached the car. "Dexter, look what I got for you!"

  Dexter took it, but he didn't act all excited, like the clerk had promised he would. "Thank you."

  Little jerk. Joey ground his teeth together. "You're welcome! Come on, let's get you belted in. and then you can play with it on the way to the airport."

  "Okay." Still no enthusiasm.

  Joey got the ungrateful little brat into the seat with his seat belt on and put his little suitcase next to him. From the corner of his eye he saw the dark sedan pull up behind his rental car. Good. Right on time.

  "Lainie, if you wouldn't mind taking a look at these tickets, I'd appreciate it," he said. "I picked our seats, but we can change them if you want."

  She looked at him with the same dull expression as Dexter. "I'm sure they're fine."

  He handed her the ticket envelope, anyway. "Just take a look. I want to be sure." Then he leaned into the back seat again. "Got that thing turned on? Pretty cool, huh?" With his body, he blocked Dexter's view of Lainie and kept talking about the game Dexter was play­ing. He talked loud.

  He barely heard the scuffle and moans behind him, so he knew Dexter wouldn't, especially with the bleeps and clanging of the game. The guys he'd hired were pros. They snatched Lainie cleanly and quietly. An en­gine started and he turned in time to see the black sedan speed away, taking with it the only obstacle to his be­coming a very rich man.

  "Okay, then!" He closed the back door and hurried around to the front. "Time to get to the airport!"

  "Wait! Where's my mommy?"

  "Dexter, she decided not to come." He put the car in gear and drove quickly out of the parking lot.

  "She wouldn't do that! Stop the car!"

  "But she did, Dexter. She decided to stay in Vegas. She didn't want you to be sad, so she just ducked back inside the apartment."

  "I don't believe you! Let me out of here!"

  Joey glanced in the rearview mirror. The damned brat had unfastened his seat belt. Joey hit the door and window locks. "Sorry, but you're going with me. And you're lucky you are, because once we get there, you can have any­thing you want. Toys, ice cream, candy—you name it."

  Dexter began to scream.

  "Stop that, dammit! I can't drive while you're doing that!"

  Dexter screamed louder.

  "Listen, you brat, if you ever want to see your mother again, you'd better shut the hell up!" Dexter stopped screaming.

  "Now that's more like it. Play with your Game Boy."

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Driving a van full of TITS to the airport reminded Harry of taking a bus in a third-world country. Maybe he wasn't carrying goats and chickens, but he'd bet the noise level was about the same, and Fred did his part to provide the animal element.

  "Lower the balloons." he called back to Cherie. "You're blocking my mirror."

  "I keep trying!" Cherie yelled over the general hub­bub. "They float back up!"

  "Tie them down!" Harry had trouble when the bal­loons appeared in the minor, and even more trouble when Cherie bobbed into view, because now that she had her red wig back, she'd decided to wear it. Harry had way too many memories of that red wig.

  Trixie sat next to him with a traveling coffee mug the size of an ice bucket. She was the only one in the group not saying much, because she kept dozing off and jerk­ing herself back awake, which made her long rhinestone earrings jingle. How she could doze was beyond him.

  Rona, Suz, Babs, and Cherie had decided to sing show tunes to get in the mood for the gala send-off. They were currently running through "Oklahoma!" and Harry was mightily sick of wind sweeping down the plains. They accused him of being a bad sport for not joining in. After all, he knew all the words.

  But all he cared about was getting one last glimpse of Lainie. That pretty much indicated how far gone he was. Freeway traffic was sluggish this morning, and he hoped to hell there wasn't an accident up ahead. He tried to tell himself that Lainie and Dexter weren't part of that po­tential accident, but of course he worried himself sick about it, anyway.

  To reassure himself that Lainie wasn't part of an ac­cident, he searched for the gold sedan in the mass of ve­hicles. The chances of catching up to the car in this kind of traffic were remote, but he would love to see that car and know that Lainie and Dexter were okay.

  Then he thought he spotted it in the far right lane. Damn, it wasn't close enough for him to be sure. He had to ease around a couple of semis to get a better look, and first thing he knew, "Oklahoma!" had come to a halt and the TITS started carrying on about his driving. Even Trixie woke up and began to gripe.

  He ignored them all. The closer he got to the car, the more certain he was. He didn't have a photographic memory like Lainie, but he thought the license plate sounded about right.

  He was about two car lengths away when he saw the writing in the back window. It was backward, and the let­ters were dripping like they'd been made with something liquid, like lotion or shampoo. But the word was "HELP."

  "Hang on, ladies!" Harry cut someone off so he could veer into the lane next
to the gold sedan. "Mom, call Leo! Get him here! I think Joey's kidnapped Dexter."'

  "Omigod, omigod. Harry, where's here?"

  "On the freeway, two miles from the airport exit! Trixie, can you see into that gold car?"

  Trixie hunkered down. "I see a blond guy driving, and somebody's in the back seat. .. it's Dexter!" She rolled down her window. "Dexter! We're here!"

  Harry lay on the horn and came right up beside the sedan. He'd never forced anyone off the road before, but at least he had a van. He had to be careful, though, be­cause he didn't want Joey to wreck.

  By now all the windows on the passenger side were down and the TITS were hanging out, waving and scream­ing at Dexter.

  "Can anybody see Lainie?" Harry's heart beat so loud it almost drowned out the racket.

  Trixie leaned halfway out of the window as she looked down at the car. "No! It's just the guy, and he's totally pissed!"

  A deadly calm took hold of Harry. The noise faded into the background, leaving him with one clean, white-hot purpose, to get that car off the road and kill the man driving it. He turned the wheel so that Joey was forced to run into him or pull over.

  "He's pulling over!" Trixie yelled.

  Harry expected him to. Joey was going to pull over. It was a given. He slammed on the brakes, positioning the van across the car's left front fender. Joey wasn't going anywhere.

  Harry was out of the van and around by the car, ready to pull Joey out through the window if necessary. Joey beat him to it, boiling out of the car, swearing a blue streak.

  "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted. Then he saw who was coming toward him and his eyes widened. "You!"

  "Where is she, you son of a bitch?" Harry had never thought of himself as a strong man, but he had Joey pinned against the car in no time as he wrapped both hands around his worthless throat. "Where is she?"

  Joey's eyes bugged out. "She's fine, man! Fine!"

  "Tell me where she is or I'll kill you right now." It was not a threat but a promise.

  "Harry!"

  He heard Lainie's voice, but wondered if he was hal­lucinating.

  "Harry, I'm here!"

  He turned his head, and there she was, running down the shoulder of the road, followed by two guys who'd just come out of a black sedan. They looked vaguely familiar.

  Before running to meet her, Harry shoved Joey away so hard that he fell to the pavement. "What happened?" He clutched Lainie by the shoulders. "Who are these guys? Why weren't you—"

  "I'll tell you in a minute." She gasped for breath. "We have to get Dexter. He must be terrified."

  "Oh, God. Dexter. He wrote 'HELP' in the back win­dow." Harry ran with her back to the sedan, only to dis­cover that the TITS had everything under control. Cherie, Suz, Babs, and Trixie were sitting squarely on top of Joey, and Suz had a grip on his privates. Rona had Dexter, holding him tight and rocking him back and forth as she murmured reassurances.

  Harry stepped back and let Lainie reunite with her son. He still had no idea what had happened, but at least Lainie and Dexter seemed to be okay, and Joey . . . well, Joey was in good hands. Harry still wanted to kill him, but the primal urge had faded and his brain was back in control. Killing Joey would only mean getting sent to jail, and that wouldn't help anyone.

  Left with not much to do, he turned back to the two guys he'd vaguely recognized. "Why was Lainie with you instead of with Dexter?"

  "Maybe Leo should explain it," one of the men said. "He should be here any minute." He glanced at Joey pinned to the ground by the TITS. "We could take him off your hands, though, if you want."

  "Don't you dare," Suz called. "We're having a great time over here."

  At that moment a maroon Jag pulled in behind the black sedan and Leo climbed out looking extremely un­happy. He was followed by Eric and Brett. "What the hell is this mess? I thought we agreed that we'd nab him at the airport?"

  Rona came storming over. "You knew about all of this? You planned it?"

  "No, we planned something totally different. I was at the airport waiting for the gold sedan, and these guys were following the sedan. We had it under control."

  Rona clenched her fists. "You'd better explain better than that, Leo Pirelli."

  Leo blew out a breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "My contacts found out that Joey was looking for a couple of guys to do some dirty work, so we sent him these two. That way, Joey would think his plan was working, but Lainie wouldn't be in danger."

  "And you scared Lainie and Dexter out of their wits!" Rona's eyes flashed fire.

  Leo cleared his throat. "Because I thought Lainie needed to know who she was dealing with. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a murder plot. He just wanted to keep her from going to New York. Once he had Dexter inside his parents' compound, he'd deny her entry and convince his folks she should never be allowed near her son. Oh, and that phone call to his mother? It was some waitress, not his mother. His folks still don't know Dexter exists."

  Lainie approached, holding Dexter. "You're right, I wouldn't have believed Joey would do something like that, but I hate that you scared Dexter so bad. That was not a good thing, Leo."

  "That was an inexcusable thing," Rona said. "What were you thinking?"

  "I was thinking to expose the creep! Dammit, I did what I thought was best." He walked over and looked into Dexter's eyes. "I'm sorry, Dex. I shouldn't have scared you so bad."

  Dexter took a deep breath. "Does this mean I don't have to go to New York with Daddy?"

  "It certainly does." Lainie's jaw clenched. "We're through with anybody named Benjamin."

  "Then it's okay if I got scared," Dexter said.

  Harry saw a little ray of hope. If Lainie was through with anybody named Benjamin, then maybe she'd be ready for somebody named Ambrewster.

  "Something else you should know," Leo said. "My guys talked him out of a hundred grand for snatching you. Cash. It's yours, Lainie. If you buy some long-term CDs in Dexter's name, in sixteen years you'll have plenty to send Dexter to one of those highfalutin colleges."

  Lainie blinked. "Wow. Thank you, Leo."

  "It's the least he could have done, after what he put you through," Rona said. She was still shooting daggers at Leo.

  He pretended not to notice. "So all that's left is mak­ing absolutely certain Joey doesn't ever consider coming back here. We need to make sure he's scared straight."

  "The pleasure will be all mine." Lainie gave Dexter a hug. "Will you go with Miss Rona for a little while?"

  "Can I go see Fred? He's looking out the window of the van, and he really wants to see me."

  "Then let's go see Fred." Rona held out her arms.

  Once Dexter was inside the van, Lainie turned to Leo. "All right. Let's go put the screws to Joey."

  Leo smiled. "That's my girl."

  No, that's my woman. But Harry didn't say the words out loud. Just because one obstacle had been removed didn't mean he had clear sailing.

  The three of them marched back to where Joey was still being expertly pinned down by the TITS. They all looked up and grinned as Lainie, Harry, and Leo ap­proached.

  "Whatcha want us to do with this piece of garbage?" Suz asked. Joey moaned.

  "Be quiet, you." Cherie rapped him on the head with her knuckles. "Or else Suz will start twisting the family jewels."

  Lainie crouched down next to Joey. "I have Leo here with me, and I think you already know that Leo is well connected, if you get my meaning. By now you must re­alize that the guys you hired to snatch me were actually his guys."

  "They were?" Joey's voice was a pitiful squeak. "Yes. And all it takes is a word from Leo, and you'll disappear without a trace." Joey gulped.

  "So unless you want a short and not-very-bright fu­ture, you'll leave on that plane and never come back." Then she glanced up at Leo. "Your guys will make sure Joey gets on that plane, right?"

  "Oh, he'll be on the plane," Leo said. "And Joey, all it takes is a phone call and your creditors will b
e alerted that you're probably not going to pay them at the end of the week."

  "Oh, dear God." Joey's eyes bulged. "Don't make that call. I'm gonna get the money. Please don't make that call."

  "Then you'll be on the plane, right?" Leo said. "Absolutely. I will definitely be on it, and that's a promise."

  Leo nodded. "I believe you. Let him up, ladies."

  "Aw, do we have to?" Babs bounced a couple of times on Joey's chest. "This has been such fun."

  "Yeah, you have to," Leo said. "We don't want him to miss that flight."

  The TITS all reluctantly piled back into the van and Trixie took the wheel to pull it forward. Then Harry stood beside Lainie as Eric and Brett got into the gold sedan with Joey in the passenger seat. When the car eased into traffic, the black sedan with the two Phoenix men followed.

  "I doubt we'll see him again," Leo said.

  Lainie shuddered. "I hope not."

  Leo glanced at the van, which rocked merrily from the movement of the women inside as "Oklahoma!" drifted from the open windows. Then he turned back to Lainie and Harry. "Listen, I think you two and Dexter need some time to regroup. I'll ride back in the van and you three take the Jag."

  Harry turned to study the maroon car. "You didn't buy a new one, did you?"

  "Ah, it was easier than waiting for the old one to get fixed." Leo dug for his key. "Damn, I must have left it in the ignition, which shows you how shook up I was when I saw this circus. Anyway, just don't race the engine or use the cruise control. It only has forty-six miles on it."

  Harry looked at him. 'This is me you're talking to. I don't do stuff like that."

  Leo smiled. "A week ago I wouldn't have thought so, but lately, I'm not so sure."

  "But Leo, your new car?" Lainie sounded doubtful. "We shouldn't be taking a brand-new car."

  "In case you two hadn't noticed, I'm in deep shit with Rona. Loaning you my car might earn me some points, and I'm desperate for points." .

  "Okay, then. Thank you, Leo." Lainie put her hand on his arm. "You're probably right that Dexter and I need to decompress a little, and that van sounds wild. The other thing is, I should stop by the Nirvana, pick up my car, and see if I can have my job back. The sooner the better on that. I'll go get Dexter."