"And you, sir," the server asked.
"Milk, please," he said to the grins of the girls.
"You're not being funny," Nikki said as the server left.
"Not trying to be funny," he said. "Strong bones and teeth are very important to me."
Marty snickered and caught a sharp look from her mother. Silence followed.
The server returned with three glasses of milk and an iced tea. "I can take your order now," she said.
"The girls will share the turkey sandwich--"
"Can we have French fries, Mom?" Lilly asked.
"Sure. Okay. French fries," Nikki said as she looked up at the server.
"That sandwich comes with avocado," the server said.
"That's fine," Nikki said.
Nikki and Jerrod both ordered pasta dishes.
Marty reached for her glass of milk with her right hand. "Two hands, honey," Nikki said just as Marty knocked the full glass over and milk spilled onto the tabletop.
"Sorry. I'm sorry," a wide-eyed Marty said as she started to cry.
"Son-of-a--" Nikki said as she grabbed paper napkins and blotted at the milk.
"--Bitch," Lilly said to complete the phrase.
An elderly lady at an adjacent table glared at them.
"Lilly!" Nikki said while searching for more napkins.
"No use crying over--," Jerrod said.
"Don't you dare," Nikki interrupted as she reached for another dry napkin.
"Just trying to lighten--," he said.
"Please don't," she said to Jerrod as the server dropped off a stack of napkins. "Marty, please stop crying."
"Sorry, Mom," Marty said through her sniffles.
"It's okay. Don't worry," Nikki said.
A quiet conversation ensued while their meals were prepared. The small-talk eased the tension caused by the milk incident.
The server returned with a tray containing their meals.
Nikki looked on the tray and asked the server, "Can we please get another small plate for the sandwich?"
"Yeah, sure," the server said with a subtle eye roll.
"Sorry to impose," Nikki said after catching the facial expression.
The server left and returned thirty seconds later with the plate.
"Thank you," Nikki said... with a tone emphasizing the 'you.'
Nikki placed half of the sandwich and a hand full of fries on the fresh plate.
"Hey, she gets more fries," Marty said as the smaller plate was placed in front of her.
"They're re exactly the same, Marty," Nikki said.
"She got more," Marty said as she started crying again.
"Lilly, please give your sister a few more fries," Nikki directed.
"Why?" Lilly asked.
"Because I asked you to. That's why."
Lilly picked out the two smallest fries from her plate and plopped them onto Marty's plate.
"Hey," Marty said as her crying got louder.
The lady at the next table glared again.
Lilly pulled open her half of the sandwich. "What's this green stuff?"
"It's avocado,'' Nikki said. "It's real good."
"I don't like it," Lilly said as she scraped the avocado off the sandwich with her forefinger and flicked it onto the table. A chunk stuck to Nikki's blouse and another landed on Jerrod's plate.
Both girls sat together, quietly sobbing, in the backseat of the Pontiac on the ride back to the condo. After Nikki parked in the carport, she handed Lilly her keyring.
"Go let yourself in and both of you get ready for bed."
"Okay, Mom," Lilly said. Marty stared at the ground and was silent as she followed her sister to the front door. Neither girl said goodbye to Jerrod.
"So, you got your wish," Nikki said.
"What's that?" Jerrod asked.
"You got to meet the girls... 'properly.' Just like you wanted."
"I guess so."
"Want to come in?"
"I don't think so."
"I'm not surprised," she said.
"I had fun."
"No, you didn't."
Jerrod nodded and Nikki kissed him on the cheek.
"See you at Sophie's," she said... in a tone that was half statement and half question.
"I'm moving to swing shift on Wednesday," he said. "Maybe I'll come in before work."
"We'll see," she said as she turned and walked toward the condo door.
CHAPTER 51
Tuesday Night Poker Game
"My mom once told me," Nate Boxley said as he peeked at his cards and checked, "there are two things you don't talk about with friends: 'politics and religion.'"
"All my friends ever talk about is 'politics and religion,'" "Beach" Sutton said as he made a bet.
"I'm so conflicted about religion," Jerrod Gold said as he folded his hand. "I can't hold a real conversation about it."
Roger Collins called the bet. "What's to be conflicted about: You believe or you do not believe."
"It's not that easy," Jerrod said. "Part of my brain would like to believe and part doubts everything I know, or think I know, about religion."
Nate folded and threw his cards in the muck. "You can be spiritual, but not be religious. You don't have to go to church every week."
"Anyone want to know what I think?" Beach said as he looked around the table.
"No!" Nate and Roger and Rudy Saavedra said simultaneously.
"Gonna hear it anyways," Beach announced. "Religion is a cult."
"Hang on a second," Roger said. "You just crossed a line."
Nate chuckled.
"Religion is a 'cult,'" Rudy mocked. "Bullshit."
"I'd like to hear him out," Jerrod said.
"Okay," Beach said as he looked at Roger. "If you don't believe me, look up 'cult' in the dictionary and compare it with what you consider 'religion' to be. It's just an accepted form of a 'cult.'"
Nate listened... not believing what he was hearing.
Beach added, "It's just a way for one group of people to control another group of people."
Rudy folded his hand and moved his chair away from Beach. "Just in case you get hit by a lightening bolt. I don't want to be too close."
"And organized religion," Beach continued, "is the greatest consumer fraud ever created."
"Oh... I have to hear this," Roger said.
Beach continued, "Let me give you a scenario: Say I propose to you that for a mere ten-percent... make it just eight-percent... of your gross income -- when you die, whether you've been good or not, you will forever go to a wonderful and peaceful place--."
"Heaven's already taken, Beach," Jerrod interrupted.
"Not 'heaven.' I'd promise somewhere way better. Say... a huge Sophie's Diner. All the waffles and coffee and beer you can eat and drink... forever... free. And poker games every day."
"'Sophie's Diner,' that's great," Nate mocked. "You'll get to meet Nikki at the front door instead of Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates."
"Nikki is an angel," Roger said as he glanced at Jerrod. Jerrod smiled back.
"But wait ... there's more," Beach said. "I'll sweeten the pot. I promise if you're not completely satisfied with the waffles and coffee and beer and poker at the... when-you're-dead... Sophie's -- you can request a full refund. No questions asked."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Roger said.
"And that," Beach added, "is my point. Exactly."
Nate said, "Attending church and tithing have nothing to do with getting into heaven. You just need to be right with God. There's no way to buy your way in."
The poker game had stopped.
"Sorry I got this started," Jerrod said. "Please understand, I'm not anti-religion. I'm not atheist or even agnostic. I guess I'm Christian, but I just don't understand religion. My parents didn't belong to a church, but they sent me and my brother to Sunday school with some neighbor kids. I'm sure if they had to go to 'Sunday work' it may have been a different story. I sat through those servic
es for years and learned the assigned scripture like a good boy. But the 'church' part just never made any sense to me."
Rudy chimed in. "I had no choice growing up in Valle Verde. My mom took me to Saint Daniel's every Sunday and most Wednesday nights. And sometimes Saturday nights too. I still go every Sunday. But just because I go, like Nate said, it doesn't give me automatic admission into heaven."
Roger nodded.
Jerrod asked, "You guys know I was involved in a shooting and killed a man when I was with the VVPD? Right?" He looked around the table and saw everyone nod. "No offense, Rudy, but he was a regular at Saint Daniel's too."
"I knew him," Rudy said. "He was pretty active with the church."
"That man, Armando Mendoza," Jerrod continued, "had been running a heroin operation. His 'hot' dope killed a few addicts, he personally killed a kid who worked for him, he ordered the death of another man, and he had someone fire buckshot through the front window of my house. Then, after he shot my partner, he held a gun to my head and was about to kill me too when we... well... had a conversation."
"A conversation?" Beach scoffed.
"I tried to keep him talking as I looked for a way out of my... predicament. One of the things I tried to point out was his acts were considered mortal sins and he would go to hell. He dismissed all that by saying he could just confess his sins, get absolved, and still get into heaven."
"That's ridiculous," Roger said.
"I agree. But that incident just added to my confusion about the whole God, church, heaven, and hell thing. Why is it that someone who lives a good life, who helps more than hurts and loves more than hates, but doesn't believe in God -- or worse, believes in a different kind of God -- can't go to heaven?"
Nate nodded.
Jerrod continued, "But the thought of Mendoza -- who had no problem killing people to further his drug business -- getting a hall-pass to heaven because he was 'active with the church' and confessed his sins -- is beyond me. I just cannot wrap my head around that."
CHAPTER 52
Wednesday Afternoon
As Jerrod drove from Valle Verde to Mesa for the first swing shift following the January rotation -- he pondered whether or not to stop at Sophie's Diner to see Nikki following the disastrous Saturday dinner with her children.
He hadn't talked to her since that night.
It was only two-o'clock and he didn't need to be into roll-call until three-thirty. He vacillated whether he should stop, or not, as he approached the off-ramp onto Willowmere Boulevard. He first sped up and then slowed down.
At the very last moment, he steered off the PCH.
There was an SO green-and-white in the parking lot near the fire exit -- right next to Nikki's blue Pontiac. The lot was, otherwise, empty.
Jerrod walked into the front door and found the restaurant equally empty -- except for two uniformed deputies, an FTO and a very young trainee -- seated at the Hot Tub. He looked for a table away from them, in the smoking section, where he could talk to Nikki privately.
As he moved toward a secluded table, the male voice of the senior deputy yelled to him from across the restaurant: "Hey, Jerrod, come over and join us."
At the same moment, Nikki walked out of the restroom. She was looking down straightening her server's apron and startled when she looked up and saw him standing there.
"Jerrod... uh... didn't think I was going... never-mind... uh... seat... want to sit."
"Hey, Jerrod. Sit with us," the deputy yelled again.
"Hot Tub?" she asked.
"Guess so."
"Something to drink?"
"Ice tea, please."
"Not milk?"
"No milk. Just tea. Thank you."
Jerrod sat at the second table in the Hot Tub. He was introduced by the FTO to the new recruit -- who was, literally, a few days out of the police academy. The FTO was drinking coffee and the recruit a Coke.
"Your ice tea, sir," Nikki said as she placed a tall glass and long spoon on the table. "Menu?"
"Sure," Jerrod said as he hoped the two deputies would get a radio detail that would get them out of the restaurant and him alone with Nikki for a few minutes.
"Be right back," she said. She turned her attention to the two deputies. "Anything else I can get you gentlemen?" she asked.
"Just fine, thank you," the FTO said.
Nikki walked away from the table. The FTO watched her walk into the kitchen and said, in a hushed tone: "Oh yeah, Nikki. I forgot, just one thing. How about you take off your clothes and lay right down on the table here for me."
The recruit's eyes got big and he glanced over at the FTO, but said nothing.
Jerrod instantly felt every primal protective instinct in his limbic male brain kick in at once. He glared at the FTO and, in his mind, visualized leaping over the table and repeatedly punching him in the face.
Jerrod, instead, said, "She's a very nice lady and has been through some hard times. Keep your crude comments to yourself."
The recruit glanced at Jerrod.
"Just guy-talk," the FTO said. "Why do you care?"
"Why shouldn't I care? Show a little class... especially in front of the new guy."
The FTO's face was fixed with a hard look and he nodded his head. "Fuck you, Jerrod."
"Fuck you right back," Jerrod said.
"We're out of here," the FTO announced.
The recruit stood and moved between the tables. With his back to the FTO, he gave Jerrod a broad smile. Jerrod grinned back and nodded to him.
The FTO stormed toward the fire exit.
Jerrod yelled to the FTO, "Hey, Cheap Bastard. Leave a couple bucks for the service. It's not like you have to pay for drinks here."
"I'll get it," the recruit said.
"No. Let Cheap Bastard get it," Jerrod said.
The FTO and the recruit froze. The FTO's face was beat-red as he fished a couple dollars bills out of his pants pocket and threw them on the table before shoving the door open and walking out.
Jerrod asked the recruit, "What's your name again, kid?"
"Bryce Zippich. Everyone calls me 'Zippy.'"
"Nice to meet you, Zippy."
"Same here, sir," he said as he turned and jogged out the door.
"I heard part of that," Nikki said as she walked back to the table carrying a menu. "What the hell just happened?"
"Cheap Bastard lost a football bet and didn't want to pay up. Something about the point spread. I don't know. He left a couple bucks for you though."
"That's weird," she said.
"Why's that?"
"He's been coming in here for years and never leaves a tip."
"Probably just showing off for the recruit," Jerrod said.
"I guess so," she said as she placed the menu on the table and two dollar bills in her apron.
He pushed the menu aside. "I don't need to eat. I want to talk about the other night and us and--."
"There's nothing to talk about." She said as she sat down next to him and glanced over to the front door to make sure no customers were coming in.
"I don't know anything about kids," he said. "The last time I did know anything about 'em... I was still a kid."
Nikki chuckled. "That night was terrible. Not exactly the impression I was hoping they'd make on you."
"I want to try again. I pushed too hard and created that mess on Saturday. I wasn't your fault. The kids were just being kids."
They watched a car park in the lot and two customers get out.
Jerrod sipped his tea. "How about we try again? At your house. Short visit. I don't know."
"Jerrod," she said as she scrunched a used paper napkin in her hand. "I don't think this is going to work. Me and you."
"Would you like it 'to work?'"
"Of course."
"My new shift gets off at one-thirty... AM... and Sunday is my first day off. How about Sunday afternoon. No pressure. No commitment."
"I'll think about it," she said.
"That's all I
can ask for. Can I borrow a pen, please?"
She searched her apron and pulled out a bright pink pen with a large feather attached. "Here you go."
He examined the pen before writing on a napkin. "This is my home phone number. Please call after you think about it and make a decision. There's an answering machine if I'm not home."
The two customers walked in the front door.
"Okay," she said as she tucked the folded napkin into her apron.
Sunday Morning
Jerrod got home from work at just before three AM and found the red light on the answer machine blinking. He left the front door open as he rushed to the machine and pushed the "message" button.
"This is your mother...," the first message started. It was followed with an invitation to dinner.
The second message said: "This is Nikki. My place. Sunday. Two o'clock."
CHAPTER 53
Sunday Afternoon
At two o'clock, Jerrod knocked on the door to Nikki's condo. He held a bouquet of flowers he picked up at the supermarket.
"For me?" she said through a broad smile as she opened the door and invited him in.
"Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady," he said.
She took in a deep smell. "I'll put them in water."
"Girls. Do you remember Jerrod?"
"Hello, ladies," Jerrod said to Lilly and Marty as they sat on the living room carpet playing a board game. "What're you playing?"
"'Candy Land,'" Lilly said. "Do you want to play with us?"
"Sure." Jerrod said as he sat on the floor. "So, what's the object here?"
"To get all the candy," Marty said.
"Take a card and move to the color on the card," Lilly said. "First one to Candy Castle wins."
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