“I don’t focus on the client, I focus on the law.”
“I’m glad you can. I’d make a horrible defense attorney,” Dad added. And he would. He was too passionate, too black and white. There was right and wrong. No gray areas.
“Thea.”
My head snapped up from the dishes I was collecting.
“I have something for you.”
Our exchanges. After that first time, we exchanged gifts every month. One of the gifts I had given him was a picture I had drawn of him. He had been in his study working and I sat outside his office and sketched him. He had been so consumed by what he was doing he hadn’t known I was there.
I put the plates down and followed him. I didn’t know Uncle Tim had joined us until he said. “Ah, the coveted box.”
Dad had received the box from his mom, right before she died. Grandma and I had been very close. I was even named after her. One of my fondest memories was of watching her make cookies at Christmas time. She was a petite woman who only ever wore dresses. And every Christmas her counters were covered with cookie ingredients…flour, sugar, spices, crushed nuts, chocolate chips. It was a sign the Christmas season was in full swing seeing her delicate hands that were only ever adorned with her wedding ring, a three-stone band, rolling out the sugar cookie dough. Uncle Tim was right; it was a coveted box because Dad only put his most precious things in it. And every gift he gave me, the ones that fit, were always stored there. Uncle Tim went to the bar to pour himself, Dad and Uncle Guy a drink as Dad took the key from his ring and opened the box to pull out the small wrapped present…a ring pop in cherry.
“I love it.”
Dad grinned and Uncle Tim just shook his head, but he was smiling. Uncle Guy walked in a few minutes later.
“Do you like my new ring?”
“I do. I would like it even more if it was grape.”
I didn’t stick around because they often closed themselves off in Dad’s study to debate cases and sometimes it even got heated, but they always ended the discussions amicably. Cam and Damian were cleaning the dishes and Mom was sitting at the kitchen table with her feet up.
“I could get used to this,” Mom said.
I joined her. “What? Having the guys doing the cleaning? Me too.”
“I need to get them to do the cooking as well,” Mom said as she winked.
“I like this plan. Do you hear that Cam and Damian? Mom is going to teach you to cook so you can feed us for a change.”
“You could benefit from lessons, Thea. Your cooking isn’t all that great,” Cam teased as he looked at me from over his shoulder and winked.
I stuck my tongue out at him. Sure I cooked poorly, but that kept me from getting roped into feeding people. It was all part of my diabolical plan to rule the world.
“Are you staying for dessert, Damian?” Mom asked.
“No, ma’am. I have plans tonight.”
I was curious about these plans because lately he seemed to have ‘plans’ often.
“And you, Cam?”
“I’m going to a movie with Shelly.”
Shelly was Cam’s girlfriend du jour. She was okay for an airhead.
“That’s more dessert for us, Thea.”
Curious about Damian’s plans, I wasn’t as enthusiastic as I usually would be when I said, “Works for me.”
I lingered in the hall after saying my goodbyes to Damian—Dad would say I was skulking again—and heard he and Cam making plans to meet up later. Cam had said he was seeing Shelly, so why was he making plans to hang with Damian? What was even stranger, I recognized the address they were discussing. The place was close to home, but there were no clubs or bars or hangouts there. I was much like a cat, curious to a fault, so that night when Cam left the house I did too. I gave him a head start because he would drag me back home if he saw me.
The destination was a brick building not far from our house that used to be a deli but had shut down years ago. As far as I knew it was abandoned. Inside, voices came from the lower level. I didn’t immediately go in, waited for a group of people so I could tuck in with them. The place was crowded—a good thing so I could stay hidden—and at first I thought it was illegal gambling and wasn’t sure how I felt about Cam and Damian getting messed up in that, particularly with Dad being a cop. And then I saw Damian. He stood in the middle of a circle of people that had formed around him. He wasn’t alone, another guy stood with him. The fight at school flashed through my head and yet somehow I knew this was going to be so much worse.
“Now for the fight you’ve all been waiting for. Damian isn’t one for pageantry so let’s just get on with it.”