“Are you coming with us?” Her hand shook as she snapped Ayjia into her booster. She shut the door. “If you are, get in the car.”
“I’ll hold the spots for you,” one of the girls from the table called.
Zack lifted his hand in a jerky wave then climbed into the passenger side of the car. “I didn’t think you’d be mad.”
“I want to go back to Holbrook,” Dayton said.
Mercedes gave Zack a killing look and said, “I know, honey,” to Dayton. To Zack, she added, “Price isn’t the point and before we even get into that—” She checked for cars, then accelerated onto the road. “I said ‘there and back.’ Do you know what I’ve been through in the last twenty-five minutes? Even your father was worried.”
“Are you kidding me? You called him? What did you think was happening?”
“I don’t know, since you didn’t answer your phone.” It took every effort to keep her voice steady. “But I can’t believe that I’ve stood up for you, put my job on the line, and then you go and do something this stupid and irresponsible.”
“It was five minutes!”
“Let’s not do this in front of the kids, okay? I just...have to get to the bus depot.”
“The least you could do is hear me out. Look at the flyer.”
“I’m driving.”
“I’ll read it to you.”
“Not now, Zack. Believe me. You’ll be walking home.”
“But Auntie M, it would be fun,” Ayjia said.
“I’m sure it would be, sweetie, but let’s talk about it later, okay? I need to concentrate on driving.”
“If you’re worried about getting them there every day, I could take them,” Zack said, tucking the brochure into his backpack.
“Oh, yeah, I’m putting you in charge of these kids every day.”
“I would have told you where we were going, but I didn’t know about it until I got to the school. They said you have to sign up right away so I took them to the high school.” He was talking like she was the unreasonable one here.
“I said I don’t want to talk about this.”
She flicked on the radio, cranked some country tune, then leaned over to hiss at Zack. “You won’t be here. You’re going home to Washington. They should be going home before then. Did you think of that? Don’t set them up for crap like this.” She straightened and lowered the volume.
He didn’t say anything. After a moment, he hooked his elbow on the open window and braced his fist against his chin.
“Can we get a burger?” Dayton asked.
“After my errand.” Mercedes worked the steering wheel in her sweating palms.
“Where are we going?” Ayjia asked.
“I just want to see someone.”
“I’m hungry now,” Dayton said.
“It’ll only be fifteen minutes.” Mercedes checked the clock on the dash. This was a lost cause. She knew it. Minutes later, as she pulled into the depot, a bus was pulling away.
“Can I trust you to stay in the car for five minutes?” she asked Zack.
“Yes,” he bit out.
She left the car on with the A/C going and entered the cool, dark interior of the bus depot. It was mostly empty. No mother with two children. A few elderly people sat on benches. One might have been Gladys, but Mercedes wasn’t about to strike up a conversation. She checked the washroom, which probably made her weird, then let it go.
“Auntie M, look,” Ayjia said when Mercedes joined them again. “They have a playing place.” She pointed down the street where the glass front of a burger joint showcased colorful tunnels and nets.
“Wow. Did Zack point that out to you? He’s so helpful, isn’t he?”
Twenty minutes later, Mercedes ate the fries the kids had abandoned while Zack started his second burger. At least he’d bought.
“I was just trying to help,” he muttered.
With the kids safe and the air conditioning pouring over her and junky calories hitting her stomach, Mercedes was marginally less furious. “You were cruising for girls and ones that are too young for you at that.”
She wasn’t sure what kind of comeback she expected, but watching him blush and hearing him mutter, “Don’t tell Dad,” wasn’t it.
Leaving her fry in her ketchup, she said, “Are you kidding?”
His gaze came up in an awkward way as he realized she hadn’t been serious and he’d revealed too much. Beneath his tan, he went almost purple.
Amusement tempered her outrage. “Which one? The blond?”
Zack swiped a napkin across his mouth then crumpled it. “The other one. And it’s not—” He swallowed. “Can we not talk about this?”
“Oh, you wish!” She laughed. “You kidnapped my kids to chase her, Zack. You’re going to give up every sordid detail.”
“I didn’t!” He shoved the rest of his burger into his mouth.
Mercedes bit the straw on Ayjia’s juice and scanned the indoor playground until she’d located both kids. Safe and screaming. Good for now.
Zack crumpled his garbage and pushed it to the side, centering his shake. “Okay, it went like this. I saw the brochure while I was waiting for Dayton and Ayjia. Someone said that sign up was at the high school, but the spots go fast. I really did think you might be interested. And when I saw Holly’s name as one of the counselors...”
“So you know her?”
“I’ve met her a couple of times.” He scratched his eyebrow. “She’s, uh, the Dean’s daughter.”
Mercedes leaned back, genuinely enjoying herself.
“That’s, uh, why I didn’t want to be kicked out of school. And everything.”
“So you’ve been seeing her.”
“I’ve just talked to her a couple times. I’d like to ask her out.”
“You went to all these lengths to stay in town for a girl you’ve only talked to a few times? Are you nuts? Give it up, Zack. She’s too young for you.”
“If I were in high school and she was a year younger, she wouldn’t be.”
“College and high school is light years. We both know that. And another man might turn a blind eye to a college boy chasing his daughter, but the Dean of said college? He knows what guys like you are after.”
“That’s not what I’m after!”
“Oh, you’re in love?” she challenged. “After two meetings? My mistake.”
The blush stayed on his cheekbones, but he didn’t look away. “Why is that so impossible to believe?”
“Because you barely know her!”
He only set his jaw and scowled at his shake.
She felt her smile fade into something else. Affection. Admiration. How could she argue with him when he refused to back down? “You’re serious? Because I don’t know what to say. I’m stunned.”
He shrugged, stole a fry. “Just...do me a favor. Don’t tell Dad. He’ll flip.”
“Why? Not because she’s black?” L.C. didn’t seem to have the first leaning toward prejudice, but...
“Oh, hell, no. I’m black. No, he’s just always had this thing about me not getting married too young.”
“Mar— You are not that serious, are you? ‘Cause I have to side with him on that one. But let’s revisit the genetic bombshell you just dropped. You’re black? You don’t look black.”
“Mixed,” he said with a shrug. “Mom’s darker that me and Grammy is practically blue, but we have a lot of white in the line because Mom wound up with green eyes. Her dad’s Swedish, but you need the gene on both sides...”
“Yeah, I know.” She vaguely understood how the eye color thing worked, but was less interested in that right now than other things. She nibbled the straw again. “So is your dad mixed, too?”
“Nah, he’s all-American mutt.” He sipped, eyeing her with a frown. “Are you still mad?”
“Furious. But I’m also a romantic.” She leaned forward. “Dish. Did you get her number at least?”
Chapter 13
As soon as he heard Mercedes’s car in his driveway, L.C. went out his front door and waited. “What happened?” he asked as they all emerged.
“Zack thought I might be interested in registering the kids for a summer day camp,” Mercedes said, using her hip to close the door.
Zack avoided his gaze by helping Ayjia out of her seat.
“Can I have the keys?” Dayton asked, dancing with the need to pee. Mercedes handed them over and Dayton raced with Ayjia toward the side of the duplex that was almost ready for them.
Zack came around to the front of the car and held up a hand. “Don’t bother. She already raked me over the coals and I’m taking the kids swimming so she can finish up her afternoon at work, all right? But I can’t believe you both thought I’d—what?—taken the kids to smoke drugs or something? Geez.”
He tried to brush by into their unit, but L.C. stopped him with two fingertips against his son’s chest. “I was worried about you.” He knew his kid was solid, but that had made this brief disappearance all the more alarming.
Zack snorted, then realized he was serious. “Wow. And here I thought you were done being a parent.” He didn’t stick around to watch L.C. flinch over the snide remark, just went into the house.