Rock Chick 07 Regret(128)

No Ice Princess, no Attitude Sadie, no Take Charge Sadie and no Pretend Sadie.

Just me.

And I didn’t know what to think of that.

But I did know it brought the weird, happy glow back.

And, incidentally, Hector was not wrong about the ibuprofen and Midol, it worked like a charm.

* * * * *

The Best Day of Sadie Marie Townsend’s Life

Except for the morning, that Sunday was the best day of my life.

Better than any of the days when my father was away “on business” and I could pretend I was free.

Better, even, than any of the waning memories of being with my Mom.

Simply the best.

* * * * *

At first, I thought it was going to go from bad to worse.

Because, after the men held a meeting inside while the women drank coffee, played with Shamus and picked over Hector’s response to my tattoo (at length and in some detail) outside, Detective Marker left. So did Indy, Lee, Roxie, Hank and Shamus.

Eddie, Jet, Daisy and Marcus stayed but only so Hector, Marcus and Eddie could go over what they wanted me to try to get my father to talk about and how I should do that.

Once they were through, I smiled and said, “Easy.”

Eddie and Marcus looked at each other, not in a friendly way though, they didn’t appear to like each other much but instead they seemed to be putting up with each other for the sake of whatever was happening (now) with my father.

Hector kept looking at me. “Not easy, Sadie. You’re gonna have to stay sharp and on target and listen to any cues he gives you that he knows what you’re up to.”

“No problem,” I responded.

Hector bit his lip and shook his head then he said softly, “Mamita, I know you been playin’ your father your whole life but when you were, you weren’t sleepin’ with the guy who put him in prison. He doesn’t trust you now. You’re safe, no one can get to you, but you want to get anything out of him, you gotta be smart, not cocky.”

Someone, please tell me Hector didn’t just call me cocky!

“I’m not being cocky!” I snapped.

“You’re bein’ cocky,” he returned.

I gave him a glare. “Trust me, Hector, I know what I’m doing.”

“Just listen to what I’m sayin’ to you,” Hector returned calmly.

I kept glaring.

He kept watching me.

We went into a stare down.

I became aware of the other people in the room and I thought it was probably rude to continue a stare down so I gave in.

But I didn’t like it.

“Oh, all right.”

His mouth moved like he was fighting a smile.

I looked at Daisy and rolled my eyes.

She let out a Christmas bells giggle.

Then Jet said something that threw me.

“We better go. I promised Blanca I’d help her get ready for La Reunión.” She looked at Eddie. “Are we all going together?”

Even though Jet asked Eddie, Hector answered, “Sadie’s gotta change.”

My heart leapt into my throat.

“Change for what?” I asked.

Hector’s eyes came to me. “La Reunión.”

I blinked, thinking I knew what he was talking about but hoping I did not.

“Why do I have to change?”

“Mamita, you aren’t wearin’ that fuckin’ skirt out of the house unless it’s to walk out to the Bronco and walk into the brownstone to get changed before goin’ to Mamá’s.”

My heart in my throat grew to about ten times its size.

“I’m not going to your mother’s,” I whispered.

“You are.”

My eyes went wide.

“I’m not. It’s a Family Meeting, I’m not family.”

The air in the room went electric, Hector’s eyes grew dark and his body went tense.

Sensing the change, Eddie, Jet, Daisy and Marcus cautiously moved away.

“You shittin’ me?” Hector asked, oblivious to our audience.

Now, I was confused.

“No,” I answered honestly.

“Mujer, your mark is on my back, my mark is on your hip and you’re sayin’ you aren’t family?”

Oh my.

Mr. Mood Swing looked angry.

And I didn’t know what mujer meant but it didn’t sound as good as, say, preciosa or mi cielo.

“Um…” I replied because I didn’t know what else to say, the Scorching Hector Glare was burning straight into my brain making my mind go blank.

Hector’s eyes sliced to Eddie.

“We’ll be there after Sadie changes.”

Eddie (wisely, in my personal opinion) silently nodded and everyone prepared to leave.

I took Daisy and Jet aside on Hector’s front porch and I whispered to Jet, “What does mujer mean?”

Jet bit her lip before saying, “It means ‘woman’ and it usually isn’t bad but I think Hector’s kind of mad.”