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- Bonds of Trust
-- Part VII
The next day…
Nora hurries into The Palace restaurant, waving to Viki when
she sees her already seated at a table in the corner. She leans
down and gives her a quick hug. “I’m so sorry I’m
late.”
-
- Viki shakes her head. “Don’t
worry, Nora. I only just arrived myself. How are you?”
-
- Nora takes a seat opposite
her friend. “I’m fine. Busy as always. Matt keeps me
on my toes. It’s been so long since I’ve had a teenager
around, I’d forgotten how exhausting it is. I thought it
would be easier with a boy, but that doesn't seem to be the case.”
-
- Viki chuckles. “I never
noticed much difference between my boys and Jessica when it came
to having a teen in the house. The drama and the mood swings…”
- “Exactly! He always
seems to be having some crisis or another. One day it’s
the baseball team, then his homework and of course, the girlfriend.”
-
- “Ah, yes. Teen love
is the ultimate source of drama. So Matthew is still dating Kallie?”
-
- Nora shakes her head. “Not
dating. I still think he’s too young for that. They do tend
to ‘hang out’ more than I’m comfortable with,
though.”
-
- “I see. And how are
things with Bo?”
-
- Nora sighs. “Bo is great.
He surprised me with Little Richard tickets for my birthday.”
-
- “Oh, how lovely. That
must have brought back a lot of memories.”
-
- “Sure did. We even got
to dance on stage.”
-
- “What fun. Sounds like
Bo went all out.”
-
- “Yeah, he’s been
really sweet. No problems on that front. Our biggest conflict
these days is Matthew’s dating – or not dating, as
the case may be. He thinks it’s perfectly fine if Matt sees
Kallie – even on weeknights.”
-
- “So how did you resolve
it?”
-
- “Well, for now, Matthew
isn’t allowed to see Kallie on weeknights because of school
but when Summer comes, all bets are off.”
-
- Viki smiles. “I guess
you and Bo have some negotiating to do before then?”
-
- “I guess we do.”
-
- Viki winks at her. “Well,
that could be fun!”
-
- Nora laughs, blushing and
looking around as the waiter approaches to take their order.
Both women try to keep a straight face as he gives them an odd
look. They hide their grins behind the menus and ask for more
time. He hurries away and both women give in to their laughter.
-
-
- Kallie sees Danielle sitting
at a table in the cafeteria. She sets her tray down and joins
her. “Hey, Danielle. How goes it?”
-
- Danielle jumps. “Kallie,
hi. Didn’t see you coming.”
-
- Kallie looks at her friend
closely. “Are you okay?”
-
- She shrugs. “Fine. What’s
up with you?”
-
- “I’ve been busting
my butt trying to get my article for the school paper finished.
My mom grounded me because my science grade dropped a little
since I’ve been so preoccupied with my research.”
-
- Danielle takes a bite of
her sandwich. “What’s the article about?”
-
- “Domestic abuse. I’m
focusing on teen dating abuse.”
-
- “Oh. That’s an
odd topic.”
-
- “Not really. It’s
actually something that teens should be aware of. Teenage girls
let their boyfriends hit them in the name of being in a couple
and being popular.”
-
- “Maybe there’s
more to it than that.”
-
- Kallie stares at her. “What
do you mean?”
-
- Danielle shrugs. “Maybe
there are other reasons than being popular. Maybe the girl is
really in love and doesn’t want the guy to get in trouble.”
-
- “Are you kidding? There’s
no excuse for that type of behavior. Ever. I would never make
excuses for a guy and I certainly wouldn’t allow someone
to treat me like that.”
-
- Danielle looks away. “I’m
just saying it might not be so simple, that’s all.”
-
- Kallie is about to respond
when Matt and Stevie walk up to the table. “So, who passed
Carver’s quiz this morning?” Stevie asks as he takes
a seat beside Danielle.
-
- Matt sits beside Kallie.
“What were you two discussing? Looked serious.”
-
- Danielle gives Kallie a look.
“Nothing important.” She turns to Stevie. “I’m
sure I flunked. I hate pop quizzes.”
-
- Stevie laughs. “Well,
at least I’ll have company at the bottom of the curve.”
-
-
- Rex holds open the door to
Ultra Violet and Lauren walks in ahead of him. He signals to
the bartender as they take a seat in one of the booths. The bartender
walks over to them. “What’s up, Boss?”
-
- Rex frowns at him. “We’d
like that bottle of champagne I keep hidden behind the bar.”
-
- “Sure thing.”
-
- The bartender hurries off
as Lauren protests. “I have to be back at work, Rex. I can’t
be drinking champagne in the middle of the day.”
-
- He smiles. “You have
the rest of the day off. I cleared it with Commissioner McBain.”
-
- She smiles slyly. “Did
you now? And why would you do that?” Rex shrugs. “And
champagne? What’s the occasion?”
-
- The bartender returns with
the bottle and two glasses. Rex takes them from him. “Now
beat it.”
-
- The bartender saunters away
as Rex pops the cork and pours two glasses, handing one to Lauren.
“To an afternoon with just the two of us!”
-
- “And the bartender,”
Lauren jokes.
-
- Rex frowns. “He won’t
bother us again.”
-
- She turns serious again.
“What are you up to?”
-
- Rex leans forward. “I’ve
made a decision.”
-
- “About?”
-
- He takes a deep breath and
says it quickly. “I’d like you to move in with me.”
Lauren doesn’t say anything, but she looks disappointed.
“What?”
-
- She shakes her head. “It’s
nothing.”
-
- “No, say it.”
-
- “You’re asking
me to move into your messy bachelor pad?”
-
- Rex grins. “If you move
in, you could help me with that mess problem – and it wouldn’t
be a bachelor pad anymore. Would you rather I moved into your
place?”
-
- She shakes her head. “My
apartment is too small.”
-
- “Then we could look
for a new place?”
-
- Lauren shrugs. “I guess.”
-
- “You don’t seem
very enthusiastic about this.”
-
- “I guess I was hoping
you were going to ask me to marry you.”
-
- Rex squirms. “Oh. Do
you really think we’re ready for that?”
-
- “How do you ever know
if you’re ready? Do you think we’re ready to live together?”
-
- He nods. “I’d like
to try. This is a big step for me. After my experiences with
Roxy, I’m a little gunshy on the ‘happy family’
thing. Seeing Bo and Nora pull it off, I think I could be ready
to give it a try - only I need to take it slow. But I understand
if it’s not something you want.”
-
- Lauren is quiet as Rex watches
her, downing his champagne and filling his glass again. If this
was going to turn out badly, at least he could get a good buzz.
He was halfway through his glass when Lauren looks back up at
him, a smile slowly spreading across her face. “Let’s
do it.”
-
- “Seriously?”
-
- “Yeah. I’d like
to move in with you and see where it goes. Who knows, maybe I
could get you to clean up your act.”
-
- Rex pulls her into his arms.
“I’d get my act clean for you.” He kisses her.
“I love you, ya know.”
-
- She smiles, kissing him back.
“I know. Me too. I can hardly wait to explain this to my
parents.”
-
- Rex leans back. “What
do you mean? They love me!”
-
- Lauren laughs, hugging him
tight. “So you think. That was before you led their daughter
into shacking up instead of marriage.”
-
- “I’ll have them
eating out of my hands again soon.” He kisses her again.
“So, can we take this celebration back to our loft?”
-
- “Are you kidding me?
Not until I get a cleaning service in to fumigate the place.”
-
- Rex laughs, taking her hand
and pulling her from the booth, grabbing the bottle of champagne.
“Your place, then.”
-
- Matt catches up with Danielle
as they are walking out of school. “Hey, Danielle. You got
a minute?”
-
- She stops, turning to him.
“What’s up?”
-
- “What were you and Kallie
talking about at lunch?”
-
- “What do you mean?”
-
- Matt shrugs. “You seemed
upset.”
-
- “It was nothing. Kallie
was telling me about the article she’s writing for the school
paper.”
-
- “Why would that upset
you?”
-
- “Do you know what she’s
writing about?” Matt nods.
- “Well, I just think
she’s off base on why that stuff happens.”
-
- “Off base? How?”
-
- Danielle sighs. “I just
mean that maybe it’s not as cut and dry as she makes it
seem. Sometimes there are circumstances…”
-
- Matt looks at her oddly.
“What kind of circumstances?”
-
- Danielle sees her mom pull
up. “I can’t talk about this now. My mom is here. Later,
Matt.”
-
- He watches Danielle rush
off and climb into her mom’s car. She waves to Matt as they
pull away. He sees Nora parked at the curb and walks to the car.
“Hi, Mom,” he says as he climbs in, tossing his backpack
into the back seat.
-
- “Hi, sweetie. How was
school?”
-
- He shrugs. “Fine.”
-
- Nora pulls out of the parking
lot. “Did you do well on your math test?”
-
- “I guess.”
-
- Nora looks at him sideways.
“Something wrong?”
-
- “No.”
-
- She tries another tack. “I
saw you talking to Danielle. How is she?”
-
- “She’s fine.”
-
- “That was a pretty nasty
bruise she had. I hope she’s feeling better.”
-
- He sighs. “I said she’s
fine, Mom. Why do you have to worry about every little thing?”
-
- Nora glares at her son. “What's
with the attitude, Matthew?”
-
- “Nothing. It’s
just that it’s no big deal. Danielle said she fell. That’s
all.”
-
- Nora pulls into the garage
and Matt jumps out of the car, leaving Nora staring after him.
She gathers her stuff and heads into the house. She finds Bo
in the kitchen. “Did you see Matt?”
-
- Bo looks up from the mail.
“Yeah, he said he has homework. I assume he’s in his
room. Why?”
-
- “He’s in a really
foul mood. He bit my head off because I asked him about Danielle.”
-
- “What about her?”
-
- “Yesterday when I drove
her home, she took off her sweatshirt and she had a big, ugly
bruise on her arm.”
-
- “And?”
-
- Nora sighs. “When I
asked her about it, she said she fell in gym class.”
-
- “But you think there’s
more to it?”
-
- She shrugs. “I didn’t
until just now. I asked Matt how she was feeling and he flipped
out on me. Have you noticed Matt acting strangely lately?”
-
- Bo smiles, taking her in
his arms. “Honey, he’s a teenager. I expect him to
act strangely every day.”
-
- “I know but he’s
just so moody. I think he has something on his mind. But in typical
Buchanan MO, he’s not ready to talk to me about it.”
-
- Bo looks at her oddly. “Speaking
of moodiness, Asa told me that Matt was sulky the weekend we
went to the concert. He said Matt asked him about hitting women.”
-
- “What did Asa say?”
-
- Bo smiles. “He said
he could make an exception for Lindsay.”
-
- Nora grins as she rolls her
eyes. “Thanks, Asa.”
-
- “I thought it was strange
because he asked me about it too, when we were shopping for his
cleats.”
-
- “What did YOU tell him?”
-
- “Relax, Red. I told
him it’s not allowed. Period.”
-
- She kisses him. “Good.
I don’t want my son getting the impression that hitting
women – or girls – is acceptable. Do you think he suspects
that’s what’s happening to Danielle and that’s
why he’s curious?”
-
- Bo shrugs. “I guess
it’s possible.”
-
- Nora pulls out of his arms.
“I’m going to ask him.”
-
- Bo follows her out of the
kitchen. “Honey, don’t you think you should let him
come to us?”
-
- Nora continues up the steps.
“No. I think if he’s troubled by something, we need
to know what it is.”
-
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