Roll With the Punches

Jeff reached out with his other hand and grabbed Grace’s shoulder when she let out a sound that was definitely a growl.

  “We’re adults,” Jeff said. “We can get along for Emma’s sake.”

  They found seats in the small bleachers, where Stuart thought they should be able to get good video of Emma regardless of what lane she swam in, while still making sure vampire Grace didn’t get sunburned.

  Stuart didn’t know about Jeff, but he didn’t feel much like making small talk with Tracey, who’d fortunately ended up sitting on Jeff’s far side.

  Fine by Stuart, because he damn sure didn’t want to make small talk with her.

  Grace had ended up sitting next to Stuart, on the opposite end of them from Tracey. Probably for the best.

  He wasn’t altogether sure Grace might not be a biter.

  In fact, Stuart had started texting with Brandon, letting him know what was going on, when he heard Jeff swear at the same time Tracey said, “Oh, no.”

  When Stuart looked up, he spotted a smug-looking Pat approaching them, trailed by a bored-looking Corey.

  “What the hell, Tracey?” Jeff said.

  Stuart had to give her credit, she was either genuinely mortified or had the look and voice down pat to pretend. “I swear, I didn’t tell them to come! I specifically told Pat not to come!”

  “No offense,” Jeff said, “but you can go sit with them somewhere else.”

  “Damn right,” Grace said.

  Stuart disguised his laughter with a coughing fit.

  Tracey reluctantly got up and walked down to meet them. There, she dragged Pat down the pool deck, farther away from Corey, and appeared to be letting him have it.

  Stuart watched, the schadenfreude thick enough to eat with a fork. “Well? You think she planned it?”

  “She looks and sounds pissed off.” Jeff pulled out his phone and started recording. “This way Brandon can see.”

  “I wish he was here.”

  “So do I, but we have to adult like big boys.”

  “Don’t worry,” Grace said, “you’ve got me. I can take ’em. As long as you promise to post my bail.”

  Stuart nudged Jeff in the side with his elbow.

  * * * *

  Jeff stopped filming them once they settled down. When Emma emerged from the building a few minutes later, her hair braided and swim bag over her shoulder, Grace quickly scooted out of the bleachers and hurried the long way around the pool deck, so as to avoid where Tracey and Pat were sitting, to talk to her. Emma whirled around, the anger on her face evident even from where Jeff and Stuart sat.

  “I’m glad she’s not pissed at us,” Stuart muttered.

  “Yeah.”

  Once Grace had delivered the message, she took the long way around again to return to them.

  “She’s not happy,” Grace said.

  “We could tell,” Jeff said.

  Emma dumped her bag along the fence, near where the other kids put theirs, and dug her goggles and swim cap out. Then she quickly jumped into one of the practice lanes to warm up.

  Jeff tried to focus only on Emma and what she was doing and not keep looking over at where he kept catching Pat glaring at them.

  Grace smiled, waved, and stuck her tongue out at them before Jeff tapped her on the shoulder and shook his head at her.

  “Hey, I didn’t flip them a bird,” she muttered.

  She might have been a tiny girl for her age, but she made up for it in spark and spirit, for sure.

  The next time Jeff glanced over at them, just before he started filming Emma’s first event, he noticed Corey wasn’t sitting with them. He finally spotted him wandering around the pool deck, over to the far side where the different swim teams had set up, where he got turned around by one of the coaches and sent back to the bleachers.

  Little shit.

  From what Emma had told them about his behavior, he was definitely one toe over the line away from his first perp walk.

  He tried not to focus on that, or the fact that his headache had returned today, along with the body aches. He’d managed to hide how he felt from Stuart the past couple of nights, but if this was that bug returning, he might have to break down and go to the doctor. He didn’t want to be sick, especially not when Brandon was out of town and depending on him to take care of things in his absence.

  Maybe Pat wouldn’t cause trouble for them or for Emma. The longer the man sat there and kept his mouth shut, the more relieved Jeff felt.

  By the time the event ended nearly two hours later, it was close to dark and Jeff was glad he and Stuart had ridden together and there were plenty of leftovers at home for them to eat without having to cook or take Emma and Grace out to eat after the meet.

  He felt like utter shit.

  Emma had grabbed her bag and was heading toward the building when Pat called out to one of the staffers talking to a coach. “Hey, grab her. She stole my son’s phone.”

  Jeff and Stuart looked at each other in shock, but Grace apparently had the reflexes of a vampire to go with her exploding in the sun capabilities. She immediately ran over and thrust herself into the fray before the men could get there.

  “What the hell? Are you on drugs? Em wouldn’t touch his phone with a damned hazmat suit on.”

  Tracey looked shocked. “Pat, what are you talking about?”

  Emma also looked torn between shocked and horrified. “What?”

  Jeff sympathized with the staffer and the coach, who both looked confused as hell. “What are you talking about?”

  “My son said she stole his phone, and—”

  Emma shoved her bag at the staffer. “Here, search it. I haven’t touched his damn phone. My phone’s in there. It has a Hello Kitty case.”

  The staffer held the bag but didn’t unzip it. “Um—”

  “I’m her stepfather,” Pat said. “I demand you look.”

  Tracey tried to derail whatever the hell this was. “Pat, I’m her mother, and I don’t know what the hell is going on, or what you think Emma did, but she would never take Corey’s phone!”

  “Didn’t she break that one?”

  “Yeah, after he tried to film her. Frankly, I don’t blame her now.”

  “You’re her mother, ma’am?” the staffer asked.

  “Yes.”

  The staffer handed her the bag. By now there was an interested gathering starting to pay attention to what was going on. Kids, parents, and coaches.

  Tracey unzipped the bag. “Pat, I don’t know what the hell your—” She froze, her face falling.

  “What’d you find?” he crowed.

  She pulled out two phones—one with a Hello Kitty case.

  One without.

  Emma’s eyes widened. “I did not put that in my bag!”

  “A-ha!” Pat shrieked. He turned on Jeff and Stuart. “She’s going home with us, and you tell Brandon he drops that stupid court motion, or I’m calling the sheriff’s office and having Emma arrested for theft!”

  “What?” pretty much everyone else, including Tracey, said.

  Jeff had started filming this insanity with his cell phone after Pat first got the staffer’s attention. He was trying to figure out something to say when someone’s voice roared out over the din, silencing everyone.

  Stuart.

  When everyone was staring at him, he pointed up, at the overhang above the bleachers. “Emma hasn’t seen Corey in weeks. And she hasn’t left the pool deck since Corey arrived. There’s an easy solution—we’ll pull the security camera footage.”

  They all looked up. Jeff counted at least six cameras at first glance, and knew that since there were kids using this facility that they probably had many more they couldn’t see around the pool deck.

  Pat’s face turned red. “Bullshit. I’m not waiting around for that! She obviously stole his phone, and—”

  “Pat, shut the hell up,” Tracey said, shoving Corey’s phone at him. “No one’s calling the damn sheriff, and I know damn well Emma did not steal his phone.”
She returned Emma’s bag to her and turned on the staffer. “How do we pull the video footage? Let’s end this nonsense right now. I know my daughter is innocent.”

  Still looking confused and stunned, the staffer seemed to be taking them all in. “This way. We’ll talk to the facility manager.”

  Pat blustered and protested the entire time, but it only took ten minutes for the facility manager to run the tape back on the camera that best caught the angle where Emma’s bag had been sitting and find clear footage. Corey had walked around the deck during an event when everyone had been focused on the swimmers, a relay, and did something to Emma’s bag. He’d also had his phone in his hand before bending over the bag…

  And then he didn’t when he stood and walked away.

  Pat turned on Corey. “You lied to me!”

  “But Dad, you told me to—”

  “Shut up! Let’s go! Tracey, come on.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, you go. Now. Before I call the sheriff’s office on you for trying to smear my daughter’s reputation and threatening to file a false report.”

  Pat stormed out, dragging Corey by the arm. During this whole time, Grace had stood next to Emma, her arm around Emma’s shoulders. Poor Emma hadn’t even been able to change out of her swimsuit yet, not wanting to leave so she could see her exoneration. Grace had kept herself positioned between Emma and everyone else, and Jeff knew there probably wasn’t a more loyal friend in the world than that girl.

  Meanwhile, Emma had stood, arms tightly crossed over her chest and her mouth set in a hard, thin line.

  Tracey turned to her. “Honey, I’m—”

  Grace held a hand out to her, palm forward, a death glare on her face.

  When Jeff tried to intercede, Emma turned and stormed out, followed by Grace like a pale, glowing, glowering, growling shadow.

  Tracey stared down at the floor for a moment. Jeff was still filming and wondered how much memory his phone had left.

  “I’m sorry,” she softly said. “I…” Apparently sensing she didn’t have any sympathy there, she turned and left.

  The facility manager stared after her. “Well, that wasn’t the weirdest reason we needed the CCTV system, but I’m glad it ended well for Emma.”

  Jeff slowly shook his head. “Thanks, but it’s not exactly ended well at all.”

  * * * *

  Brandon had all but booked a red-eye home to Florida when Stuart called him back.

  “What is going on?” Brandon screamed at him.

  “Master, it’s okay. It’s handled. We reviewed the CCTV tape. It shows Corey put his phone in her bag. Emma’s clear. Tracey and Pat and Corey are gone. Emma’s changing now.”

  Brandon closed his eyes and fell back against the mattress. “Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell did Tracey think she was going to do?”

  “See, that’s just it. I don’t think this was Tracey. I think this was all Pat. He and Corey showed up after she did, and Jeff filmed that, too. She seemed to be yelling at him for coming. I honestly think she didn’t know this was going to happen.”

  “Forgive me if I don’t believe her.”

  “I’m serious. You know I am no fan of hers, but she was defending Emma.”

  “She was?”

  “Yes.”

  “But she left, right?”

  “They’re all gone. We’re waiting for Emma and Grace to come out of the locker room. Jeff doesn’t want to leave yet. One of us might drive her car if she’s too upset.”

  Brandon breathed a sigh of relief. Of course his boys were on the job and watching out for Emma and Grace. “Thank you. I can book a flight and—”

  “No, please don’t. It’s okay. Call your attorney and let him know as soon as we get home we’ll upload everything to Dropbox for him.”

  “Okay.” Brandon rubbed at his temple. “Are you sure she’s okay? Em?”

  “I’ll know when I talk to her. She’s upset. I’m not sure there’s a name for the level of angry she is right now. Her and Grace both. I honestly thought Grace was going to hit Pat there for a moment.”

  “Our Grace? Explodes in too much sunlight Grace?”

  “She growled, earlier, Bran. I swear she did. Multiple times. She might need a muzzle. Or a rabies shot, or something.”

  Brandon chuckled. “She is pretty loyal to Em. God help the boy that crosses her and breaks Em’s heart. We might not get a chance at him if Grace gets to him first.”

  “I’m not sure that you might be right about that.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jeff nervously waited for the girls to emerge. He was first going to make sure Em was okay to drive, and then they were going to follow them home. Grace was supposed to spend the night anyway, since they had summer classes tomorrow and Emma wouldn’t have practice tomorrow morning.

  When they emerged, Emma headed straight to them and, without a word, wrapped her arms around both of them, burying her face against Stuart’s chest, where she burst into tears.

  Jeff and Grace held both of them while she cried, and that pretty much answered Jeff’s question for him.

  “Stuart, why don’t you drive Emma’s car, okay? They can ride with you. I don’t want her driving this upset. Have her call Brandon while you drive home.”

  Emma sniffed and pulled her keys out of the side pocket of her bag and handed them to him.

  Jeff kissed the top of her head. “Stuart talked to Brandon already and got him calmed down. He’s going to call the attorney and let him know.”

  “I don’t care that she’s my mother, I’m done. I don’t want to see her again. I hate her.”

  “I know, sweetheart. Let’s let the attorney handle it. That’s why we pay him.”

  Well, technically Brandon paid him. If necessary, Jeff would move for him and Stuart to take over Brandon’s monthly share of household expenses for him and Emma so that Brandon could put it toward legal fees. Or directly chip in for legal fees, if he needed help.

  Whatever it took to keep their family together.

  They got the girls home and while Emma took a shower, Stuart helped Grace get the leftovers ready while Jeff uploaded the video from his phone to Dropbox for Ed and Brandon.

  When Emma emerged, she wore an oversized T-shirt over leggings, her damp hair long and loose and her expression dour.

  She looked…aged.

  And angry.

  Jeff didn’t try to get her to talk. None of them felt like talking.

  It was Emma who eventually broke the silence as they were finishing.

  “I hope Dad puts her in jail for this.”

  Stuart started to say something, but Jeff reached out and touched his shoulder. Tonight, Jeff had sat in Brandon’s seat, Stuart where Jeff usually sat.

  “Honey,” Jeff said, “let your dad handle it. Don’t call her. If she calls you, don’t talk to her. Not until the attorney tells us what to do.”

  Grace set her fork down. “Can I just say there is something fundamentally wrong with a dude who is his age and worked for the same place for so long and is only an assistant manager? How stupid is he, really?”

  “Stupid enough to not realize there’d be multiple cameras covering every square inch of the public areas of that facility,” Stuart snarked.

  That cracked them all up, including Emma, Jeff was relieved to see.

  By the time they fell into bed that night, Stuart wasn’t feeling very romantic either. “Can we just cuddle tonight?”

  He pulled him into his arms. “Yeah. That sounds good. Real good.”

  At least the distraction had taken all of Stu’s focus off him and how he felt. He’d stop by the drugstore tomorrow and pick up more vitamins. All this stress couldn’t be helping, that was for sure.

  * * * *

  Brandon had never been so happy to get home as he was when he walked out of the airport gate area Friday night to find Jeff, Stuart, and Emma awaiting him.

  Stuart and Jeff waited while Brandon first pulled Emma in for a long,
strong hug, holding her, relief on his face.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t here, honey.”

  “You don’t owe me an apology,” she said. “And Jeff and Stuart had it under control.”

  They spent the weekend together as a family, going over to Myakka River State Park for canoeing and hiking, trying to think about anything but what had happened on Wednesday.

  Ed was working on it on his end, and had been assured by Tracey’s mortified attorney that he hadn’t been aware of what was going on, and he would talk to her and tell her—and Pat—to knock it the hell off.

  The four of them had just sat down to eat dinner Monday night when the doorbell rang. Brandon was certain the confusion on everyone else’s faces likely matched his own as he got up to answer it.

  He peeked through the viewfinder to see Tracey standing there.

  Just Tracey.

  Inwardly groaning, he opened the door, but not the screen door. “Yes?”

  “Hi.” She glanced down, then up again, but no red flush in her cheeks. “Can I come in for a minute?”

  “Why? Give me a reason I shouldn’t slam the door in your face.”

  She took a deep breath. When she spoke, her voice sounded quiet, sad. “I just left my lawyer’s office. I’m filing for divorce tomorrow.”

  He opened the screen door for her, aware of Emma now standing in the doorway to the dining room.

  “What is she doing here?” He hated hearing the blatant venom in his daughter’s voice, but Tracey deserved it.

  “Hear her out, honey.” He closed the front door behind her.

  “I wanted to tell you that I’m divorcing Pat.”

  Emma crossed her arms over her chest. “Uh huh. Sure.”

  “Em,” Brandon said. “Be polite.”

  “Why should I, Dad? After what happened? The shit tried to get me arrested, him and Corey both. That could have screwed up me getting a scholarship. Why, because he’s a stupid, insecure jerk? She brought those two assholes into my life and they’re determined to ruin it. Thank god Jeff and Stuart were there, and Stuart thought about checking the security camera footage.”

  “That’s why I’m finally standing up to him,” Tracey said, not moving from where she stood by the front door. “I realized I’ve made excuses for him for too long. I can’t look at myself in the mirror any longer and stay married to him. Not when he’s damaged my relationship with you.”