-- S E V E N -- A Game of 20 Questions --
At 4.30 Uncle Cal knocked on my door, and as soon as I opened the door, I bombarded him with questions.
"Why does it sound like he's about to call me Babe or Baby or whatever from time to time? What is with all of the smiles? How old is he? Is he single? No, forget the last one. Uhm, is he just being nice to me because I'm your niece? Or is it because I'm a chick? Do you ha-"
Uncle Cal cut me off, "Whoa, slow down kiddo. Those are all questions you'd have to ask him, 'cause I ain't sure about any of the answers, and I don't wanna give you any wrong info."
He walked up to me, put an arm around my shoulder, and smiled.
"How about we head back to Shorty's and grab some early dinner?" he said while still smiling, "Maybe I can convince the boss to join us, and you can bombard him with everything you just threw at me."
"Sure, uh, if you are serious about inviting him, give him a call while I grab my things."
And with that, I went into the kitchen where I had left my purse, and transfered my new keys, phone & gun into there. I heard Uncle Cal on the phone, I had honestly been hoping he was joking about inviting Carlos. I sighed and decided to play it cool and bombard him with my questions at the end of the night. When I heard him hang up, I remembered the note Carlos left on my door.
"Oh hey, Uncle Cal, I forgot to tell you, Carlos has tickets for us, the plane leaves at 11.30am tomorrow, and Tank is gonna bring us to the airport. We will leave around like, I think he said 9.30. Is that cool?"
"Yea, no prob. Carlos said he'd join us, but he won't eat the food. He's a health nut by the way," Uncle Cal smiled and said, "I told him you had a few questions for him. He asked what sort of questions, and I said I didn't know. Now you have to ask him."
I laughed, but I punched him in the shoulder and called him a jerk.
"Who's to say that I won't loose my nerve and just ask random bullshit questions, eh?"
"I told him they were on the personal side, but other than that, I said I had no idea what they were," he smiled again and walked towards the door, "Shall we Gin? He was on his way towards that part of town when I called him, which is why he agreed. Best not to keep the boss waitin'."
We took the elevator down to the garage, Uncle Cal said we would just take the SUV there, and I asked him if it had a CD player in it.
"Yea, why? You gonna play DJ or somethin'?" he asked.
"I was planning on it, lemme grab my CD's from my car." I jogged to where my yellow rental was, and grabbed my cd case from the passenger seat. Uncle Cal had brought the SUV over, and was idling behind my car. I hopped in and buckled up.
"What sort of music do you like? Would you mind Fiona Apple?" I asked, intending on putting my Fiona Apple CD in no matter what his answer was.
"Something tells me that you are gonna put in whatever you feel like, but I don't have much of a preferance either way." he said, eyes on the road as we pulled out of the gate.
I popped in my CD, and hit the search button until I found the song that had been stuck in my head all day. Shadowboxer seemed fitting for most of the days events. I hummed along for most of the song, but felt like singing one certain part,
You made me a shadowboxer, baby.
I wanna be ready for what you do.
I been swinging all around me.
'cause I dont know when you're gonna make your move.
Oh, your gaze is dangerous.
And you fill your space so sweet.
If I let you get too close,
You'll set your spell on me.
"I think I know who you are singing for Gin." Uncle Cal injected between the lines of the song. "I'm tempted to tell you to keep your wits about you. He's not all sugar and spice hun. What ever may happen, I won't interfere, but just," he sighed, "Just keep your wit's about you."
I smiled at his remark, again grateful that I had an uncle in my life who was genuinely concerned for me. But I began wondering if he knew more about the situation that he was letting on.
"You know something, don't you?" I asked, hoping that he would give me an answer of use.
He looked at me and sighed again, he looked tired, or maybe it was worry. I was sure that he knew something. But what was it?
"Ranger looks at you like fresh meat. I've seen him look at a woman that way before. He only gets that look towards a woman he can see himself being with long term," I started to speak, thinking that it wasn't a bad thing, but he cut me off, "Hun, his idea of long term most likely will not include a ring, almost definatly does not include a future family, and includes sharing his bed whenever he feels hungry. He's a great guy, works hard, very dedicated to everything he does. But marriage isn't an idea he is fond of anymore, and a family is just not on his agenda, and probably never will be. From what I can tell of you already, you seem like the type of woman who would want a husband and a family of her own someday. Am I right about that?"
"Well, uhm, yea. Someday. But not today. Are you saying to keep my guard up around him, and to try and avoid a romantic relationship?" I asked, not sure what I should be feeling right now.
"I'm not telling you to do anything. I'm just telling you what has been on my mind since you threw all those questions at me back at your apartment," he said. "Well, we are here. I kinda feel like an ass now though. Keep in mind, that this man has a differant personality towards everyone. Who knows what is going on in his mind when he looks at you. Hard to believe it's anything other than awe though. You got good genes kid."
We laughed while he parked the car, and got out and walked towards the door. When we got in, not only was Carlos there, but Tank and two other guys were sitting with him. Uncle Cal and I walked up and joined the party. Everyone but Carlos was drunk.
This promised to be a fun evening.
Thanks for reading this! Please leave me a little review of sorts. :D
