"Randy I'd like you to meet my brother Brett" Vanessa said as she introduced the two men.
"Hey man" Randy answered shaking his hand.
"Hi, I want to thank you again for letting me stay here".
"No problem ".
Zoey watching the scene unfold, really wanted to shove her finger down her throat. Disgusted with the scene she went upstairs to her room.
"The kid going upstairs is my daughter Zoey".
" She's a cute little thing".
"Well what can I say, I make cute kids".
Zoey went into her room and pulled her shoe box from underneath her bed, inside were little knick knacks she acquired living with her mother. She pulled out what she was looking for. A tape recorder. She didn't really like this Brett guy, something just didn't seem right. She took the tape recorder down to the guest room he would be staying in. She put it behind the Teddy bear sitting on the high shelf. No one would notice it there, Zoey was just going to do a little spying without actually being in the room. She would find out the truth about Brett. She made sure it was in place then quickly fled the room.
"Randy dear I'm going to show Brett the upstairs guest room he's staying in" Vanessa said leading the way upstairs.
"Sure, I'm going to go down in the gym for awhile and do some weights".
"All right sweetie".
Vanessa showed him his room. She peeked out in the hallway then closed the door. She smiled as she embraced Brett.
"This is all too easy" She said pecking him on the lips.
"Yeah, what a loser. When does he go out of town again? ".
"In 4 days, I know its such a long time. I really want to be close to you" She said pulling his body closer to hers.
"I do to baby, but with him and that child here, it will just have to wait".
"Yeah, it sucks".
Randy detoured into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and he turned around to find Zoey standing there.
"Yeah kid".
"Do you really think you can trust them to be here alone when we're gone" She asked following him down to the basement.
"Their brother and sister Zoe ".
"How do you know she isn't lying? They don't look alike".
"Who said they had too".
Zoey sighed, it was like talking to a brick wall sometimes.
"You know I've been thinking, maybe its time to put you in School. It would take your mind of other things" Randy said.
"How about not".
"Zoe".
"Dad I don't need School, I'm smarter than the teachers" Zoey exclaimed.
"Right Zoe".
"I am. I know addition, subtraction, words".
"There is a lot more to learn".
"I'm pretty sure I'm not missing anything" Zoey said.
"You'll missing a lot, friends, plays, parties".
"I'll miss you more, I like being on the road with you".
"That's…sweet. Maybe I can look into getting you a tutor, that way you'll still be able to be there".
To tell the truth Randy was getting used to having her on the road with him. He can't really imagine traveling alone anymore.
"I guess I can agree with that".
"Yeah well you don't have many options".
The phone rang then and Randy put down a weight to get it.
"Hello, Randy speaking".
"Hi this Officer Grant of Palatka Police Station. I'm calling in regards to Camille Atkins".
"What? Is she in some kind of legal trouble".
"Worse than that Mr. Orton. She's…dead…we found her body in a her apartment surrounded by pill bottles. Right now the cause of death points to suicide".
Randy looked over at Zoey was oblivious to their conversation, as she was lifting her tiny weights. How was she going to take this? Her mother dead. What's worse, he has to break the news.
"Damn".
"I'll give you my number, I called her mom also and she's taking care of funeral arrangements. And we're going to arrange to have the body flown back to Georgia.".
" Ok" Randy responded as he stored away the number in his mind to write down later.
"I'm sorry for this trying time that has befallen you".
"You have no idea" He said as he glanced over at Zoe once again.
Randy hung up the phone and sighed. Zoey looked at him curiously.
"What's wrong now daddy? ".
"Zoe come sit down for a second, I have something to tell you".
Zoey puzzled walked over to her father and sat down on the bench beside him, She never saw him look this way before.
"What daddy? ".
"That was a police station in Florida. It was about your mother".
"Mommy got arrested? ".
"No baby, she….mommy passed away Zoey".
Zoey just stared at him. What? Mommy dead. She suddenly didn't feel so good.
"Is this a joke, cause its not funny" Zoey said.
"No, I'm serious. Your mother went to heaven".
The tears flowed then as those words settled on Zoey's ears. She promised she would come back and see me, when she got better and she wasn't taking that "bad medicine" anymore. Randy reached out and pulled her into his lap, rubbing comforting circles on her back.
This was just another thing, another life setback he had to get his little girl through. This was too much for a little girl.
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