An hour had passed since the arrival of the welcoming guest, Patty Morgan. She was an interesting individual to say the least. When I first opened the door, she blew right past me in a load uproar to greet Susan with an overbearing hug. I'm surprised they don't lose more neighbors than gain with displays of affection like that. It also looked like she was going to try and further traumatize the two kids by enveloping them into hugs as well. Fortunately, I skipped out on the hug, but she did look at me in a suspicious manner. It became clear that Susan didn't inform her there would be an extra guest to the party, and really was thrown for a loop when Tbag came strolling through the kitchen door with plates in his hand. He was whistling some tune that no one knew and widened his eyes at the sight of Patty.

Then his Oscar performance began.

Patty was completely enamored with Tbag, or at least the Tbag that wasn't a homicidal convict on the run. He regaled her with stories of his service in Alaska and how meeting Susan helped him regain something he had lost (being his hand). I came into the picture because his employers held responsible for his "accident" felt obligated to send him someone to help with daily tasks. So basically, I was his modernized servant. When the metaphorical dinner bell chimed, Tbag was all too eager to escort Patty and Susan to the dinner table while requesting that I start serving the food. And being Tbag thinking he would be met with resistance, he slyly showed me the gun he was hiding under his shirt as a way to seem threatening. To add my own flair to the moment, I was sure to deeply bow to my master before storming into the kitchen.

To his credit, the aromas coming from the kitchen made a rumbling noise in my stomach and my mouth water. It was a completely stereotypical thought, but Tbag surely learned all of his cooking skills while being raised down south. The largest plate had the chicken he had cooked and I had to fight every temptation in my body to not save the biggest piece for myself. Instead, I scooped up the plate and plastered the fakest smile on my face before exiting the kitchen. The rest of the afternoon was spent making multiple trips back and forth from the kitchen refilling drinks and pretty much whatever else Tbag requested. Meanwhile, he could play the entertainer.

"That my dear Patty Cake is what my auntie back in 'Bama used to call hobo chicken. Three part chicken, one part spice, one part actual hobo." He said with his signature smirk.

While I felt the urge to roll my eyes, Patty burst out laughing at the attempt at humor. Susan faked a smile, but the kids never cracked. If Patty had any common sense about her, she would have noticed that the kids had hardly eaten anything, and this could seem like abnormal behavior. Or if she paid attention to the news, she could easily recognize either Tbag or myself, but the continuous oblivious look on her face suggested minimal risk.

I had the plate of bread in my hands and moved around the table so everyone could help themselves. When I finally reached Tbag I set the plate right in front of him.

"Corny bread…" I cleared my throat "I mean corn bread." I returned with a smirk.

He looked up at me trying to hold in a reaction. I couldn't tell if he wanted to laugh at me or smack me. Whatever he wanted to do he swallowed it as he grabbed a piece of bread. As I returned the plate to the kitchen and was preparing what Tbag had prepared for dessert, I heard Patty pushing for more details about Tbag and Susan's relationship.

"Why my dear, that just happens to be one of my favorite stories to tell." Tbag started as I returned to the other room. "Quite simply, we met at church. What I thought was going to be a regular day of praising our good Savior above turned into a much different day when the Lord deemed it fit to plop my country rump right next to Susie Q, my angel."

Patty looked as though she could melt from the cuteness, even though Susan looked as though she may vomit. Tbag grasped her hand as some sort of loving gesture.

"I bet you just stole her heart." Patty responded resting her hand underneath her chin.

I rounded the corner of the table and was making my way toward Tbag as he waved his prosthetic hand in the air.

"I'm a regular one-armed bandit." He said with a wink.

Before I could realize enough to stop myself, I snorted at Tbag's terrible attempt at humor. My eyes quickly darted over to him to see if he was going to resort to a violent outburst for being embarrassed, but he wasn't even glancing in my direction. He was too busy staring at Susan in order to convince everyone at the table of this love story. Patty, however, was staring right at me.

"Laney, why don't you sit down so I can get to know you too?" she asked with a grin.

That comment effectively shifted Tbag's attention as he watched me slowly move into the empty chair next to him. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I felt nervous sitting under the scrutiny of Patty Morgan. Maybe her over exuberant attitude was just a front and she could actually see through both Tbag and I.

"Don't worry about her, Patty cake, I'm sure she'd rather be washing dishes anyway." Tbag stated.

With a smile still on my face, I made sure to stomp nice and hard right on top of Tbag's foot. If you were paying close enough attention, you would have noticed his slight uncomfortable shift in his seat, but if anyone did notice they kept quiet. In what was supposed to be a menacing manner, Tbag squeezed onto my leg just to remind me who was in charge. Instead of feeling intimidated, however, I immediately thought of our conversation not too long ago where I told Susan I would try and seduce Tbag into leaving her and the kids followed by the memory of the somewhat intimate moment shared in the hallway.

"So Laney, what got you into this sort of work?" Patty asked taking another biteful of food.

"Well Patty, I have seen some pretty terrible things done by some pretty terrible people." I started earning a hard squeeze from Tbag. "Companies in particular aren't always very good about taking care of the working parts."

"I realized I had a choice to make with my life. I could either serve faithfully to these businesses that valued money over human decency or attempt to help others in need. That choice led me to meet T… I mean Teddy."

Even though it was all just a story, I had to admit that my fabrication skills were top notch. Patty was holding onto to every word, even Susan and the kids looked impressed. Maybe even more importantly was that the pressure on my leg subsided, which meant for the time being that he was happy with me too.

"Despite the accident and everything he has gone through, Teddy has a contagious optimism about life. In fact, he probably doesn't need my help or the help from anyone for that matter. Once he sets his mind to something, he doesn't stop until it's accomplished. Sometimes it feels like I learn more from him than the other way around."

While I was spewing out words that tasted bitter in my mouth, for an added effect I extended my fingers so they slow wrapped around those of the guy I was talking about. I had to take a breath and smirk when I felt his fingers tightly close around mine. In a way, those fingers felt like putty in my hands. Patty looked as though she was close to tears.

"Wow, that was an inspiring tale. You two make amazing role models for such young children."

Tbag took upon the moment to reassert himself in control of the situation.

"It isn't always that easy," he said releasing my fingers and bringing them back up to the table, "discipline I've learned is the key to raising children. Without a strong father like figure in these young children's lives who knows they just might end up in prison."

I nearly choked on the water I had been sipping. Of course he would go there and make a joke about something like going to prison. His sick mind was trying to justify why he was with Susan in the first place. So he could be a father figure? The thought of Tbag being anyone's father was enough to induce nausea, but everyone for the most part reacted normally.

Throughout dessert, conversation flowed with no problems, and it became clear that we were just about to pull this thing off. Of course, I would never let Tbag know that. Enough time had finally passed where Patty decided she had overstayed her welcome. Being the gentleman that he was, Tbag escorted her to the door with Susan closely behind. I kept up my ruse by pretending to clean up the dishes.

"This has been a real treat," Patty piped halfway out the door, "the girls and I get together every week and it would be a great way for everyone to meet you." She said directed at Susan.

Without waiting for a reply, she disappeared out the door followed by a loud bang of the door from Tbag. I think everyone in the house let out a large sigh of relief that nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Now that I could drop the act, I made my presence known in the main room. Tbag had his head resting against the door with his eyes shut and looked completely drained.

"This ain't gonna work." He said after a few minutes leaving everyone else puzzled at this revelation.

Now his eyes were open glaring at each one of us, "pack your bags, we're moving."

"What?" I said aloud. "You can't be serious?" I moved closer to where he was standing.

"Now!" he roared waving the gun around effectively scaring Susan and the kids. They quickly disappeared from the room to comply with the demand, but I wasn't going anywhere. When we were alone he finally looked at me.

"You cannot just uproot these people's lives." I pleaded. "You don't think people are going to get suspicious when they just get up and take off unexpectedly."

"This will never work here. Susan working and the kids at school there are too many ways this can go wrong. We have to move."

"Susan will still have to work."

"Not with the Westmoreland money."

"School?"

"Homeschool."

"Do you even hear yourself?" I said closing the distance between us. For once in his life he had to see reason. "You sound like a crazy person."

"I wasn't asking your permission Laneykins, now are you going to help me or does this have to get ugly?" he said darkly.

Suddenly our close proximity didn't feel secure and I became too aware of the gun in his hand. The look in his eyes was undeniable as well, and there would be very little chance of talking him down. But I still had to try for there was no way this was going to end well if he just took a bunch of hostages off on a road trip.

"Tbag, please." I started. "Remember I still need to get to the doctor." I gestured to my shoulder as if to trigger his memory to our earlier conversation.

"Why don't you and I go somewhere? I can get the medical treatment I need and we won't run the risk of getting caught."

I felt as though I must be losing my mind if I was willingly pleading to take off with Tbag, but this seemed like the only plausible option. This was the sure fire way I could put Susan's theory to the test, for he would have to choose either go with me or her. Inch by inch I moved closer to Tbag until we were dangerously close to one another. I was not breaking eye contact with him and he knew it. The ball was in his court.

It was too close, so close in fact that when Tbag brought the butt of the gun downwards with enough force it knocked me on the head sending me to the floor. Damn, I guess he made his choice. Maybe Susan's theory about didn't have as much clout as she thought.

I grunted out in pain and immediately brought my hand up over the spot to make sure I didn't have a serious injury. Dizzily I pulled myself to my feet only to be completely mauled by Tbag and thrown against the wall. Even though I tried to push back, he shifted his weight to effectively trap me in place. He didn't mutter any words, but his actions indicated that I had lost this fight and unless I kept quiet things were going to get much worse.

Soon, all three Hollisters had returned with small luggage and Tbag ushered them to the car, the destination of the travel still unknown.