Thursday
Chicago
Henry and Molly sat in their lawyer's office.
"So you're here about your grandson?"
"Yes."
"Are you having trouble with him?"
"No! He's the best grandson you could ask for."
The lawyer looked stunned. He was a family law expert. He usually only dealt with problem children and divorcing disputes. Occasionally, he had a parent who flew the coop.
"We can't take care of him anymore," Henry explained. "We're old, and our health is failing. If something happened suddenly, we don't know what would happen to Marcus."
"Do you have any relatives who can care for him?"
"That's what we're worried about. We've amassed a decent estate for ourselves. Marcus is our heir. We're afraid that if one of our relatives take him in..."
"They'll try to take the estate."
"Yes."
"Well, you can put the estate in a trust and hire a trustee to supervise it."
Molly and Henry didn't appear satisfied with that solution. "You don't want him living with them anyway."
"I think he should go to his father," Henry stated. Molly gave him a stank look.
"Who would that be?"
"We have no idea!" Molly yelled. "Our daughter never told us. His birth certificate is blank where it should say father."
"You have no idea, and you think he's better than your own family."
"I hope he's better. A boy should be taught to be a man from his father. He needs him."
"What about his mother?"
"We don't know where that fool is!" Molly was mad. She didn't want to be there at all.
"When's the last time you saw her?"
"2003, I think." Henry tried to remember. He almost forgot he had a daughter at this point.
The lawyer was confused. "How do you propose we find him?"
"Isn't that what DNA is for?" Henry asked.
"You have his DNA."
"We have Marcus's. I had him put this cotton swab in his mouth." Henry pulled out a plastic container holding 1 cotton swab.
"Not everyone is in the DNA database."
"No, but maybe he has a relative who's in it. They can do familial DNA. I've seen it on CSI."
The lawyer shook his head. "Well, I can take this to a lab and see what information they can provide me. Where was he born?"
"Here's his birth certificate!" Henry handed it to him.
"I'll make a copy and return this."
"Damn right you will." Molly gave him a look.
"DNA might take some time, and it could be expensive."
"We'll pay it. Can they rush it?" Henry exclaimed, over Molly's objections.
"I'll see what we can do."
Washington, DC
Charlie just finished her application. She found two professors to write her recommendations, one of them was the department head. Charlie hoped it was enough.
Her boyfriend didn't like the idea of her being gone for four months, but he saw how excited she was, and he pretended to be happy about it. He did want her to be happy. He just didn't see why she couldn't be happy in DC, not that he didn't understand. In and Out was not in DC
Atlanta, GA
Joyce was in her lawyer's office. "Did he accept your offer?"
"No." No SHIT you dumb BITCH
"Then why am I here?" She folded her arms over her chest.
"He sent a counter-offer. As your lawyer, I have a responsibility to show you all offers."
"Yeah Yeah," she interrupted him. "What did he offer?"
"He offered the house."
"Not both houses!"
"He sold the vacation house to pay debts over a year ago."
"He's lying."
"I checked. There's a new owner who has clear title."
"He didn't tell me."
"You signed the deed." He showed her a copy of the deed that had been recorded.
"He must have tricked me."
"That will be very hard to prove. He'll just say you didn't remember. Anyway, we can't get the house from the owner. He's a good faith purchaser, who paid fair value."
"What else!"
"He wants for you both to contribute to a college fund for Charlie, and to keep his pension, his 401k, recover ½ of the debt that he just paid off, and receive 1/3 of the value of the house."
"Is he crazy!"
"It's not a terrible starting point. The house has no mortgage. The taxes are current. It's in good condition."
"No WAY!"
"Well, I need to send a new counter-offer to him."
"Can't I just sue his ass?"
"You could, but I don't know if that's in your best interest. We could likely get him to offer a better deal than a judge would give you to avoid the cost of going to court."
"Well this deal sucks. Don't call me until you have something decent."
"But I have a respons-"
"FUCK your responsibility. Bother me again, and I'll can your ass."
She slammed the door on her way out.
The lawyer sighed. If her daddy hadn't given her a big retainer, he would have quit.
If I were Bobby, what would I want. He tried to imagine his opposition, so he could make an offer they would take. I would want to wipe my hands clean and get away from this bitch. I would pay cash up front before I had to send her monthly checks. No pension or 401k. I would pay 10k to be rid of her ass.
New Counteroffer: Joyce would receive the house, and a 10k payment in consideration of forfeiting any and all rights to his pension and 401k. Joyce will work out any payments for college with Charlie directly.
Like that bitch would give her daughter any money. The lawyer sent it to Cousin Jacob.
Bobby's work.
The day just ended. Bobby was ready to chow down. He was on his way home to eat dinner. His phone rang.
"Hello!"
"Bob what up."
"Clay. What's wrong with you?"
"Can't a man call his brother?"
"You don't call anybody. What's wrong with you?"
"Who are you? Dad?"
"He's on your case again isn't he?"
"If you must know, he thinks my wife and I will grow apart like you and Joyce if I don't spend more time with her."
"WHAT! That's crazy."
"That's what I said."
"We didn't grow apart. Joyce is just a callous bitch. No time would have fixed that."
"I tried to tell Dad..."
"That doesn't mean he's on to something."
"WHAT!"
"You have a wife who loves you and kids who adore you. You should spend some time with them while you can. Life is short dude. You don't want your best years to pass you by with your ass in an office slumped over a desk chugging Monster."
"Who are you and what did you do with Bobby?"
"I met someone Clay. Someone special, and I spend every minute with her I can."
"You just started seeing her, and you're talking crazy."
"I'm starting to see the light. Take her out to dinner. Buy her some chocolate. Send her some flowers. Do something man. You can love her all you want, but if she doesn't see it."
"You're impossible."
"You know I'm right."
"Bye Bob!"
Bobby drove home, whistling all the way. He was going to give Sharon a call when she got home.
Flynn's House
Andrea and Flynn couldn't figure out what to do with all of her stuff. She had nice stuff, but so did he. They didn't need duplicates of everything in the kitchen. They could sell it, but what if Andrea wanted to move back home. They could store it, but what a waste of money.
"Can you just leave it there?" Flynn asked her.
"What did you say?"
"Leave it there."
"That's not a bad idea. Someone might pay more to rent a furnished apartment."
She kissed him and went back to making her list. She was trying to get this just right.
Yoga Studio
Eliza convinced David to come. It sounded like hippy shit to him, but she said it would be good for his body. It wasn't bad to see all these women in yoga pants. David wasn't very flexible. He struggled with the poses. The instructor helped him do variations to make it easier. When the hour was over, she and David walked home.
Out of no where, a man came with a knife. "Give me all your money." David tackled him to the ground. He and the mugger fought, but David kicked his ass. The kid went running.
"That was..."
"You alright." He cupped her face with his hands and looked her up and down.
"Amazing. You were like a superhero."
"Oh Stop."
"No really. If I had been by myself..."
Gabriel silenced her with a kiss on the lips.
Sharon's House
She hadn't seen Rusty in a while. She went away for the weekend. Rusty's been holed up in his room. "How about we go out to dinner?"
Rusty looked up. "What do you have in mind?"
"How about Thai food?"
"Sounds good to me."
Sharon was on her way out the door when her phone rang.
"Let me guess. Dead body."
"Hello. Oh hi Bobby."
"How was your day?"
"Good. Rusty and I are on our way to dinner."
"I won't keep you. I just wanted to hear your voice."
"You're sweet."
"I'm cooking for a barbeque on Saturday. It's a work thing. Would you and Rusty like to come?"
"A barbeque. That sounds nice."
"Great. See you there."
"Bye."
"Ready to go, Rusty."
"How's Loverboy?"
"Oh you stop. Bobby was just inviting me, I mean us, to a barbeque."
"When's the wedding?"
"What! You're talking crazy."
"Really. Because you are totally hung up on him."
"Am not."
"Are so. You totally look hungover once he leaves. You're love drunk."
"Let's go."
Rusty giggled. He liked seeing Sharon so happy. The more time she spent with Bobby, the more time he had for Kyle.
They got to the restaurant. Sharon ordered a tamarind duck. Rusty got pad thai. They chatted about work and school.
"So do you and Loverboy have any plans for Friday?"
"No."
"Too bad. I hear he's a good time."
"You shush." Sharon blushed.
Brenda/Fritz
Fritz had a long day at work. El Torro threatened to kill the judge at his competency hearing, so the courthouse got put on lockdown as they investigated. Fritz got behind on work and had to stay late to catch up. He got home. Bobby was teaching Brenda how to mix spices.
She can't make microwave soup, but she's trying to learn spices. They were making chili.
"Chili for dinner?"
"It's for tomorrow. It's going to simmer overnight. We're eating chicken carbonara tonight."
Bobby had a big skillet of beef and onions sauteing. He added garlic cloves. In another pan, there was pancetta. Bobby took it off the stove, and took out the cubed meat, leaving the fat. "Now, it's time to make the sauce."
Brenda added the fat to a bowl. She added olive oil, raw eggs and parmesan and began to whisk them together.
Bobby added the pancetta to the noodles.
Brenda added some pepper and a pinch of chipotle powder. She kept whisking. She poured the sauce into the pasta, and Bobby stirred it all together. He poured pasta into three different bowls.
They sat down to eat. It was very tasty. Fritz couldn't believe he saw Brenda make a sauce, all by herself. She could cook, with a parole officer to supervise.
Bobby let the meat simmer as they ate. Fritz told them about his day. "He threatened to kill a judge. Who was he Jesse James?"
"He's just a washed up kingpin who's mad he got busted."
"You should send him to Judge Dredd."
Brenda laughed at that. "Or to Grandpa."
"He was the original Judge Dredd."
Brenda's work day was uneventful. The home break in case she forgot about resolved itself. One homeowner confessed. He hated his house and wanted to move. He thought if he robbed his neighbors, his wife would get scared, and they could leave. He apologized and returned all of the stuff.
Saturday Morning
Andrea officially moved her clothes, speakers and personal effects to Flynn's house. She left most of her furniture and kitchen appliances behind. Flynn had plenty of room. She put an ad in the local paper to see if she would get any takers.
Bobby's Work
Bobby had been smoking the ribs and the brisket overnight. Ribs have plenty of fat, but briskets can get a little dry, so Bobby rubbed it in olive oil before he smoked it. He preferred dry rubs for big cuts of meat. He spent a lot of time perfecting his spice mixtures. The crowd was sure to love it.
He then went to making his sauce. He had am amazing spicy-honey BBQ sauce for the ribs. He added a hint of dry mustard to bring out the flavor of the meat. He wanted everything to be perfect. Nothing's worse than a southerner who can't make BBQ. He also wanted it to be perfect for Sharon.
Sharon's House
"Why do I have to go?"
"It's free meat, Rusty."
"I'm sure you're in it for the meat, man-meat."
"Rusty! You're going. We don't have to stay too long."
Rusty really wanted to spend the day with Kyle, but a BBQ it was.
The Rink
Eliza and Gabriel went rollerskating. He hadn't done this since he was a kid. He felt a little wobbly but he dared not fall. Eliza wouldn't let him live that down.
There were a lot of young kids there, zipping by. David had to be careful. Eliza grabbed his hand and led him around. She could skate backwards with ease. She kissed him.
"Now, you're trying to make me fall."
"You already have." She smiled.