Disclaimer: Not mine, but a girl can dream ;)
Author's Note: Mekaky, thanks for the review :). Here's the next chapter . . .
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Chapter Three: Rules, Rules, and more Rules
In the kitchen:
As Casey finished opening her present Don asked, "What is it honey?" he was worried that John might have overdone it with his gift.
Casey looked up with tears in her eyes, "It's so beautiful. I-I-I've never seen it anything more beautiful in my life," she stammered.
"Oh for the love of . . ." Olivia said before peeking in to see what the fuss was about.
"Don't touch it! You'll ruin it," Casey whined as she slapped Olivia's hands away from her gift.
"It's just a backpack," she said annoyed with Casey's overreaction.
"What?" she shouted. "It's not just a backpack. You fashionably challenged . . ." she didn't get to finish that sentence as Don pointedly cleared his throat to stop an impending fight.
"This a Chanel Vintage Quilted backpack in red leather; it's the ultimate going back to school present. This must've cost you a fortune," Casey said as she turned to look at her uncle. "I love it, thank you, thank you, thank you so much Uncle Munchies. It's perfect, I can easily wear this with almost everything if I accessorize accordingly," she said while taking the paper stuffing out of her bag.
"Ah, don't worry about prices. What's money for, if not to spend it? I can't just have it in the bank, and wait for Uncle Sam, and his cousin Mr. IRS to come sniffing around it," John joked.
"Oh shi. . ."Olivia was about to cuss before Don cleared his throat again.
"What happened to my little angels? Now they curse, and think about boys. Next thing you know they'll be drinking, and getting arrested like some people I know," Don said.
"Hey, that only happened once, twice top if I could remember that night in college," John protested. He then turned to Olivia and asked, "Do you like your gift Livvy?" trying to deflect attention away from his arrest record.
Olivia put her gift down, and ran to embrace her uncle in a tight hug, "They're perfect, thank you so much. How did you know I wanted them?" she said looking down at her 20 eye cherry red Dr. Martens.
John took his glasses off to wipe his eyes, "Jeez, what is it with crying today. Is there something in the air?" he chuckled. "I can't take all the credit for your gift Livvy, your dad was the one to actually suggest the boots because in case you didn't know, you've become very hard to shop for," everyone seemed to laugh at that comment.
Olivia turned to hug her father as well, "Thank you dad. I love my gift so much that I think I'll wear them to school today."
"Cute boots, Olivia. I wouldn't wear them obviously, but they go great with your hair, and they match your F U attitude towards the world," Casey chuckled.
"Oh that's right, hurry up and finish getting ready girls. Otherwise, you'll never make it to school," Don said before shooing them out of the kitchen.
"Aren't you going to be late for work, Don?" John asked while he sat down to munch on a piece of toast.
"No, I don't go in until eight, and the precinct is a few of blocks away. Everything we need is so close, the precinct, the school, your house, the bookstore, and the other stores. I still can't believe we got such a great house," Don said.
John swallowed a mouthful of toast before asking, "How are the girls getting to school? I can drop them off if you want. I don't have to open my store for another two hours."
He was referring to the bookstore he owned, and operated himself since he retired from the force. John didn't need the money from the store because he had more than enough from his pension, and in his savings. He just opened it to keep himself busy, and he loved the fact that his bookstore attracted all kinds of interesting clientele.
"Olivia is driving to school with Casey, thanks for the offer though," Don said.
"You know you don't have to work Don. You could just stay home. You have more than enough money in your savings account. Plus with what you got from Marge's will, and life insurance you and the girls are set for life," he pointed out.
"I know that John, we've gone through this before," he said exasperated. "It's just hard thinking about leaving my job. I love it, especially because I know that what I do can actually make a difference in people's lives. Every rapist we put away is one less that can get to my girls or anyone else for that matter."
"You don't have to tell me that. I retired twice, remember?" John smirked.
"Bye dad, bye Uncle John we're leaving," Olivia popped her head in.
"Wait a minute, girls come in here for a second," Don instructed as Casey and Olivia made their way to the kitchen grumbling about being late.
"What is it dad? You know we're going to be late for school," Olivia said getting annoyed knowing where this was going.
"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but Livvy is right," Casey agreed.
That caused everyone to momentarily forget what they were about to say.
"What? I'm as shocked as all of you, but you know how I like being early because I love to make a memorable entrance for all to see," she reminded everyone.
That got a chorus of, "Right", "Of course", and "Shallow" from the other three people in the kitchen.
"As I was about to say, this is for you Olivia: No speeding, follow the rules of the road, no playing bowling with pedestrians . . ." Olivia was about to interrupt, and poor John had to pretend to cough into his hand to keep from laughing.
Don continued completely ignoring Olivia and John's reactions, "I don't care if you were joking that little old lady could've had a heart attack. I also know this is the first day of school, but I feel that I must stress this especially to you Olivia; stay out of trouble, and try not to make anyone cry. The most important thing is to be home by 5 pm, and if for some reason you can't make it call me or call John. Are we clear?" he looked at both girls.
"Yes sir," Casey and Olivia replied.
"Good have a great first day," Don said before reaching into his wallet to give them each twenty dollars.
"Thanks", "Thank you," both girls said at the same time.
Casey and Olivia then took turns hugging them. As they hugged John, he was slyly put an extra twenty in each of their pockets while whispering something about a little more spending cash.
"Let's go Casey before they come up with more rules," Olivia said tugging her by the arm.
"Wait, are we actually going to school in your junk mobile?" Casey stopped dead in her tracks.
"Well you could just walk, I have no problem with that, and neither does my "Junk mobile" as you so affectionately call it. Yeah, I'm good with that lets go with that," she said moving towards the door ready to leave for school.
"Wait, you'll do no such thing," Don said. He then turned to look at Casey with a stern look, "Just get in the car, and stop complaining about it every chance you get, it's a good car."
"Um, yeah like ten years ago. Daddy, it's a '99 Honda a two door at that, and its black, that's just so blah," she said sticking her tongue out. "Add to that how hard it is not to get your outfit wrinkled especially in the backseat," Casey whined while pouting.
Olivia was getting angry with Casey's snotty attitude, "Oh, excuse me princess, but I thought you'd be used to being in backseats especially laying down . . ."
"That's enough!" Don broke up their fight. "I'm not asking for much today, just try to get along. I am seriously close to grounding you both if you don't stop fighting. This is a milestone for our little family. How about you make an effort?"
"Fine" "Sure," both girls answered simultaneously.
"Thank you, now go before you're late," he said giving them a small smile as a thank you for agreeing.
"Bye girls," John said.
"Goodbye daddy, have a great first day at work. Bye Uncle John, have fun running your store, I hope you sell a lot of books," Casey said before walking to the car.
Olivia rolled her eyes before saying a, "Later," to both Don, and John.
Both men started cleaning up the kitchen when they heard the girls arguing outside. Olivia was threatening to leave Casey behind because she was still complaining about the car clashing with her outfit.
"Those two are quite a handful, and they sure know how take years off your life," John said trying to break up the uncomfortable silence.
"It's hard to believe they're related," Don replied.
"It's true, but deep down they love each other," John said which earned an amused look from Don. "All right, deep, deep down. You just have to know where to look," both men got a chuckle from that.
"It's going to be a long exhausting day today," Don said as looked out the window to make sure the girls left.