Motherhood Is Murder

I sipped on my latte. It was too bitter to drink fast.

Good. That would give me something to do and maybe curb my appetite a bit if I drank it slowly.

I tapped my foot and waited.

What was the deal with stakeouts? Why had I been so excited? This was boring. How long would I have to wait for some action?

What was I hoping for anyway?

Wait.

A car just turned the corner.

Yippee! Action.

Maybe someone was coming to see Celia. I strained to identify the car. It didn?t look like Alan?s Lexus.

It was a Toyota. It drove right past me.

Darn!

I fidgeted around the van. Kenny had some pretty good gear in here. I picked up a trombone. Man, it was heavy. My cell phone rang and I dropped the instrument as though I?d been caught in the act of stealing it.

I fished my cell phone out of my purse. ?Yes.?

?Kate! How?s the stakeout??

It was Kenny.

?Boring. How do you play this thing? It?s really heavy.?

?Are you messing with my stuff?? Kenny laughed. ?Why is it boring??

?I ate all my food and nothing is happening.?

?What?d you bring with you??

?A bagel.?

?That is boring.?

I laughed. ?So, what?s up? Do you need your van back??

?You?ve only been gone thirty minutes.?

?Is that it??

?Do you want some company?? Kenny asked.

?Not yours.?

Kenny laughed. ?I can bring you some chips or something.?

Hmmm.

Catering r la seventeen-year-old.

?Chips sound good,? I said.

?I can?t bring beer or anything. I?m not drinking age,? Kenny said.

?I?m on a stakeout! This is serious business. I?m not here to drink beer.?

?You have to have something to drink with chips.?

?I?m drinking coffee,? I said.

?Coffee doesn?t go with chips.?

?Okay, bring some soda then. Something with caffeine,? I said.

?Okay,? Kenny said cheerfully.

?All right, see you soon.?

?Uh, Kate??

?What.?

?Uh, are you going to come pick me up or what? Because you have my van.?

Christ.

?I can?t leave the site, Kenny.?

?Bummer.?

Three hours had passed since I?d first parked the van and now I had a more serious problem than hunger and boredom. I needed a hospitality break.

Should I risk going down the street to the shop and use the restroom?

I thought about Laurie. Surely she?d be hungry by now and my breasts were starting to burn. Before leaving home, I?d examined my breast pump. It had a car attachment for power that plugged into a standard car charger. But who wanted to pump in the car?