Scary. I was actually becoming accustomed to seeing that look from people.
“Gotta go.” I fairly pushed Riley toward the door.
“What’s with you?” he asked.
Sounded suspiciously like a threat to me. What exactly could those accounting books reveal?
And how far would Bill go to conceal it?
Which was all too much to spill on Riley, so I opted for something he could relate to. “I have a date.”
140
Heather Webber
“With Bo-bby?” he singsonged.
“Dude,” someone called just as I pushed open the door.
Riley turned and greeted the kid. “Hey, Goosh.” The pair completed a series of hand slaps that left me dizzy.
“Goosh?” I said. He was tall, thin. The black Growl uniform hung loosely from his arms, his legs. Pockmarks scarred his face and a scraggly goatee hid his chin.
Long stringy hair covered Goosh’s eyes. “It’s, like, ah, whattaya call it? A um, yeah, nickname.”
Thank God.
As he asked Riley, in a babbling almost incoherent string of words that would cause Mrs. Krauss to shudder, about covering for him the next day, I noticed how his words slurred. On closer inspection, his pupils were dark and wide.
My teeth set. The kid was clearly on something.
“Know him well?” I asked Riley as we climbed into my truck.
“We’re not tight or anything.”
I didn’t know how to ask what I wanted to know.
“Don’t worry.” Riley chucked his duffel bag in the space behind the seats. “I’m not doing drugs.”
I let out a breath of relief. “But Goosh is?”
Riley shrugged. “To each his own.”
It sounded like something Kevin would say, and on the whole he was a pretty good dad. After all, he’d had the fore-thought to leave Riley with me when he’d moved in with Ginger Ho. Barlow. Ginger Barlow.
“Well, okay, then. Doesn’t Bill mind, though? He has to notice.”
“Can’t do anything until Goosh fails a random drug test.
So far he hasn’t. Bill can get sued otherwise, since Goosh is actually pretty good at his job.”
Sued. I shuddered. I never wanted to hear that word again.
141
I put the truck in reverse, then into drive. As we drove past Growl’s door I couldn’t help but notice Bill staring out at us.
Riley waved.
Me? I didn’t wave. But the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
Sixteen
The Magic Sun Chinese Buffet had the best egg rolls ever. I was on my third.
“Not that hungry tonight?” Bobby asked.
“Ha. Ha.”
Actually, I hadn’t had much of an appetite until I walked in the door. The smells had done my stomach good. The hint of garlic, the soy sauce. Steamed vegetables.
It helped that with a full mouth I really couldn’t talk.
I wished Bobby would eat more. He’d been rambling since we sat down about this and that. Nerves.
He was nervous.
About talking.
With me.
About something important.
I reached for another egg roll and took a sip of my water with lemon. The one strike against Magic Sun was that they didn’t carry Dr Pepper. I forgave them because of the egg rolls.
