Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos

Nothing Unusual

The ride to school was quiet on Monday morning. Mom drove me because I just felt safer riding with her. I spent all weekend at the lake house and talked to Tyler on the phone several times. I still had no idea what to expect. Would Dad try to see me again? Would I panic again?

"You'll be fine at school. He won't do anything there," Mom said as she drove up to the school.

"If you say so," I muttered and left the car. I just wanted to get inside, to see Tyler. He was waiting for me outside homeroom and hugged me tightly.

"I've been going crazy. Are you all right?"

I let out a heavy sigh and leaned into his chest, "No. It is all so much."

After an uneventful day at school, I asked Tyler to take me to the quilt shop before he went to work.

"Thanks for the ride. I know it seems crazy, but I just want to be near her, to find out more."

After sitting around the office for an hour not being very helpful, we were about to go to Local Taco for dinner when the phone rang.

"Hello," Luanne answered. "Hi Mary Jane. How are you? Oh no! Really? Hang on. Let me get her. Candy, I suggest you pick up in the back. Betsy may want to hear this, too."

She covered the phone with her hand and motioned to me with a side nod of her head, "Cricket, why don't you go on over."

I went to the restaurant and sat in usual corner booth. After a few minutes of eating chips and hot sauce, Marianna came to the table, "Hola, Cricket how are you?"

"Hola," I muttered.

Mom and the ladies were walking to the table. Marianna talked over her shoulder in their direction, "Are you all getting the special?"

"Yes," Mom replied. "But Cricket would like extra guacamole for her growing toes."

"Mom, you know that is going to get old one of these days?"

"It already is," Marianna giggled at me with a big smile. She continued, "You know, Miss Candy, I was talking to the artists the other night and they were wondering if they could help you out."

"The artists?"

Just then Nana appeared and said, "Hola, Marianna, I will have the brisket enchilada with Verde sauce and a Margarita. The artists, my darling, are what the hooligans next door call themselves." She scooted into the booth while dramatically taking her purse off her wrist and nodded toward Marianna, "Right, Honey?"

"Yes, Miss Bea, the tattoo artists. I was telling them about the crime spree at your daughter's shop and they were worried."

"Crime spree?" Mom yelped. "There have been a few incidents. We are perfectly fine and do not need any bikers to help us out."

"Miss Candy, they are not all bikers. In fact," she paused and then threw it in, "one of them is a race car driver you might remember."

Mom blushed.

Nana covered for her, "Marianna, bring her a special Margarita. She has had a long weekend." A special Margarita was code for a Margarita with a shot of Chambord in it. Marianna left and came back with the Margaritas.

Nana dug in her purse and pulled out her mirror to check her hair. She wanted to make sure she had not gotten windblown between the car and the restaurant. As she fluffed her hair, she caught the reflection in her mirror of someone walking in. She glanced at me and winked. I looked over her shoulder and saw none other than Bud, the racecar driver himself.

"You might want to go to the ladies room, Candy." Nana said casually. Mom looked up and saw Bud coming through the door.

"I'm fine, Mother, really. Will you ever grow up?"