Gabe was late getting to lunch and thought it would be wise to give Jenny’s Dad a call to make let him know about it. For some reason the phone wasn’t picking up and going straight to voicemail. He tried again, but still got nothing. He turned to Tom who was sitting beside him. “Nothing.”
“I’m sure he’ll be all right,” Tom said, as he was very eager to hang out with Dick again today. “Maybe he’s too busy signing autographs and taking pics with hot chicks to pick up the phone.”
“Ah huh,” Gabe said, turning to shave some time off his ride to their next location. As he was doing that, Gabe’s phone starting to ring. It wasn’t Dick because the ringtone Gabe had programmed into his phone let him know that it was his ex-wife calling. Gabe took a deep breathe and passed the phone to his brother.
“Put it on speaker,” he ordered, and paused while his brother did as he was told. “What can I do for you, Alicia?”
“I just wanted to know if you have Michael yet?” She asked.
“Why would I have Michael?” Gabe countered. “I don’t get him till tomorrow, and shouldn’t he be in school?”
Gabe looked over at his brother as they both realize he was out of the loop about something, and he had this sinking feeling in his gut that he was about to get in trouble for that.
“Jenny’s father didn’t tell you?” Alicia then asked.
“Wait, you talked to Dick?” Gabe answered. Tom had to cover his mouth to prevent him from laughing out hysterically. “No, I haven’t talked to him. What happened?”
Gabe pulled the car over so that he wouldn’t endanger traffic, took the phone from his brother, and turned off the speaker. He spent the next few minutes listening to his ex filled him in on everything that had happened that day. The fight, the suspension, and the fact that Dick offered to pick him up from school so that no one had to leave work to do it.
“That was actually really nice of him.” Gabe said as he kept listening. Finally, when she was finished, he added. “I’m supposed to meet Jenny’s father for lunch in ten minutes. They’re probably both going to meet me there.”
“That’s nice,” Alicia said, as she didn’t sound upset. “Can you thank Mr. Kershaw for me when you see him? I got a call from the school after he picked Michael up and apparently, he convinced the Vice principal to lower his suspension from seven to three days. I don’t know how he did it, but I’m very impressed.”
“I will let him know you’re pleased.” Gabe said. It was evident by the way she was talking about him and referring to him as Mr. Kershaw instead of his real name which was Mitchell. “Thanks for letting me know. I have no problem taking Michael a day early. As a matter of fact, I was going to take a few days off to spend time with Jenny’s Dad. I can keep Michael for the remainder of his suspension too.”
Alicia seemed to be very happy with the offer because that meant she wouldn’t have to miss any work or hire someone to watch him. She was always so work obsessed, and it was one of the things that lead to their separation and eventual divorce. The fact that her career and self interests were now starting to interfere with Michael’s needs was starting to upset Gabe, but he wasn’t in a position to do anything about it so up wasn’t worth bringing up at this time. Gabe turned off the cell phone and took a deep breathe. He was having such a good day too; the ex had to call in with news that was bound to fuck it all up.
Tom had been sitting there, listening intently, and getting bits and pieces from what Gabe had said. “Dick picked up Michael from school?”
“Yup,” Gabe said as he started the truck back up. “Apparently Michael was suspended for seven days for fighting.”
“What!” Tom said in absolute shock. “Seven days?”
“Well, three days now.” Gabe corrected. “Apparently Dick convinced them to lower it. I have no idea how he managed to do that but that was not how I wanted Michael to meet Jenny’s father, especially since Michael knows who he really is.”
“That had to be a shock to him, especially if he found out that Dick is Jenny’s father.” Tom agreed.
Gabe had no idea how he was going to handle this. He could only imagine how Michael reacted when Dick showed up to the school to get him. In all fairness, it was nice of Dick to do since he was free to help out. It was the kind of effort that was sure to make Jenny feel better about his intentions and support for their relationship. He was genuinely trying to make an effort and while that won’t make the sins of the past disappear, it was sure to be considered a good start. When he pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot, there was already a bit of a stir. Dick’s stretched limo was hard to miss and there was a crowd of people standing at the window, looking inside, and trying to take pictures through the glass.
Tom took a deep breathe. “I guess our little secret is out.”
“I guess so.” Gabe agreed as he parked the truck and turned it off. They stepped out and started to walk towards the door. They had a little trouble getting in, but Gabe found out it was even worse inside the place. There were a lot of people waiting to be seated and they had to muscle through that crowd before walking over to the table on the far end where Dick and Michael were sitting. Dick was in the process of talking to the cute waitress who was gushing over the guest at her table.
“I’m going to have a light beer and my young friend here is going to have a soda with a slice of lemon. And we’ll need a little more time to figure out our order.” Dick said as he was still scanning over the menu.
“Right away, Dick.” She said with a wide smile. She ran off to get their drinks and was gushing with the other waitresses about who was at one of her tables.
Gabe took a deep breathe and took a seat. “Hey guys.” he said as he looked over at Michael as he sat down.
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“Hey Dad.” Michael said as he looked down at his menu.
“Hey, head up big guy.” Dick said as he gave the young man a playful slap on the shoulder. “While I disagree with your methods today, your heart was in the right place.”
“So, I heard about your suspension.” Gabe said as he then turned to Dick. “Do you really think it’s fair to take him out for lunch after being kicked out of school for a few days?”
“That depends on why he was kicked out of school.” Dick said with a grin. “If one of my boys did what he did, I would have bought him a new Harley.”
“Thank goodness he isn’t your boy then.” Gabe fired back.
“Relax, Bro.” Tom said as he sat down beside Dick. “Give the kid a chance to relay his side before making a judgement. Just because Alicia got another chance to bust your balls doesn’t mean you should take it out on any of us. Okay?”
“I’d listen to your brother.” Dick responded. “You should hear Michael out first. You might want to give him a medal afterwards.”
“Alright, what happened?” Gabe asked, giving into the pressures of the table as he was also interested in hearing his son’s side of it.
“I broke Bobby Jackson’s nose.” Michael softly replied.
“What!” Gabe said with a stunned look on his face.
“Holy crap,” Tom said as he couldn’t believe it either. “You actually broke his nose?”
“Yeah, there was blood everywhere.” Michael said.
“Michael,” Gabe started as he put his face in his hands for a few seconds.
“Why would you do something like that?” Tom asked as he was clearly more curious to why the young man would do that. Gabe was curious as well but too frustrated to even ask at that point.
Dick leaned over and whispered into Tom’s ear. Gabe could tell by Tom’s wide eyes that it was something pretty big. “He actually said that?”
“Said what?” Gabe asked eager to know the truth himself.
Tom got out of his seat and walked over and whispered the same thing into his ear: Michael punched Bobby in the face for calling all the girls in his class the c-word.
Gabe’s eyes widened a little but still couldn’t believe it was his boy who acted of this. “Why did that upset you?”
“Isn’t that enough to upset you?” Dick asked.
“Well, yes.” Gabe answered. “But not enough to make me want to break someone’s nose.”
“What if someone said that to Jenny?” Dick asked.
Gabe looked back at Dick. “How is that relevant?”
“I think it’s very relevant.” Dick said, cracking a smile. “I have this feeling that there is someone in Michael’s class that he fancies. If I liked someone that much and some jerk called her the c-word, that’s enough for me to want to throw down right then and there. There is no better reason to punch someone than to defend the honor of a fair lady. Isn’t that right Michael?”
All three men looked at Michael, waiting for him to respond. “Bobby called her a very bad word. It hurt her feelings.”
All three of them let out a big sigh of relief as the truth had finally been revealed. Gabe was shocked to hear this. “Michael, you’re only thirteen. Aren’t you a little young to fight for the honor of fair ladies?”
“Hogwash,” Dick said as he came to the young man’s defense. “You’re never too young to make a stand for something honorable.”
Before Gabe could say anything else, the waitress returned with drinks for Dick and Michael. Rather than fight with Dick about the honor in defending women from bad words, he decided to let it go for now and order something to eat. There were still people looking in at Dick from the window, and Gabe could only imagine how word of mouth was going to get around that not only was Dick Mitchell in town, but he was hanging out with Gabe Davis and his family. Before you know it, Jenny’s secret was eventually going to get out. There was no telling how she was going to react to her family tree going public to everyone in town.
As they were waiting for their food, Michael was the first to speak. “Dad, why didn’t you tell me that Dick Mitchell of the Horsemen was Jenny’s father?”
“Honestly,” Gabe started, “I didn’t know myself until yesterday. I was going to tell you tomorrow when you came over for the weekend. That reminds me, I told your mother you can stay with me during the entire suspension. I was going to take a few days off anyway.”
“That’s great!” Dick said with a smile. “I didn’t want to pressure you to free up some time but I’m glad you could. This will give us a chance to hang out and get to know one another.”
“That’s awesome, Dad.” Michael said with a smile.
“Hey.” Gabe sternly said to his son. “Don’t think that I’m rewarding you for punching someone in the face. That was not the right way to handle things. Next time someone says something that bad, you tell your teacher and let them deal with it. Understood?”
“Alright Dad.” Michael said.
Moments later their food arrived. Dick had ordered chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes while Michael had settled for a pair of chicken fajitas. Gabe wasn’t in the mood for anything too filling, so he ordered a club sandwich with a small Caesar salad. Tom was a bit more ambitious with his lunch, especially because Dick said he was buying, so a full rack of ribs along with fries and coleslaw came to him on a massive plate. Tom wasn’t a pig about it as he shared a rib or two with Michael after he finished his lunch faster than everyone else had. As they were finishing up, Gabe had to consider what to do with Michael for the rest of the day.
“Did you happen to bring any homework you could do at the office?” Gabe asked his son.
“Forget that.” Dick chirped in. “He can hang with me today. You don’t need the distraction while you’re trying to do your thing.”
“Are you sure that’s okay?” Gabe asked. He really didn’t want to dump his kid on Dick for the rest of the day, feeling he already did enough.
“That’s no problem at all. I’m just going to hang out, take a tour of the town. I think Michael can help me out and show me the cool places around here.” Dick replied with a wide grin.
Gabe took a deep breath. “Alright, but no large purchases or spoiling of any kind, it will look to the school that he’s being rewarded for being suspended and I’ll never hear the end of it from Alicia.”
“You’re already in that much trouble when Alicia finds out who she really sent to pick up her son,” Tom said as he gave out a hearty chuckle.
“How did that happen?” Gabe asked, looking at Dick.
“All I said was that I was Jenny’s father.” Dick answered. “She called me Mr. Kershaw, and I just went with it.”
“So, she has no idea?” Gabe asked.
“Not a clue.” Dick said, “I was just trying to be helpful. She didn’t want to leave work and I didn’t want to force you or Jenny to do the same. I was free so I offered to go get him.”
“Okay,” Gabe said as he believed Dick was genuine. “How did you manage to bump Michael’s suspension down from seven days?”
“That’s easy when you have a fleet of high-priced lawyers.” Dick answered with a mischievous grin. “All I had to do was call one of them and that VP shriveled up like a…”
“Okay, I get the point.” Gabe interrupted and then paused for a moment and could tell by the look in his son’s eyes that he was excited to spend the day with Jenny’s Dad. “Alright, Michael can stay with you for the rest of the day, but I want you both back at the house before Jenny gets home.”
“Deal,” Dick said as he gave Michael a high five.
Gabe could tell right ten and there that he was going to regret this, but it was already too late. He was bound to get into trouble. It was now only a matter of by how much. Alicia was definitely going to give him an ear full for accidentally sending a rock star to pick up her son at school. Jenny was going likely going to be as furious when she found out about Dick running around town, which was likely going to out her to everyone in town as his daughter by the end of the working day. Gabe hoped the boys had a good day because come supper time it was all going to hit the fan.