The end of the week and Brent came out of the Tool and Die shop with an electric saw he had been eyeing, but when he placed it in the bed of his pickup and looked at the diner next door, he saw what looked like his father’s Jaguar parked out front.  It was Saturday, he was not on duty, so he went to see if he was right.

He was right.  As he approached the window he could see that not only was his father inside the diner enjoying a meal, but his stepmother was with him.  Brent brushed off his jeans, he had been working earlier on an old lawn mower, and went inside.

“I figured you’d be out of town somewhere,” Brent said when he approached their table.

“That’s what you get for figuring,” Charles said.

“Hey, Brent,” Jenay said.  “How nice to see you this morning.”

Brent leaned down and gave her a kissed.  Then he looked at his father.  “What gives?  Didn’t you have business in Delaware or somewhere?”

“You are so behind the times,” Charles said with a smile.  “I canceled that trip last week.”

“Really?  Why?” Brent asked.

Charles became defensive.  “Because I wanted to cancel it, what’s with the twenty questions?  It’s no big deal.”

Brent and Jenay smiled.  They knew why he canceled it.

“What?” Charles asked.  “Can’t a man enjoy a meal with his woman?”

“And cancel business trips to be with his woman?” Brent asked with a grin.  “Sure he can.”

Charles had to smile, too.  “Forget your ass!” he said.

“Why don’t you join us?” Jenay asked.

“Can’t,” Brent responded.  “I’ve got some serious yard work to do today.  I’ve been putting it off too long.”

Jenay stared at Brent.  “How’s Makayla enjoying her new job?” she asked.

Brent nodded.  “She doesn’t talk much about it, but I can tell she likes it.  She stays up late at night trying to keep up with all the work they’re giving her.”

“Well good,” Jenay said with a nod.  “She wanted a challenge.  Looks like she’s got one.”

 “Speaking of Makayla,” Charles said, and Brent looked at him.  He was looking out of the diner’s plate-glass window.

Brent and Jenay looked too.  And there was Makayla with Junior, standing at the door of an art store stuffing one bag into the other one.  Brent’s heart squeezed when he saw her and his son.  Some days he felt as if he was the luckiest man in the world to have her as his wife. Other days he felt shattered and betrayed.

“She does her thing, you do yours?” Jenay asked.  “Is that how you two roll now?”

“Junior likes to paint,” Brent said, “and he needed some supplies.  I was working on a project, so Makayla took him.”

“Makayla is a voluptuous, beautiful woman, Brent,” Charles said, staring at his daughter-in-law.  “Take good care of that one.  Men like what she’s packing.  You’ll be a fool to let her get out of your hands.  And I didn’t raise any fools, although each and every one of you, except for maybe Carly, does everything in your powers to prove me wrong.”

Brent smiled weakly, but he was still staring at his wife.  Then he thought about something, and looked at Charles.  “Have you told Ashley about what happened with Jesse Colbert?” he asked him.

“No, not yet,” Charles responded.

“I spoke with her about it,” Jenay said, and Charles and Brent both looked at her.

“She needed to know,” Jenay went on.  “Especially in light of the fact that her own father was the one who pulled the trigger.”

“What did she say?” Charles asked her.

“When I told her he tried to kill you and Brent, and was the person who shot up Lou Fontaine’s house when we were in it, she said good riddance.  She said he got what he deserved, and she was glad it was him and not us.”

Charles was at least pleased to hear that.

“Like you said, Pop,” Brent said, “you didn’t raise any fools.”

Charles smiled.  “I went by her apartment earlier, before I picked Jenay up from the Inn for lunch, but she was already out and about.”

Brent nodded.  “She likes to show off on the weekends.”

Jenay smiled.  “That sounds like Ashley.”

Brent smiled, too, and took a peep at his wife and son again.  They were heading for her car.  But when he glanced down one end of the street and saw a car suddenly speed from around a corner, and with a gun coming out of its pressed down window, his heart dropped.  He looked at his wife and son, and he looked at that car and gunman, and he knew he was coming for them!

“No,” he cried.  “No, no, nooo!” he screamed.  And Brent took off running.

Charles, without knowing what was going on, took off after his son.

Jenay stood up, looking out of the window, as did many others in the diner, confused too.

But Brent wasn’t confused.  He was pulling out his gun as he ran out of the diner, and trying with all he had to get Makayla’s attention.  “Kay, get down!  Get down!  Kay, get down!” he cried as the car began to take on even more speed.

As soon as Makayla heard Brent’s voice, she turned in his direction.  And as soon as she saw him flapping his gun-clad hand in a downward motion, she didn’t hesitate.  She knocked Junior to the ground and covered him with her body.

And then the bullets rang out.

Brent was shooting at the gunman as the gunman drove past him, but the gunman was shooting at Makayla and Junior.

By the time Charles got outside, he wasn’t asking questions, either.  He was shooting at the gunman too.

And they got him.  They riddled that shooter with bullets.  His car careened out of control, and then jumped the sidewalk and slammed into the side of the drug store.  But not before riddling Makayla’s body with bullets too.

Brent ran to his family.  His heart was beating as if it was beating out of his chest.  He could see the blood even as he ran to her.  Junior was screaming and crying, as he laid beneath his stepmother, and Makayla was as still as a lifeless painting.  Makayla was lifeless.

Charles ran to her and Junior too.  When Brent lifted Makayla’s body, and Junior was able to get from beneath her, he immediately ran into his grandfather’s arms.  Junior, thanks to Makayla’s fast actions, was physically fine.

“Call 911,” Brent was saying as he held his wife.  But several people already had.

And Jenay was running toward them too, calling 911 herself.  Junior then broke from Charles, and ran into Jenay’s arms, and Jenay held him tightly.

Charles was praying Makayla was okay, but he also knew he had to make sure that gunman was dead.  His family was still exposed.  His family could still be hit.

“Wait here,” he ordered Jenay, as he kept his gun ready and ran over to the wrecked car.  Although the front end was destroyed, Charles was able to open the driver side door quickly, and aim his weapon at the occupant.

But it wasn’t necessary.  The occupant was dead.  But that wasn’t the shocking part.  The shocking part was who the gunman was.  When Charles saw it, he took a step back. 

The gunman was Percy Diallo, Jenay’s former fiancé.

He looked at Jenay.  She was going to be devastated by this.  But then he looked at Makayla.  Had she paid with her life because this arrogant asshole felt slighted by Jenay?  And why would he target Makayla and Junior when Jenay was just across the street?

But right now, it didn’t matter.  Sirens could be heard getting closer, and the asshole was dead.

Charles, instead, ran back to his family, and held onto Brent as Brent’s trembling body held Makayla.