Chapter Twenty-One
After cleaning up Cheryl’s home and giving out the rest of the remaining sausage, Amie found herself standing next to Butch. She thought back to the last time she was there and she remembered what had happened. He’d partially shifted and she ran, screaming, from the building.
“Oh my god, Butch. I’m so sorry how I reacted to you the other day. I just learned about shifters a few hours ago.”
“Not a problem, girly. I probably would’ve scared myself if I had a mirror.”
Amie smiled to show her appreciation. Then she looked around for Mom on the other side of the store. “Say, Butch, ever think about asking Jean out on a date?”
He froze in his tracks. “I—I don’t know if she’d go with me.”
“Oh,” Amie said, “I’m pretty sure she would say yes.”
“You think?” Butch looked at her with wide eyes.
“Yup, but you have to ask her or she won’t. You can do that, right?”
Color drained from the lion’s face. “What do I say?”
Amie rubbed a hand over her forehead. These townies where just too much fun. “Just say, ‘Jean, would you like to go out?’ It’s easy.”
Butch straightened up, indicating the woman of topic was coming. Amie stepped behind Mom as she laid meatballs on the counter.
“Good afternoon, Butch. How are you?”
Amie looked over Mom’s head at him. She nodded, giving him encouragement.
“Jean. Would. You. Like. To. Go. Out.” This was probably the first lion who ever turned robot when asking out a girl. Mom stood staring at him, and he stared at her. Dear god.
Amie waved her arms to get his attention. She pointed to her watch, mouthing, Six tomorrow. He looked at his watch.
He said, “At six tonight.”
Tonight? No, no, no. Amie shook her head. Tomorrow, she mouthed again.
Then Mom said, “Six o’clock tonight would be great.”
Amie dropped her head into her hands. This could be very bad. Mom waved and walked away. Amie grabbed the bag with the meatballs, which was still on the counter. She gave him a thumbs-up.
Outside, Mom grabbed her arms. “Butch just asked me out.”
“Yeah, isn’t that great?”
“No! That’s not great. What am I going to wear? I don’t know how to fix my hair. Oh my god. What am I going to do?”
“Mom. It’s going to be okay. I’ll help you.”
“Oh, thank you. We have to get home.” In a blink, Mom was gone.
Amie looked around. “Mom?” She turned. “You just did not disappear on me. This has to be a shifter thing.”
“I’m sorry, dear.”
Amie startled and whipped around. “Mom! Where did you go? What happened?”
“Shifters have the ability to move so quickly, humans can’t track the action. Now let’s go.”
* * *
Frank sat in the rocking chair on the back porch. His mom and mate had kicked him out when they’d walked in. From what he could figure out, Mom was going somewhere. He thought he heard she was going on a date. But he knew that couldn’t be right. Though he did tell her the other day that she needed to get out more.
He didn’t have time at the moment to worry about his mom. More serious things had come to light. His conversation with his boss was filled with good and bad intel. Good in that Giuseppe Ragusa had been under police scrutiny for a long time, bad in that several officers doing the watching had mysteriously disappeared over the years.
Ragusa’s history was as full of death as any other popular gangster from old. True to modern Mafia, Ragusa was associated with several corporations. Frank was sure that was where the family’s money came from. He told his boss about the connection with the senator’s killing being covered by the bank robbery, his bill, Ragusa’s companies, and the money flow.
What Frank found interesting was that Ragusa didn’t bail his son out of jail. His kid had to post his own money today. Guess Giuseppe didn’t want to fork out the $1.3 million needed to get his son out. Was there a reason besides the money that Ragusa let his son stay in jail? Nice family dynamics. No wonder Amie wanted out as soon as possible.
Now the question was: How safe was Amie in his hometown?
In the driveway, a car pulled up and stopped. A strange sight getting out of the car met his eye. If he was seeing correctly, Butch was dressed in a clean suit and tie. He’d never seen that in his life. He didn’t even think Butch owned such attire.
Butch waved, opened the gate to the side of the house, and joined him on the porch. The smell of worry and slight fear followed in his path.
“How you doing, Butch?”
“Good, yeah, good. Haven’t done this kinda thing since school. Even then, not very much.”
“Done what, exactly, Butch?” All types of things went through his mind. His protective shifter side woke.
“Date, son. Somehow I asked your mother on a date. I barely remember doing it.” He wiped a hand over his brow. Frank let out breath of relief and laughed.
“Come on inside.” He stood and opened the kitchen door. “I have meatballs simmering in sauce. Barely finished before getting kicked out by the women folk.”
Butch grunted. “I hear that, man.”
Inside, Amie poked her head from around the corner. “Hey, guys. Sit in the living room so Mom can make her entrance.” She smiled and gave him a wink. Oh shit, what did she do to his mom?
Now as worried as Butch, Frank led their visitor into the other room. They sat in chairs opposite each other. Frank asked, “Where you all going?”
“I thought I’d take her to the movies in Columbus.”
Frank nodded. “I don’t have to tell you to behave yourselves, do I? No drinking or fooling around.”
“No, I’m good. I’m not drinking anything but water.” Butch’s foot bounced up and down.
“What time do you think you’ll be back?” Frank asked.
“I’m figuring by eleven.”
“That’s good. We’ll be waiting up.”
Butch nodded his understanding.
“You know,” Frank started, “my mom is priceless, and I hope you treat her like that. Don’t get into any dangerous situations, and if you need help, call me right away. Okay?”
“Got it. Yeah. Thanks.” Both men turned when the ladies came into the room. Frank almost asked Amie who the hot woman with her was. Then he realized the “hot” woman was his mom. Oh, shit. He knew his mom got a haircut yesterday but he hadn’t seen it and hadn’t really made much of an effort to try. She’d been wearing a scarf on her head after going to the salon. His mom’s hair was short, pixie-like. Looked great on her. Her eyes were lined with color and she had cheekbones. And apparently, Amie had one more dress she hadn’t given away, because he couldn’t see his mom buying it. It was stylish and modest. Perfect for her.
“Wow, Jean,” Butch said. “You look amazing. Well, you always look amazing, I just mean more amazing than normal—”
“Yeah, Butch, we get it,” Frank said. “Remember what we talked about. And no sex on the first date.”
“Frank,” Mom admonished. He shrugged.
The couple left through the front door. Frank joined Amie, standing in front of the window. “They move on so quickly.” Amie gave a sigh. “One minute they’re sucking a sausage, and suddenly, they’re going on a date.”
“Yeah, we have to learn to let go,” Frank added. “So”—Frank looked at her and licked his lips—“would you like meatballs or a sausage first, milady?”
“How about you hold the sausage for a bit and let’s go for a walk?”