Boxing was fun. It appealed to the rowdy side of me that loves football and offered an excuse to get physical without going to jail. I think Coach Hope enjoyed punching me as much as I enjoyed hitting him. Fritz gave up trying to teach me to slip punches when Coach and I went toe-to-toe. For an old man, he could hit. If we hadn’t had protective gear, he would have knocked me out. I did get in some good licks, though. We both grinned and were breathing hard when we finished.
It was then my turn to work out with Cassidy. Paul had given up attacking her. I’d taught her what I learned training for
◊◊◊
Chapter 19 – Star Wars Effect Friday March 11
We were enjoying dinner when the front gate buzzed. We’d had problems with reporters and fans for the last couple of days. On Tuesday, we had to let the press onto the farm to show that the Millennium Falcon was not in the barn. They knew it was all just in fun, but some people must not have been in touch with reality because we’d had more instances of attempted break-ins. The good news was that Fritz had done an excellent job with security. Each time they were caught before they could do any damage.
I turned on the TV to check the video link to see who was there, and I froze. It was Bev Mass. I let her in and led her into the kitchen. Mom and Peggy looked at her curiously, but Dad and I had worried expressions on our faces, which Mom noticed.
“What have you two done?” she demanded.
“In fact, your son has been a big help. I wanted to deliver some news in person.”
“What’s going on?” Mom asked.
“I suspect Brandon Rigby may have taken advantage of Tami,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Mom said, suddenly getting worried.
I told her the whole story. I could tell she was royally pissed I hadn’t told her any of it until now. When I was done, Bev took over.
“Detective Kitchens executed both a search and arrest warrant for Brandon today. He’s fighting extradition, but that won’t buy him much time. They’ve taken DNA samples, and I’m confident his DNA will match several open cases,” she said, and then smiled for the first time.
“He was dumb enough to keep a journal. I should say ‘journals,’ because we found twenty of them. It’ll take quite a while for us to track down everything he describes in them. I had them check, and in the books, he confirms what we suspected happened with your two friends,” Bev said.
I looked at my mom. She was too much like me. I could see the wheels turning: she was thinking how she could get him alone in a dark alley.
“Mom, we have to focus on Alan and Tami right now. I need your help in figuring out how we should tell them,” I said to get her off thoughts of revenge right now.
She blinked a couple of times and then seemed to shake herself. Mom looked at me and then at Bev.
“When will news of this get out?” she asked Bev.
“They plan to make a statement Monday morning.”
“Then I’ll call Tami’s mom to see when she can get her home this weekend. We can then gather everyone together so you can explain it to them,” Mom decided.
“Why should I be the one to explain?” I asked because there was something in the tone of my mom’s voice that instantly pissed me off.
“Because you need to apologize for what you did.”
“This isn’t helpful,” Dad said, trying to head off whatever this was.
“What do I need to apologize for?” I asked, ignoring Dad.
“I told you they hadn’t done what you suspected. You should have believed your friends. They told you nothing happened.”
“Just like …” I began and then bit my tongue.
I was about to say, “Just like Dad told you he never broke his marriage vows.”
Somehow, I managed to stop myself before it came out. Once said, I could never take it back, and it would profoundly hurt my mom.
“Say it,” Mom challenged.
“Both of you stop right now,” Dad said.
“No. I want to hear what he has to say for himself.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Only family could get under your skin like this.
“You know, what pisses me off is that I’m always the one you think needs to apologize. Both Tami and Alan lied to you about the last thing you thought I needed to apologize for. You always take Tami’s side.”
“For good reason; you were wrong. Your friends wouldn’t lie to you about something like that. Instead of acting like a complete ass, you should have taken them at their word.”
“You know what, it’s easy to look at it now and armchair quarterback. You saw how hard I took it when I found out. It made me sick to my stomach,” I said.
