“What would you think about your mom and me moving in while you’re in college?”
I considered it for a moment. While it would make it harder to see my boys, I would trust my parents to live in my house. If I ended up making that my main house, it would help settle the little ones in.
“Do you think Scarlet, Ashley, and Peggy might join you?” I asked to see if I might keep all my kids together.
“So, does that mean you’d be open to it?” Dad asked.
“Yeah. What would you do with this house?” I asked.
“We thought we might let Greg and his family move in while he’s in college. We’ll wait until after he’s done with school to decide what we’ll ultimately do. If he decides to move, we’d probably sell it.”
“Have you talked to the girls yet?” I asked.
“Not yet. I wanted to see if you were open to it before we talked to anyone else.”
“Why do you want to move?” I asked.
“We loved it in Malibu when we were there, and I’m sick of the weather here.”
“If that’s what you want to do, I would welcome you and Mom.”
I’d been a little worried about spending all that money to rehab the property and then have it rented out or sit vacant for several years.
◊◊◊ Friday January 20
I officially had my license to fly. The check ride was a piece of cake, and Cassidy and I had plans to fly to Cincinnati to see Brook today.
I kept watching the clock; it seemed like classes would never end.
By the end of the day, Dare was both happy and concerned. He’d used my money to expedite the shipment of the super-stealthy blades for the drone. He was proven right when his Russian contact didn’t just take his bitcoins, as I had predicted they would.
Dare would have skipped school today if his mom hadn’t forced him into the car this morning. I reminded him that when he put the drone back together—I knew he would take it apart this weekend—having leftover parts was bad.
Dare was also happy because my original drone had arrived from California. He’d made an appointment with my mom to use it to photograph and video a farm she’d listed. I warned him that if my mom told him that she got to control it, he had to let her. Dare had heard enough stories about her that he solemnly gave me his word that he would do what Mom said. I figured Dare had about a fifty-fifty chance of living through the experience. He could be stubborn, and that didn’t work with my mom.
What had Dare concerned was my advice on what to do with a girlfriend. I figured that we should leave the training wheels on before he messed up too bad. Since I wanted to limit his chance to say the wrong thing, I told him he was taking Chrissy to a movie this weekend. I’d called Dr. Rossetti, and we agreed that a matinee would be best. I told his mom that she had to make Dare leave his room and actually follow through.
Then I also explained to her that she couldn’t go to the movie with them to make sure he was okay. Dare wasn’t happy that I’d called his mom on him. If he knew that she wanted to sit in the back and watch his date, he would have been mortified.
Chrissy was all smiles when I made him ask her out. Cassidy told me that I probably shouldn’t have made Dare do it in front of everyone at lunch, but Mom was right; he needed to toughen up. I glared at everyone at the table, and they decided that they would keep their comments to themselves about the young love blossoming in our midst.
◊◊◊
I’d hired Roy Tyro, my instructor, to fly with Cassidy and me on our first flight. He’d worked out a flight plan where I would fly us to Indianapolis, and then Cassidy would take over and pilot the plane to Cincinnati. He took us out to walk the airplane before we got in it. We each had a clipboard with our preflight checklist on it.
“Has the engine been inspected?” I asked to be a smartass.
Roy and I had run into engine troubles when his idiot brother-in-law hadn’t checked the fuel lines.
“We should probably check,” Roy admitted.
Cassidy wasn’t happy when I had to boost her up so she could examine the engine. We had our heads in the engine compartment when Roy’s wife came out with her bags.
“What are you doing?” she asked Roy.
“Making sure everything’s together in the engine compartment,” he said in a tone that dared her to say something.
She didn’t comment on her idiot brother and went to the back of the plane to load her bag.
Part of the deal I’d made with Roy was that I would spring for a hotel room, car rental, and food allowance. In exchange, I’d get a discounted rate on renting a plane. He was taking his wife, and they were having a mini-vacation.
When it came time to leave, Roy let me handle everything while he sat in the copilot seat. It was a comfort to know that someone with his experience was with me. We were soon at altitude, and I relaxed. This was much better than driving.
◊◊◊
When we landed in Cincinnati, Cassidy had an indelible smile plastered on her face. She might enjoy being a pilot even more than driving my Dodge Demon.
I was helping unload everyone’s bags when I was almost pulled to the ground.
