“I thought she was a pain in the ass.”
“You’re a pain in the ass, Mac, and I still want to see you.”
I laugh. “Good point. Jolie is, uh, talking to her mother right now.”
“Oh?”
“Handling some personal issues,” I say. “Her mother is in the clear of everything. So Jolie is trying to navigate what happens next. Her father is a real piece of shit.”
“We know that.”
“He cleaned up that cash, Mama. He put it all away in the drawers again. And he got himself two plane tickets. One for him… one for his mistress.”
“How do you know all of this, Mac?” Mama asks.
“Why don’t we sit down, Mama?” I ask. “We can talk.”
“I don’t want to sit down,” she says. “Don’t treat me like that, Mac.”
“Okay. Sorry. I just want to let you know we took care of Jeff. Jolie’s cover is blown. Which is good. It needed to be done. I took the cash from the drawers and Jolie gave it to him. That really scared the hell out of him. He’s not any kind of leader either. He’s working for someone. Probably debt related too. So whatever has to happen next…”
“You did that without telling me?” Mama asks.
“I saw an opening and I took it,” I say. “Jolie was losing her mind here. Then what happened with her sneaking out and the police showing up… it was getting risky, Mama.”
“That’s my decision to make.”
“I understand that,” I say. “There’s other decisions too…”
“Meaning?”
Mama puts the gun down on the counter. You know, just the normal stuff there… a spoon, some garlic, a gun.
This is my normal.
“You were are the doctors,” I say.
Mama quickly turns around.
“I’ll kill her,” she says.
“No you won’t,” I say.
“Mac…”
“Talk to me,” I yell.
Mama slowly turns. “Talk to you. About what? It seems you already know everything.”
“What I know is that I don’t want anything bad to ever happen to you. I don’t want you to get hurt. I also don’t want anyone I know to get hurt either.”
“So that’s why you just went and did your own thing, right?”
“No,” I say. “I saw the chance, Mama. You know you gave us the wrong color of the SUV. And then the wrong time to get to Jeff that first time. Whatever it was, it’s done and over with. You were focused here on Jolie. Protecting her. And you did your job. So I took a play from your book and did my own thing. And it worked.”
“You did it because of me,” she says. “Because you think I can’t focus enough. You think I’m losing my mind. You think I’m going to forget things. Right?”
I swallow hard.
She’s getting pissed and defensive.
I turn and put my hands to the counter.
I look out the window and take a deep breath.
“There’s something I have to give to you.”
“Great,” she says. “What now, Mac? Do you have a room picked out for me at an old folks home already? Right? Ship my ass out the door?”
I turn my head and feel like I could cry.
We both know the ending to this. We both know Mama isn’t going to get better. We both know she’s only going to get worse. We both know everything she’s saying… is true.
And for her, she just wants it all to happen now.
She would rather die right now in front of me than suffer for years, forgetting everything and everyone, waiting to die.
“I love you, Mama,” I whisper. “I’ll never give up on you. I’ll never stop being a pain in your ass. No matter how mad you get at me.”
That finally gets her to be quiet for a few seconds.
“I have to tell you something else,” I say.
“Okay,” she says. “I’m listening. Hopefully I remember it.”
“Why would you say that?” I ask.
Mama’s face looks as serious as I have ever seen it in my life.
“Because, Mac, I am losing my fucking mind.”
I let the comment slide because of what it made me feel.
I look forward again out the window.
“This is serious,” I say to Mama. “It’s about the crew.”
“What about them?” she asks. “Does everyone know about me by now?”
“Look, you know what happened with Les and Taz. They saw it, Mama. And Raf and Aric can’t be left in the dark.”
“You left out a name,” she says.
“I left out a name for a reason,” I say. “I left him out of knowing about you. I left him out of knowing about Jolie too. I tried my best with him. I’ve gone as far as I can here.”
“Care to elaborate?” Mama asks.
I turn and grit my teeth. “Jolie and Ado caught each other.”
“Caught what?”
“Ado didn’t know Jolie wasn’t really kidnapped. We all played along. I had Jolie over at the warehouse. Just to change things up for her. It worked out. She caught Ado stealing money.”
Mama looks away for a second.
I keep talking.
“His mother is dying of cancer,” I say. “He’s been pushing at me for money because he wants her to get treatments. My understanding is she doesn’t even want the treatments. That really doesn’t matter here though. I noticed the cash was a little off and Ado blamed Taz for it. We all know Taz would never fuck around with the cash. But sometimes he gets distracted. So maybe it was a one-time fuck up. I kept it in the back of my mind though. Then Jolie caught Ado. Like I said, they caught each other. Ado knew she wasn’t kidnapped. He subtly threatened her. She told me what happened and I played it off. I mean, to Ado. He thinks I’m the only one who knew Jolie isn’t kidnapped. I don’t know what he thinks or knows right now with her being able to do what she wants. It’s a little messy on that end, Mama.”
I look at her.
“Messy is the right word,” she says.
“I tried to give Ado the benefit of the doubt,” I say. “When all that other shit went down with BFH. I never fully trusted him after that. That’s my fault. You’re either in or out in the crew. He’s never been fully in since that happened. I might as well have just taken the cash myself and given it to him.”
“Don’t say that, Mac,” Mama says. “We have to face the consequences of our decisions. We can’t wish to go back and fix things. There’s nothing to fix in the past. It’s just the present. And you know what the present is.”
“I know,” I say. “That’s why I’m telling you. The cash has been replenished. So nothing is short. Nothing is going to fall on your shoulders. Or mine.”
“That’s good,” she says. “That’s smart. Any sign of weakness and things can get pretty rough around here.”
“I know that too,” I say. “I’m bringing it to you, Mama I don’t want to handle it by myself. I don’t think I can. He fucking basically spit in my face. Stabbed me in the back. And truthfully, who knows what he’s been doing. I don’t want to speculate. But what I know is he took cash.”