Page 15 of Fierce-Zander

All the papers, files and notes were in a neat pile on his desk. Betsy always did that before she left at night if he wasn’t around.

Not that it made much of a difference for him because he’d just spread it all out again with the multiple cases he had going at once.

He turned on his laptop that he’d set down when he walked in and then picked up the first piece of paper on the top of the pile.

The one to call his mother.

He was positive she was in court so he’d call and then let it go to voicemail.

In the past he’d text and she’d complain she wanted to hear his voice if she left him a message.

“Good morning, Zander.”

“I thought you’d be in court,” he said. Guess luck wasn’t on his side.

“I’ll be there shortly. I’m just in my office now.”

“Betsy said you called, but it wasn’t important. You could have called my cell phone or sent me a text.”

“Then you wouldn’t have replied back,” his mother said.

“I’m not that bad. I just get distracted. At the end of the day or so I go through my messages again.”

“And by then I’m in bed and sleeping and then we play tag.”

“What is going on?” he asked.

“Your father’s birthday is Friday. I’d like to have a family dinner on Sunday.”

He’d completely lost track of time. “Yeah, I can make it work.”

“Geez, thanks for that,” his mother said drily.

He laughed. “I didn’t mean to sound put out. Tell me what time and I’ll mark my calendar.”

“How about one?”

He grabbed a pen and wrote that on the note that Betsy had taken. He’d put it on his calendar when he hung up.

“That works,” he said.

“Then we’ll see you then,” his mother said. “At least I know you’ll get one decent meal in your belly this week.”

“I eat,” he argued.

“Fast food and takeout,” his mother said. “In your car most times, I’m sure.”

He let out a sigh. “Not nearly as much as I used to. You should be thrilled I’m so busy.”

“I am,” his mother said. “Maybe you can give your father a few things to do.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “He’s retired.”

“And bored out of his mind,” his mother said. “Seriously ready to pull his hair out. I think the first few months were a relief to sleep in and catch up on all the things he’s always wanted to do around the house.”

“There isn’t much to do around the house,” he said.

His parents’ house wasn’t that old. Maybe fifteen years. They’d downsized when he graduated from college. Their big two-story four-bedroom Victorian was sold for a new construction one-story house.

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