Page 97 of Hey, Daddy

I laughed. “You weren’t supposed to buy a car battery. You were supposed to buy something cheap.”

“I know, but the front desk clerk was the cutest fucking girl I’ve ever seen, and we got to talkin’, and after I did that whole ‘is she knowledgeable about all the parts she has’ thing, I asked her if she could help me find something. She said yes, and so Ithought, ‘Dima, what do you need right now?’ and the only thing I could come up with was a new car battery for the ‘Yota.”

Dima and his damn Toyota.

It was the first car he’d ever bought by himself, and one of those things that had more sentimental value at this point than financial value.

He had plenty of money given his trust fund and his job, yet he still insisted he drive it.

Even though every year I fully expected the damn thing not to pass the emissions test, yet it did.

I was fairly sure he was paying off the facility that he took it to for inspections.

“Okay…” I said.

“Yeah.” He nodded and took a large bite of the mac and cheese. Dima and his FaceTime calls. I wondered if he’d ever call me like a normal person. Probably not. “And she tells me it’s going to be like two hundred and twenty-nine dollars, and I was all, ‘holy shit that’s a lot.’”

It was but it wasn’t, at least in my opinion.

“I mean, it doesn’t seemthatbad,” I pointed out.

“I know.” He chuckled. “And then when I’m there, she asks me if I wanted to know how much it would cost for ninety-nine of them.”

“And let me guess, you of course said yes?” I guessed.

He grinned. “Obviously. Any idea how much it was?”

“Um, like twenty thousand,” I said.

“Close.” He laughed. “It was actually twenty-two thousand.”

I giggled and said, “That’s exactly the kind of information you need. Did you like the store?”

“I did. I was nearly convinced to buy more than a car battery.” He chuckled. “Just letting you know that I now have a date with her.”

“Who is her?” I wondered.

“Her name is Keely.” He paused. “Though she says that’s not her real name. I’m gonna get her to tell me her real name over lunch.”

I shook my head. “You do that.”

“How did meeting the family go last night?” he asked. “You said you’d tell me today.”

I had said that.

“It was great,” I admitted. “I liked them all a whole lot.”

“That’s good. Bye.” He hung up without waiting for a reply.

I rolled my eyes at my brother’s abrupt disconnect.

That was just him.

I don’t think I’d ever gotten a “goodbye” off in return with him.

“What do you want to do today?” I asked as Haze came back in the door from dropping Desi off, his hair a little windblown due to the sound of a brewing storm.

Desi wasn’t too hip on not being able to drive herself anywhere, but until whatever plan Shasha and Haze had concocted was finished, she was stuck with the chauffeur.

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