Page 39 of Justice for Radar

We pulled into the garage, retrieved our bag of stuff, and let ourselves into the house through the garage’s entrance. I paused and waited, watching the garage door to the outside close all the way – ensuring no one slipped in. It was a habit, and a good one to have, especially as an example to my girls.

“Hey, Dad!” both of them chorused in unison from the kitchen when the door shut behind me and Justice. I smiled and jerked my head in that direction.

“Oh, hi…” Mariposa said when she saw her, and she looked guilty. “Can I talk to you?” she asked, and Justice looked to me.

“Me?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Mariposa said, and I couldn’t help but notice the nervous shift in Jussy’s stance.

“Sure,” she said, and Mariposa came around the kitchen island and gestured to the living room.

“Where you guys been?” Lucia asked cautiously.

“Went for a ride out to Sugarland’s Distillery for lunch and the tour,” I said nonchalantly.

“Like on a date?” Lucia asked carefully. She wouldn’t look at me, instead stirring what she had going on that was on the stove.

“Would it bother you if I said yes?” I asked curiously.

She looked at me over the steam rising from her pan and wrinkled her nose, grinning. “Are you serious?”

“Answer the question,” I said laughing.

“No, you answer the question!” she cried, laughing.

“I asked first!”

She scoffed. “No you didn’t, I did! I asked if you went on a date!”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Yeah, I think we did.”

She squeed. My eighteen-year-old daughter squeed like she was five and I handed her that giant unicorn I’d won sharpshooting at the fair.

I shook my head and put a finger to my lips in the classic sign for shush. She pressed her lips together but there was no denying the sparkle in her eyes, and I had to wonder if this was somehow by design. If my kid had seen an opportunity, had seized it with both hands, and run giggling like a little lunatic with it up the boulevard.

“Something I should know, Lucia?” I asked coolly.

“Nope,” she said.

“Lucia…” I drew out her name and she grinned and shook her head.

Mariposa came back into the kitchen smoothing her hands over her hips and retaking her seat at the counter. I raised an eyebrow and she nodded.

“Might want to take her a drink, Papá. I don’t think anyone has really ever apologized to her. I don’t think she knows what to do with it. It’s… it’s weird.”

I smiled at my eldest daughter and kissed her forehead.

“Not everyone was brought up like us,corazón,” I reminded her.

“I guess not,” she said, and she was quiet. I think she had a bit to think about, so I went about fixing four drinks. Yeah, I know Lucia wasn’t technically old enough, but I was her father and if she was gonna drink, she was going to do it at home or with the club where she could be safe and get silly, and be unbothered by these little boys parading as men out there.

Jussy’s words from earlier came back to me and I asked my girls, “Say you’re at a party…” Both of them looked over at me attentive. “A boy you don’t know brings you a drink and says ‘you look thirsty – I got you this,’ what do you do?”

“Pfft! Fuck off!” Mariposa said.

“Uh, say thanks?” Lucia asked.

“Mariposa has it right. I mean, you don’t have to tell him fuck off, but you say no.”

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