Big Daddy

“Yeah, fuck you too, man.” He laughed, and the line went dead.

I hated going to the store, but since I had work to do, I decided I may as well go ahead and get my grocery shopping over with. I’d made great time on my work, so I was going to be finished with the order earlier than expected, so my weekend was shaping up already, and it wasn’t even Friday yet.

I grabbed my keys and headed to my truck hoping the place wasn’t busy. As I headed out onto the main street, I wondered if Dream was working at the diner. As I was looking at the diner, a car came barreling out of the parking lot and nearly ran me off the road and fishtailed over into my lane. Luckily, I was able to get out of the way, but I nearly overcorrected. I stopped on the side of the road in front of the place and caught my breath. I’d lived through a fucking bomb blowing me up; I’d be damned if some Buffalo, Wyoming, no-driving asshole was going to take me out. I looked over and saw Dream coming out from behind the dumpster and looking cautiously toward the end of the road. By the time I pulled over to check on her, Liza and Harold came out of the diner to see what had happened. “Are you okay, honey?” Liza went over to comfort Dream, who was clearly shaken.

“Who the hell was that?” asked Harold.

“I have no idea.” Dream shrugged. “He came out of nowhere, and if I hadn’t dived behind the dumpster, I don’t know what would have happened. He was parked over to the side.”

Her boss narrowed his eyes. “And what were you doing over there?”

“I was going to use the backdoor. I’m only here to get my check.”

I hated the way the man was grilling her. She hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Well, if you see them around again, let’s call the cops. I’ll go call in a report. I got a pretty good description.” The old man went back inside, and Liza shook her head.

“Can you believe him? He’s so worried something could hurt business.” She tied her apron.

“Well, it wouldn’t be great for business if I got flattened in the parking lot, I’m sure.” Dream brushed herself off, and I noticed a small cut on her elbow.

Liza huffed. “Shit, you’d be surprised. People would come from miles to see the stain on the concrete in this town.” I took Dream’s arm, and she looked up at me with her beautiful green eyes sparkling through tears that hadn’t fallen. “You’re bleeding.”

She turned her arm up to see it and made a face. “Thanks, I should get my check and get cleaned up.”

“I think you’re a bit too shaken to drive back to the house, maybe Mr. Owens here, would like to give you a ride home?” Liza gave me a sideward glance and raised her brow.

“Yeah, I can do that, if you need me to. I was just headed up to the store, but I can go later.”

“Oh, I don’t want to put you out.” “It’s no problem, really.”

“Why don’t you go and get your shopping done, and I’ll hang here until you’re finished. That will give me time to get my check and clean up. I can maybe have a cup of coffee to calm my nerves.”

“You do that, and I’ll be back in about twenty.” I jogged across the road to my car, and by the time I was driving away, I could see that she and Liza were safely inside the diner.

I couldn’t help but wonder if that car had anything to do with the bruises I’d seen on her arm the first day I’d met her. I hadn’t ever asked her much about her past, but I decided it was time to really get to know the woman teaching my niece.

I got my shopping done, and then I headed back to get her. When I arrived, she was just finishing up a slice of pie and had a to-go box sitting near her plate.

“I got you this for your trouble. I remembered you liked the apple pie here.” She picked up the Styrofoam container and waved to Liza who was across the room jotting down an order.

“Thanks, but it’s really no trouble.”

She got into the truck and buckled up, and once I got us lined out on the road heading back toward my house, she seemed to relax.

“I hope you don’t mind I run my things home first.” I had a couple of bags of groceries I needed to get put up.

“No, that’s fine.” She kept her eyes looking out the window beside her.

“Dream, who was in that car and why were you hiding behind a dumpster?”

She turned her head tried to laugh it off. “I don’t know what you mean. The guy came out of nowhere.”