They were still at it when I walked back into the room, both looking suspicious as fuck. “Leave us a minute Mengele I need to have a word with your uncle Hank.”
“Uh-oh, what did I do now?” He waited for her to leave the room before turning his attention back to me.
“Hank, you sent her the castor beans?”
“You never said not to, plus your dad’s a doctor I figured he knew what he was doing.”
“You spoke to the pothead?” The fuck is going on?
“We’re on very good speaking terms, do you even know what the two of them are doing in that lab of theirs?”
“No I don’t wanna know fuck! When the asshole law come here looking for them I’ll give them your number.” How the fuck did I get mixed up with these people? “I don’t think the pothead had a hand in this though.”
“What do you mean?”
“I had a little sit-down with the principal of her school today. Apparently some kid that’s been messing with her sister came down with some strange illness in the last coupla days. In fact it works out to about the time she received your last package in the mail.”
“You don’t say! What exactly did they say is wrong with the kid?”
“I had Jared look into it. Apparently he got a touch of ricin poisoning. Whoever dosed him knew how to give him just enough to make him sick but not enough to end his life.”
“Ingested or inhaled?” He sat on the edge of his seat all ears.
“What the fuck difference does it make?”
“Colton do you know what ricin is? It’s one of the only poisons in the world without an antidote it’s all very exacting. If not done right it can kill in a matter of days, sometimes hours. Are you telling me that she knew the right dosage to keep him alive?”
“Where the fuck are you going Mancini?”
“I need to hear what she did; damn!” That fool ran out of the room calling for her. Did he miss the part about her making the kid sick with that shit? What the fuck am I raising?
CAITLIN
Dinner was loud and fun as it usually is, made even more so by the fact that for the first time in years Todd was sitting next to me. There was so much going on, so much excitement bottled up inside that I didn’t know what to do with myself.
I’d all but forgotten the piece of paper upstairs under my pillow. Todd and I held hands under the table as we ate and every once in a while I’d look over only to find him watching me with this look on his face like he’d never seen me before.
I wonder if he’s as nervous as I am, something we’ve never been with each other before, not since our first week together at any rate. I kept taking quick peeks at daddy to make sure he wasn’t watching because I was sure he’d be able to see the change in me.
I don’t know what was wrong with me, why it suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe, and why I could hardly get the food past my throat. Todd hadn’t said anything, not even when we were alone setting the table. But I knew he was as affected by that kiss as I was. Now I can’t wait to do it again, if only to see if it was a fluke.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but Todd and I have never missed a day talking to each other on the phone or Facetime. Sometimes we’d have to cut our conversations short for one reason or another, but he’s never, not called when he said he would.
So it’s not like we lost touch and there’s this great divide. So why is it that I feel so strange with him here? Almost like we’re not the same people. But then again how can we be? He left here a young sixteen year old but the boy sitting next to me is no longer a boy. He’s become this amazing grown up who seems worlds away from the person he once was.
Our conversations didn’t give me the idea that he’d changed this much, but listening to him talk to daddy and uncle Hank is bringing it home to me just how much he’s grown in our time apart.
“So Todd, your mother told me that you pulled in all A’s again this semester, that’s great.” Mom was beaming from ear to ear.
“That’s no small feat at Wharton you must be really hitting the books.” Aunt Cierra joined in.
“I do my best ma’am thank you.”
Daddy grumbled something under his breath but I’d consider it progress that he didn’t say it out loud or make any condescending remarks. I jumped up from the table as soon as dinner was over, dragging him with me.