Twenty minutes later he had coffee in him and he sat in the car in the local country department store while I went in, his credit card in hand, and bought a coffee maker, a toaster oven that had two hot plate burners on top, plus a broom and a mop and bucket.
He was talking on his phone, well mostly listening and “yeah, yeah” –ing as he drove me across the street to the grocery store. I went in and per his directions bought enough food to feed us for about a week.
When I got back out, he got off the phone and we loaded the groceries into the back and then he drove us back to the farm. He blasted the music all the way back. It was loud Metallica and he drove too fast, bordering on reckless. By the time we got back I was feeling kind of grumpy, too.
He helped me get the groceries up the stairs and then he told me he’d be back in a few. He left the loft, dialing a number as he left. I lit a few scented candles, put the groceries away, and then started to sweep the floors in preparation for a mopping. The place wasn’t particularly dirty but if we were staying here for up to a week it certainly was a little dusty and filmy and dead buggy so I was going to give it a thorough cleaning. I saw him out by the pond on his phone and he looked like he was reading someone the riot act. I couldn’t hear him and didn’t really want to, anyway. If he’d wanted me to hear the conversation, he’d have made the call from here.
When he came back in, I had the single serve coffee maker set up, I had the place smelling better, looking cleaner, and then I offered to cook breakfast for him. He nodded and sat on the sofa and put his head in his hands. He looked exhausted and stressed.
I cooked him an omelet and some toast. He ate and then he passed out on the couch, his phone lying on his chest. Almost two hours later his phone rang. He bolted awake and grabbed it,
“Dare!” His expression dropped and he was silent for a few minutes, listening, but his eyes were intense and his jaw was tight, “Seriously? Okay, yep. Right. Call me later, Bye.”
He put the phone down.
“Sit,” he said, patting his knee. I hesitantly walked over and he pulled me into his lap and kissed my head.
“This is further blowback from Mexico. There was a relative of Castillo that’s local. We thought we got him but that was a decoy. He’s the one who arranged the shootout in the house the day we came home from here last time. Jimmy was shot last night; he’s in the hospital in intensive care.”
“No!”
“We had the security footage checked and some chick at the gate coaxed our guys to open the gate and then two other guys showed up and abducted them. I got us out of there just in time. Another 30 minutes and we’d have been shot up in our sleep. Someone cloned Eddy’s phone, he left it on the bar at the restaurant, and so they texted me like Luc was in labor. They were just trying to get us all to the hospital, planning a shoot out there, since they didn’t get me at home and couldn’t get into Pop’s. They got into Dare’s apartment but he shot their guy. He, Tessa, and the boys are fine. But…” Tommy took a deep breath, “Pop and Lisa, they were asleep when the text came through but Lisa’s phone was dead and Pop never checked his voicemail or texts. She got it this morning and they drove to the hospital before talking to anyone. Pop got shot twice in the hospital parking lot. Once in the shoulder; once in the gut.”
I gasped.
“He’s in surgery.”
I put my arms around him and squeezed. He hugged me back.
“My two guys watching our house last night, found dead. Jim in ICU, Pop in surgery right now, my sister and her kids in hiding, Pop’s wife beside herself. We got her with Tessa and the kids.”
“Luc and Eddy?” I asked.
“Eddy got them out of town at his folks’ cabin. He’s trying to keep my sister calm. He’s bringing her to Tess and Lisa today.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, it has hit the fucking fan. I’ve got a few of our guys dealing with things. Dare and I have cleanup in progress.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’re safe here and that I won’t bring you home until it’s safe.”
“Okay.”
“Tia?”
“Yeah?”
“Your father was moving drugs for someone affiliated with these guys, owed them a lot of money.”
My hand came up and covered my mouth.
“Your father has hours, days at most. He might already be gone.”
I pulled away from him, ran to the bathroom, and promptly hurled my omelet into the toilet. After I finished brushing my teeth I heard Tommy’s phone ringing.
When I came out, he wasn’t there. I looked out the screened-in doorway and he was outside by the pond again, talking on the phone, pacing. He looked up at me and jerked his chin in a “You alright?” kind of way. I nodded. He started walking toward the barn. I sat on the sofa. He was with me a minute later.