Lord Have Mercy (Southern Gentleman 2)

“I can’t say that it was my finest moment,” he admitted. “Even Carmichael said it was a terrible idea. But you were—”

He stopped himself from saying whatever he had to say next, and before I could call him on it, Nivea started to screech behind us.

“You can’t do that!” she yelled.

There were a total of eight people in the Whataburger. Four workers behind the counter, Flint and me, as well as Schultz and Nivea.

Every last one of us turned to study the spectacle.

“I can and I did since I pay for not only their schooling but the house as well.” He paused. “I did rent you a travel trailer you can stay in, though. You have two weeks to move your shit out.”

“Schultz, how the hell are you going to watch the kids? Right now, you’re working until twelve in the morning. There’s no way in hell that you can watch them from the time they get out of school until you get home,” she countered. “Unless you’re going to change your shift.”

“I already did,” he stated. “And Dad said that he would watch them on the days that I get hung up at work.”

Nivea sneered. “You won’t get away with this.”

Schultz leveled a look at her. “Take me to court. You’ve been threatening to do it for months. Shit or get off the pot.”

Their food arrived, and both went silent as their trays were set down in front of them.

I looked over to Flint.

“Did he just fire her?” I wondered.

Flint shrugged. “I’ll give him credit. He handled her shit a lot longer than I did. On the days that she ‘watched’ them, she hired babysitters, then used Schultz’s money to pay for it. I wouldn’t have allowed that to go on for very long, either.”

I shook my head and shoved the rest of my fries into my mouth. They weren’t nearly as appetizing with Nivea and her skinny ass in the vicinity.

I ate them anyway, though.

Mama didn’t raise no quitter.

“Ready?” he questioned.

I nodded and stood up, gathering my trash and throwing it all away in the trashcan without once looking in Nivea’s direction.

Flint followed me, pushing the door open for me before I could even reach the handle.

He followed close behind me as we made our way to his police cruiser, and I smiled when I saw two teenagers from school taking pictures next to his door.

“Hey!” Flint barked.

The teenagers jumped and squeaked, looking back at Flint guiltily.

“Why are y’all not at home?” he asked.

I bit my lip to keep the smile from breaking out over my face.

“Uhh,” the girl murmured. I’d seen her before, but I couldn’t place where. “We’re out on a date.”

“Out on a date taking pictures in front of my cruiser?” he asked. “And Mabry, why are you not taking her somewhere classier than this joint?”

Mabry flushed. “My mom gave me a gift card here. I couldn’t afford anything classier. Football takes up all of my time.”

I swallowed a laugh.

Ah, to be a teenager again.

“Make her a picnic,” Flint said. “And take her to somewhere special. But parks close at ten, so make sure you do it before then next time you need ideas.”

I looked at Flint in surprise.

Honestly? It was quite possible that was the best date idea ever when you had zero money to spend on anything. Hell, I remembered going out to eat once with my high school boyfriend, and my boyfriend having to ask his mother for her bank card. Instead of giving it to him, she’d given him fifteen dollars, and we’d eaten on the dollar menu at McDonald’s.

Sure, at the time it was romantic and all, but it would’ve been much better to spend that fifteen dollars on food at the grocery store and taking it to the park.

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” the boy exclaimed. “I’ll do that next time. And I wasn’t doing anything bad. Just taking a picture in front of your cruiser.”

Flint narrowed his eyes. “If I see a picture on Instagram of your face in front of my cruiser with anything but a respectful look plastered on it, I’ll have a little talk with Coach McDuff.”

I snorted out a laugh, and Flint’s eyes came to me.

Ezra would kick this kid’s ass during football practice to make up for his poor decisions.

“Uh, yes, sir.” The kid swallowed hard.

I had a feeling he was about to either delete the post he’d just made or delete the picture that he hadn’t had time to post just yet.

Either way, he’d been thinking about doing something stupid.

Then again, that was kids for you. They never were the best decision makers. Hell, even I hadn’t been at that age.

I’d been a fairly good kid, too.

I hadn’t snuck out. I hadn’t drunk. I hadn’t done anything that normal, typical teenagers did but lie to my parents and act like I was an asshole about eighty percent of the time.