But Why Daddy?

Chapter 14

By: Lizzie

©Lizzie 2002-2004

            “All the laundry got done a couple days ago, right?” Cynthia asked

            “They were done yesterday.” Karen said, “Liz and I brought them up here.”

            Cynthia tapped the empty hangers then walked to the bed, “Who goes through three sets of clothes in less than twelve hours?”

            Karen ran a hand through her hair and sighed, “I should have asked her where she was going when she left.”

            “Even if she would have told you, would you have been able to believe her?” Cynthia asked, “I sure as hell wouldn’t have believed her.”

            Cynthia and Karen walked out of the room, down the stairs and to the living room. Josh was hunched over the coffee table writing on a piece of paper and talking on the phone. Every so often, his voice would rise, then it would go back to it’s normal tone. Cynthia and Karen decided to leave him alone and let him finish his conversation before talking to him. They walked to the kitchen and sat at the table. From there, they could only hear their end of the call, but could tell by how often Josh was apologizing, Liz wasn’t too pleased with the way he was talking to her.

            “Look, I’m sorry for yelling, Liz, really I am…” Josh said, “No…I’m positive she didn’t come back. I would have heard her.” he sighed, “No, don’t call them. If she’s not back by tonight, then I give you full permission to do whatever you want.” he paused, “Yeah, I understand. I have my cell phone on too. Bye.” he hung up the phone and leaned back on the sofa. “You can come out of the kitchen now.” Josh said.

            Cynthia was the first to walk into the living room. She sat in the chair opposite of the sofa where he was, “Liz rip you a new one?”

            Josh nodded his head and ran a hand through his hair, “Yeah. I don’t know if it was because I called too early or because she was still upset from yesterday or because I was an ass to her.”

            “Probably all three.” Cynthia said with a nod of her head, “She’s like any other person, Josh. She’s sticking her neck out to help you and when things temporarily go south, you can’t snap at her.”

            Josh sighed, “I know. I know. That’s what Lance told me.”

            “You should listen to the man.” Karen said walking into the living room carrying a tray with three coffee cups. She set the tray on the coffee table and sat on the sofa, “So, what are we going to do now?”

            “I’m going to Randy’s hotel and see if they’re there.” Josh said leaning over and picking up a cup and taking a sip, “Then just drive around town to see if I can spot them.”

            “That last part, may be a total waste of time.” Cynthia said softly, “But we can do something in the mean time…”

            “What’s that?” Josh asked

            “I have a friend that works the airport car rental circuit.” she said, “If he hasn’t turned in his car, then they’ll know about it.”

            Josh stood up, grabbed his jacket from the back of the sofa and put it on, “Well, while you do that, I’m going to drive around town.”

            Cynthia nodded her head, “I’ll have to go back to my house for a bit, so you can either call me there or on my cell.”

            Josh nodded his head, “You’ll be here, right mom?”

            “I don’t have any place else to go.” she said, “At least not for another two months.”

            Josh and Cynthia laughed, “You never could be serious for too long, could you mom?”

            Karen shrugged her shoulders, stood up and took the tray back to the kitchen, “I add humor when needed.” she said, “Don’t be out too long now.”

            Josh shook his head at his mother and walked to the front door, “Liz is handling everything with Cathy Moriarty and Robert Jamison. So if they call here, give them Liz’s number.”

            Cynthia and Karen nodded their heads and watched as Josh walked out of the house, “He’s handling this really well.” Cynthia said

            “I would give anything to know what Liz said to Josh and for her to teach that to me.” Karen said with a laugh

            Cynthia stood up, tightened the belt of her robe, and drank the last of the coffee in her cup, “Liz is one tough thing and doesn’t take crap from anybody. I know that first hand.” she took the cup to the kitchen, walked back to the living room and to the stairs, “I need to get dressed and back to my place.”

            “Don’t worry, I still have all the numbers next to the phone.” Karen said walking to the kitchen.

+*+

            When Randy got out of the shower and bathroom, he walked into the room and saw Paula sitting on the bed watching TV. “What do you want to eat?”

            “Lots of fruit and a bran muffin.”

            “Would you settle for McDonalds?” Randy asked as he grabbed his wallet and looked through it.

            Paula sighed, “Whatever.”

            “Look, I’m doing this for us.” Randy said looking at Paula, “You want to leave, then leave.”

            “So what, you don’t want to talk things over now?” she asked as she flipped through the channels.

            Randy grit his teeth together, “Don’t do that.”

            “Do what?” Paula asked still flipping through the channels

            Randy walked over to her, grabbed the remote and dropped it on the floor, “I’ll be back in thirty minutes.” He walked to the door, opened it and walked out. Paula got up and closed the door before going back to where she was, she picked up the remote and turned to a movie that was on.

            Once Randy walked out of the motel, he went to the front desk and asked the day manager where the closest McDonalds was.

            “Three miles north on the highway.” the manager said, “It’s the truck stop McDonalds.” Randy nodded his head and left.

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