He didn’t give her a chance to react or reply.
He moved up the rest of the steps, walked to his condo, and let himself in.
He locked the door behind him.
He took off his jacket and swung it on the back of a dining room chair.
She didn’t knock.
Finally, she was getting smart.
He took out his phone and checked it, just in case.
Nothing from Cher.
He felt his mouth get tight as he walked back to his jacket to pull out his smokes.
He needed one because Mia was in his shit, Cher was not, and he hadn’t had one since he’d stopped for lunch in Brown County.
The autumn leaves were phenomenal.
But he wished he’d seen them from his truck with Cher and Ethan in it with him.
* * * * *
Cher
Late Saturday Night
It was ten to midnight when I made the call.
I was pissed. I loved “You Shook Me All Night Long.” (Who didn’t?)
But I didn’t love it splitting the night on a continuous loop when my kid and me should be sleeping.
I turned on the lamp, grabbed my phone, and called the direct line that rang straight to the Brownsburg Police Department’s dispatch.
“Brownsburg Police, Jo speaking. May I help you?”
“Jo, this is Cher,” I told her.
“Hey, girl,” she greeted. “Everything good?”
“I’m understanding the government’s tactics with Noriega,” I shared.
“Damn, another party?” she asked.
“Yep,” I answered.
“I’ll get someone to cruise by,” she told me.
“I’d really appreciate that, babe. Your first beer’s on me next time you’re in the bar.”
“We can’t accept bribes, Cher, unfortunately,” she said through an audible smile. “But, just so you know, noise violations are part of a cop’s job.”
“Good to know,” I muttered, even though, with practice, I already knew that. I was just trying to be nice with my “bribe.” “See you when you’re back in the bar.”
“Yeah, girl, see you.”
She hung up.
I turned out my light.
Ten minutes later, the music stopped.
I did not pick up my phone to share all this without actually sharing it with Merry. I didn’t type in the fact that I wished he was right there, because if he was, there would be no call to Jo at dispatch. He’d deal with it. And with all the neighbors knowing a cop was on their patch, the shitty ones would behave or just go, and it would all be good for me, my kid…and Merry.
No, I didn’t text him that, even when I wouldn’t send him that.
I closed my eyes and it took a while, but I finally found sleep.
* * * * *
Sunday Morning
I heard it from the bathroom as I was finishing up my hair.
It was a half an hour before we had to leave so I could drop my kid at Mom’s and go to work.
Bad timing.
I knew from Ryker’s warnings that I should ignore it.
But if I made the call I needed to make, that would alert Colt—and Merry—to shit happening on my block. Both of them (at least I thought Merry would still be in that space) would intervene.
And I had to live there.
They didn’t.
Anyway, it wasn’t about getting into my dickhead neighbor’s business.
It was about taking care of Tilly.
So I knew I had to do it and was turning to walk out of the bathroom when this knowledge was confirmed.
Ethan was at the door, face pale, eyes on me.
“Mom,” he whispered.
Fucking motherfucker was freaking out my son.
“I got this, kid,” I told him, continuing to move.
He got out of my way and I went to the front door. I slid my feet in some flip-flops that were there that I should have taken to my closet a month ago but didn’t. I just picked them up, vacuumed under them, and dropped them back whenever I cleaned.
When I finished doing what I had to do, I’d wear them to my room and put them away.
I put my hand to the door and turned to my boy, who’d followed me.
“Stay inside.”
He stared up at me, nodding.
I opened the door, pushed through the storm, took a deep breath, and stalked down my walk.
“Did you fuckin’ hear me? I said come out here!” I heard shouted. “I know it was you, you old, fat bitch! You got a problem with me, you say it to my face! What you don’t do is call the fuckin’ cops!”
I saw my dickhead neighbor at Tilly’s door, banging and yelling.
“Yo!” I bellowed.
He stopped banging and swung my way.
I kept walking until I was in Tilly’s yard but still far away from him.
He looked me up and down, dressed and ready for work, only in flip-flops and not the heels I planned to wear. I also hadn’t yet put on my jewelry.
Some of the pissed went out of his face and something else came in it.
“This isn’t about you, babe,” he told me, suddenly friendly and calm.
Crap.
I put my hands to my hips. “I think it is, since you’re shoutin’ at Tilly when she didn’t call about your party. I did.”
His head jerked. The look of me, a full-on good-time girl, he was shocked it was me who made that call.
“Listen,” I went on. “I have a kid. He needs his sleep, even on a weekend. It sucks I had to call it in, but I hope you get me when I say I need to look after my kid. No way I’m goin’ over to your place in the middle of the night to ask you to have a mind to your neighbors. I had no choice.”
He studied me for a few beats before he stepped down off Tilly’s stoop and moved toward me.