Shopping Can Be Deadly by Charlotte Stuart

Author:Charlotte Stuart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amphorae Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2021-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

GROUND RULES

HOW MOM KNEW the kids had gone to bed and that I was still up, I have no idea. But the instant I thought I was going to be able to finally have a little time to myself, Mom appeared with a bottle of wine.

“How about a glass of merlot?” She headed to the cabinet containing our wine glasses. Apparently, “no thanks” wasn’t an option.

“What’s the occasion?”

“I mentioned yesterday that we needed to talk. Well, this is a good time, isn’t it?”

“As good as any,” I conceded. Although the last thing I wanted to do was talk to my mother about her grievances with me, if there was going to be an eventual confrontation, putting it off a day wasn’t going to make it any easier.

Mom poured two generous glasses of wine and set one down in front of me. It looked like it wasn’t going to be a short exchange. Or else she thought we both needed a mega amount of fortification for what was about to take place.

“You need to know that I’ve been giving this some thought,” I said.

“You don’t know what I’m going to say,” Mom countered.

“No, but I can guess.”

“Well, let me admit that I, too, have been giving this some thought.” An experienced fencer deftly dodging a feint. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Should we identify this or continue our conversation based on vague references? And do I need to call my lawyer?”

“You have a lawyer?”

“No, but I could find one in the yellow pages.”

“Cameron, I don’t think they have ‘yellow pages’ anymore. But if you want a lawyer, try to find an attractive, single male.” Then she smiled, a wide, warm smile. “Truce?”

“Truce.” I had no idea what I was agreeing to, but a genuine smile is a trustworthy equivalent of a white flag in my opinion. And it sure beat a yell to Charge!

“There are times when I’ve been hard on you,” Mom said after taking a sip of wine. “I’m aware of that. But I assume you know I only have your best interests at heart.”

“I understand. Still, we may not always agree on what’s best for me.”

“That’s obvious. Otherwise, you would be a professor rather than a PI.”

“That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”

“I admit that I’ve been upset about my grandchildren becoming targets in one of your, ah, situations.”

“That has upset me, too.” Having just conceded a key point, I knew deep down that this was a dispute I had little chance of winning.

“If this were the first time, I might be able to ignore what happened, but this is beginning to look like a pattern.”

Another fact I couldn’t contest.

“I know they are at risk each time they get in a car or cross the street or even when they are simply sitting in a classroom. I understand that. And I worry whenever they are out of sight. But those are things over which I have little or no control.”

She was covering the same ground I had struggled with in my own mind, weighing the same risks, balancing pros and cons.

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