Written in 66 minutes.

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Saturday, September 21, 2024

Penthouse: Scout’s Bedroom

The bed still laid unmade, the purple comforter scrunched in the middle of the bed, and Scout’s pajamas dumped on the floor, leading a trail to her dresser. Evidence of the reluctant fourth-grader’s  journey from sleeping child to student. Sam had sent her daughter off to school last Friday, knowing that Drew would pick her up for his week.

Scout should have been sleeping in this bed this morning. Sam should have been able to pick her up at school, and return her to the only home Scout could really remember. But no — it would days before Sam would see her daughter again.  If not longer.

Sam touched the side of the door frame, swallowed hard, and looked at another door down the hall — Danny’s room that had also laid untouched this last week — and just next to it, Rocco’s.

The penthouse was empty of all three kids today, the first morning Sam could remember waking up without the scramble for breakfast, arguing over the use of a bathroom—

On a shaky breath, Sam closed Scout’s door and headed downstairs where Dante sat in the dining room staring into a cup of coffee. He glanced up at her approach, but said nothing as she took the seat across from him.

“Laura said she’d call when she thought Rocco was ready to talk.” Dante’s mouth twisted with irritation. “If I ever tried to pull this with my mother back in the day, she’d have murdered me. Probably. I never wanted to find out.” He rubbed his mouth. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Sam.”

“If you’re looking to me for the answers, then we’re in more trouble than I thought.” She picked at her cuticle. “My mother told me that I could probably get this injunction lifted on Monday. Drew doesn’t have a lot to work with. And I can fight for Danny, but—” Her voice faltered slightly. “But is that the right thing to do? You called Laura instead of getting Rocco yourself. Was that right? I just don’t know. Does it look like we’re giving up?”

“I keep thinking — maybe Rocco was disappointed I didn’t come after him. Maybe he’s even angrier that I sent his grandmother. I just—” Dante shook his head, leaned back. “If I went after him and didn’t get him back this time — or maybe even got him home, I can’t watch him all the time, I can’t stop him from running again.” He met her worried gaze. “I don’t have the answers either, Sam. I guess we just take it one step at a time.”

“Not sure what choice I have. Danny’s too stubborn to drag him, and everything I seem to do makes me the bad guy. It’s just—” She swallowed hard. “It’s hard. Not having one of them here. I’ve—I haven’t been without them since I got out of jail. And I’m afraid I’ll never have them back.”

This might have been Dante’s cue to reassure her, but he had nothing to offer. The room fell into awkward, uncomfortable silence.

Webber House: Kitchen

“Hey.” Jake climbed onto the stool, folded his arms on the counter, watching his father scoop coffee into the machine. “Is Mom up yet? I didn’t hear her or anything.”

“Not yet.” Jason switched on the machine, then turned to face his son. “You okay?”

Jake didn’t answer right away. Instead, he picked at a paper towel that had been discarded earlier, picking at pieces. “It’s been a really weird couple of weeks,” he said finally. “It feels like five minutes ago we were leaving for the barbecue and I was still so angry at you—at everyone—” He looked at his father. “I’m trying to act like it’s all normal. You know. All of this.  You living here. Danny in Cam’s room. Mom—” His throat was tight. “She’s wearing ankle monitor. We’re all ignoring that because Danny’s giving us something to concentrate on, but I saw it last night, and I started thinking about it again.”

“I know it’s useless to tell you or your brothers not worry about it,” Jason told him. “Whether we  talk about it or not, it’s out there.”

“She was gone for five days. Longer if I think about how I didn’t see her after I went to school on Friday. I came home and she was gone. And that might happen again.” He looked at his dad. “She’s out on bail, but everything that went down with Danny, I guess I didn’t think about how easy it would be for them to take it away. They could if they found out Dante made the pot stuff go away, right?”

“I don’t know. Jake—”

“I’m sorry. You know, that I thought you were keeping secrets about what happened,” Jake said. He forced himself to meet Jason’s gaze. “I thought you and Sonny were lying, and that you were why Mom was in jail.”

“In a way I am,” Jason told his son, and Jake made a face. “The FBI don’t really think your mom did this.”

“Yeah. You said that. If you—” Jake furrowed his brow. “If you had,” he began painfully, “you…you’d have done something already. To make this go away for Mom. Wouldn’t you?”

“Jake.” His father didn’t speak again, and Jake looked up again, thinking he’d find Jason looking back at him with impatience or anger, or maybe even irritation. But there was none of that. Just worry. “I’m not going to let them put your mother in jail again.”

“That’s not really an answer,” Jake managed, and Jason sighed. “Dad.”

“I don’t know what the question is, Jake. I didn’t have anything to do with this. Not even a little bit. I’m out,” he said. “Completely. That conversation you overheard with Sonny? The last time I talked to him. And the first time in more than a month. I wish I knew something that would convince the FBI that the gun was planted, that someone is framing your mother. But I don’t. And short of confessing to something I didn’t do, I don’t know what I can do.”

“I—” Jake shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t even know what I’m asking. I just remember you were always, I dunno, involved. Running around, trying to solve things. You and Sam went after that Shiloh guy—”

“And how did that end up? Your brother got kidnapped and nearly had memories shoved into his brain, Sam went to jail and Danny lost his mother for six months.” Jason hesitated. “Yeah, there was a time that I’d be trying to find the killer myself. But it’s different, Jake. Your mother’s been charged. Even if I found something, it might be used in court.” He stepped closer to his side of the island, laid both palms flat and leaned in. “A long time ago, before Cameron was born, someone kidnapped your mother trying to get me to do something. They locked in an old crypt. In the dark. And instead of going about it the right way, I tried to handle it myself. And the man who’d taken her died. Without telling anyone where she was.”

Jake swallowed hard. “But you found her.”

“I did. But it took twice as long, and —” Jason paused. “She nearly died from a gas explosion. I told myself that day that I would never do anything that would put Elizabeth’s life risk again. I wasn’t always able to keep that promise, but I did my best. And right now, going after who ever did myself, puts her freedom at risk. It has be done by the right people, the right way. It’s our only chance to make this go away for good.”

“I guess.” Jake exhaled on a long breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just—Mom’s been running around for a week trying to fix Danny’s life, and I keep thinking that it shouldn’t be her problem to fix. Not when—not when all of this is going on.” He paused. “Danny’s my brother. This is should be my responsibility.”

“Danny isn’t a problem anyone needs to fix—”

“Right now, he’s talking about going back home because Scout’s with her dad and Danny thinks this is all his fault. But you and I both know that’s a dumb idea. First, he belongs with us. I want—I want us to stay together. And second, until Rocco’s got his shit together, Danny’s not gonna be able to stop trying to be like him. They’re idiots separately, and worse together.”

“I agree that it’s better if they’re separate right now, but if Danny wants to go home—”

“But he doesn’t. He likes it here, too. We’re—I mean, it’s sort of twisted with everything that’s going on, but we like how things are right now. Don’t you? All of us together. You and mom, and me and Danny and Aiden?”

Jason hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“He only wants to go home because of Scout. So I thought maybe I could talk to Drew. He’s my uncle, and we used to be really close, you know? Maybe I could talk to him. Tell him it’s not that bad.”

“I don’t know if talking to Drew will help,” Jason said slowly.

“But we gotta try, don’t we?” Jake leaned in. “You could talk to Grandma. She’s really good at guilting people. And I’ll talk to Drew. If it doesn’t work, fine. But at least we tried.”

“Okay,” Jason said finally. “Okay. We can try.”

Laura & Kevin’s Condo: Kitchen

Rocco twirled his spoon around the bowl of cereal, watching with half-interest as his little cousin Ace shoved pieces of scrambled eggs into his mouth. “Shouldn’t he be eating more or something? He’s like two right?”

“Eighteen months,” his grandmother said, sitting across from him with a cup of coffee in her hand. “And we let him make a mess at breakfast.”

Whatever. Kid had enough trouble, Rocco figured, with a lunatic for a mother and a criminal for a father. And a name like Ace. Never had a chance.

“So what’s the deal? Dad coming to get me or something?” he asked.

Laura traded a look with Kevin, her husband, then set her coffee down. “I suppose that’s up to you. If you go back to the penthouse, will you stay?”

“I dunno.” Rocco jerked his shoulder. “Are they gonna keep searching my room and treating me like an idiot? Is Danny still gonna be acting like this was all my fault? Everyone’s acting like I’m the bad guy.”

“I’m not acting like anything, Rocco,” Laura said gently. “And if we’re not being fair to you, all right, we can have a conversation. But your father doesn’t know what to do. He tried to talk to you—”

“No, he tried to blame because Sam’s stupid kids don’t want to live with her,” Rocco shot back. “Danny’s been talking for months about living with his dad, and she’s the one that walked out on him so she’s got no one to blame but her crazy ass—”

“I don’t like the way you’re speaking about her—”

“Are we having a conversation or not?” Rocco let the spoon hit the bowl. “Because no one seems to give a damn what I think. Or Danny. Or even Scout. We’re just little toys you pick up and play with when you’re bored or to pretend you’re a good father, and then throw away when you’re done. Dad hooked up with Sam because he knew he’d have to deal with me by himself and he didn’t want to. Well, I don’t need him. I don’t need Sam. I don’t need anyone.”

He shoved back from the table and left the room. A moment later, they heard a door slam upstairs.

“On the bright side,” Kevin said, lifting his mug, “he didn’t leave by the front door.”

“Kevin.” With exasperation, Laura picked up a napkin to clean up the milk that had splashed from Rocco’s abandoned cereal bowl. “What am I going to do with him?”

“Listen to him. He just told you the problem. Dante left for two years, leaving Lulu to take the brunt of a young kid on her own. And just when he returned, his mother went into a coma. And instead of hunkering down, guiding Rocco through that, trying to figure out what a new normal would look like, Dante put his own trauma first and built a new relationship. And then took Rocco out of the home he’d shared with his mother for his entire life.” Kevin sipped his coffee. “He doesn’t like Sam. He’s been bottling it up  and now it’s exploded out into the open. What do you want him to do? Pretend like none of that is happening?”

Laura sighed. “No. No. And I don’t want to watch him go down the same path Lucky did. So angry with his family that he shoves them away. My son was never the same after he left home. He never reached his full potential. And I’ve given up hoping he ever will. I tried to give Lucky space then, but it was wrong. I can’t make the same mistakes with Rocco.” She pressed her lips together. “I’ll call Dante. I think we need to have a conversation about what happens next.”

Webber House: Living Room

“Hey. Um, Dad and Jake left?” Danny asked, stepping off the landing to find Elizabeth sorting through paperwork on the sofa.

“Yeah, Jake thought maybe he can talk to Drew about this custody situation.” Elizabeth shifted slightly, patted the cushion. “I think we can all agree that if we can take the temperature down, it’ll get easier. I can’t imagine how your mother feels this morning without Scout in the house.”

Danny furrowed his brow. “You know she doesn’t like you.”

Elizabeth’s hands paused in the shifting of envelopes, then looked at Danny for a long moment before speaking. “Yes. I know that. I don’t like your mother either. If that helps.”

“Oh. I guess that’s not surprising. You just never—you never acted like that before.” He cleared his throat. “Is it because of Dad? Because…after Jake was born, he married Mom and…had me?”

She was quiet again, and Danny knew she was weighing her answer carefully — probably looking for a way to lie to him without really lying and he kind of appreciated the care she was putting into it. Because it mattered. His mom had never bothered.

“It’s none of my business, I’m sorry—”

“It’s not, but it’s been made your business,” Elizabeth said, cutting him off with a rueful smile. “Your mom and I tried so hard for so long not to let how we felt about each other get in the way. It might be hard to believe, but we really wanted you and Jake to be brothers. And I think there’s still some part of her that feels that way. It’s just hard sometimes for us to forget everything that’s happened between us. We weren’t always kind to each other — and there was a time I gave your mother as good as I got. She’s not the villain in my story, Danny. I don’t see her that way.”

“Oh. You…you didn’t really answer my question. Which is okay, like I said, it’s none of my business—”

“It is if you think that somehow I wish you weren’t here. That if things had been different for your dad and me, you wouldn’t exist. And that’s not true,” Elizabeth told him. She squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you’re here. You’re a great brother to Jake, and a good friend to Aiden. And your dad loves you.”

“It’s okay if you like…maybe sometimes thought it’d be easier if I didn’t exist,” Danny said, and she shook her head. “No, I—I used to think that about you. And Jake.” When Elizabeth lifted her brows. “When Mom moved out, and it was, like, obvious she and Dad weren’t gonna be together, it was hard for her and Dad to be in the same room. They argued a lot. Even before that. And Jake used to tell me he never saw you and Dad argue, and I guess it was like—” Danny hesitated. “I dunno, like somehow he meant it like you guys were better. That Dad liked you better. It’s stupid. But I felt it.”

“It’s human. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Your dad loves you and Jake more than anything. I hope you know that.”

“I  guess. I’m trying to believe that.” Danny rubbed his hands against his jean-clad thighs. “Um. The doctor, you know. The one you found. Um, I’m going back to him, you know.”

“Your dad told me.”

“And like…he asked me about you. And Dante. Like, the adults in my life. And he asked if maybe you would go to parent session. With Dad.” Danny dropped his eyes when Elizabeth looked at him. “I mean, I’m living here, I guess, so like, you should—you could know stuff.” When she hesitated, he hurried, “but you don’t have to. It’s not—you don’t have to—”

“I want to do whatever  you need me to do,” Elizabeth told him. “My only hesitation is…it might make things worse with your mother. If I’m going. And she’s not.”

“Oh. Yeah. I guess so. She just—she didn’t want me to go. So I didn’t ask her. I figure she doesn’t care.”

“I don’t think that’s true at all, Danny. She’s just scared to lose you.” Elizabeth went quiet again, the nodded. “Why don’t I take you to the penthouse? I’ll stay in the car,” she added, “and you can try to talk to her. Just the two of you. You can ask her to go and maybe if she hears it from you, it’ll be easier. You haven’t talked to her since that night in the police station.” She squeezed his  hand. “I think you’ll feel better if you see her, talk to her. What do you say?”

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