Baby Daddy (32 page)

She just wasn’t sure how her aunt would take it.  She decided to start with the cell phone and see how that went.  She glanced at her aunt who was focused on the dark road ahead.

“My cell phone got wet at the beach today.  I’m sorry, but I can use the money from the garage sale you paid me to replace it.”

“Your brand new cell phone that you’ve had for just a little more than a week?”

“Yes, but . . .”

“I admit that I’m surprised.  I expected you’d be more responsible than that.”

“I am, but . . .”

“How could you go swimming with your cell phone?”

“I wasn’t expecting to get wet.”
We were supposed to land on the beach, but instead ended up dropping into the Atlantic Ocean, fully dressed.

“Why didn’t you leave it in your bag?”

“Uh, I lost my bag.” 
To a psycho killer who stole it,
but she didn’t think her aunt would take that information very well either. “I’m sorry, I’ll replace that, too.  It was stupid,” she added aloud.

“This isn’t about the money, Kelly.  This is about making good decisions and acting responsibly.  I can’t be there for you every time you have to make a decision.  I’m really disappointed in you.”

Kelly felt bad.  She hated to disappoint anyone, but she was a little surprised by her aunt’s over-the-top reaction about a wet cell phone.  Of course, her aunt was right.  But if she was this upset about the phone, how crazed would she be if she knew about the gunshot wound or the serial killer coach they had stopped or the fact that she and her friends had passed through the time-space continuum and back again . . . twice?  It definitely validated Scott’s insistence that no one else should ever find out about their experiences.

“Well?” her aunt broke the silence. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Uh . . . I understand that it was a stupid thing to do, and I will work really hard not to bother you in the future about this kind of stuff.”

“Hmmm, that’s not exactly the reaction I was hoping to hear from you.  Every day I see criminals stand in front of the judge and they all say they are sorry and that they will
try
to do better when they get out.  Do you know what I ask the judge to do?”

Clearly her aunt’s answer was going to be far better than anything she could come up with, so Kelly didn’t try to guess.  But did a wet cell phone and a lost bag make her a criminal?  This was probably not the right time to argue that point either, she thought.  “No, what do you ask the judge to do?”

“I tell the judge,
Your Honor, the State wants to know exactly what Mr. or Mrs. So and So is going to do in his or her life to actually do better
.”

“That’s a great question.”

“So?”

“So . . . what am I going to do?”

“Yes!”  Her aunt glanced over at her with what Kelly imagined was her best prosecuting attorney’s scowl.

“Leave my phone in the car?”  Halfway through Kelly felt the confidence fade from her voice.

“At the very least.”  Her aunt’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel, and she frowned.  “I think I need to make sure this is a learning experience for you.  I’ll tell you what.  On Wednesday night, be prepared to tell me exactly how you’re going to make better decisions on things like this in the future.”

“That sounds fair.”

“And you’re grounded until Thursday morning.”

“Grounded?”

“Yes . . . you know, no leaving the house or yard . . . no visitors.”

“Can I have e-visitors?”  Kelly caught a slight twitch of a smile on her aunt’s right cheek, but chose not to point it out.  She really didn’t know her aunt that well, so she tried to remain emotionless while awaiting the final judgment.

“E-visitors?” Jane repeated. “Listen, I’m not trying to be mean.  This being a parent is new to me.  I’m just overly cautious.  I want to do this right, and I think this is an appropriate punishment.”

Kelly sat quietly as she awaited the final decision about the e-visitor question.  Another exit for North Fort Myers sped past.

“I’m okay with e-visitors,” her aunt finally responded.  “Assuming you’re talking about your on-line game and emails.  But no Skyping.  Okay?”

“Okay.”

The remainder of the ride home was silent and awkward.  Kelly felt bad that such a wonderful evening had ended so badly, but she had learned a valuable lesson.  The travelers’ secret was safe with her.  It was clear that her aunt . . . or any other adult, for that matter, was not ready to hear about their trips.

After another thank you to her aunt when they got home, Kelly tried not to limp as she climbed the stairs to her room.  Once inside, she quickly brushed her teeth, re-medicated and bandaged her wound, changed into her sleep shorts and her new t-shirt and slipped under the sheet.  With the music from the play still dancing in her head, she closed her eyes.

CHAPTER TWO

TUESDAY,  JUNE 11, 2013

Being grounded sucked!

Kelly’s hand trailed in the tepid water as she floated on a raft in her aunt’s pool.  Since this was the first time she’d ever been grounded, she didn’t have anything to compare it with, but she was both embarrassed and impatient.  And she was sure that her social life was going to suffer irreparable damage.

But of course, it was her own fault that she was on house arrest.  And she did have a pool and access to her computer, so it could have been a lot more uncomfortable.  None of those things made it any easier to swallow her punishment.

Nico, the scarlet macaw that loved to perch in the Queen palm tree outside her bedroom window had awakened her with his ear-splitting squawks at 7 a.m.  Unfortunately, he didn’t have a snooze button.

She had tried to ignore him and go back to sleep, but he was loud and persistent.  She considered throwing something at him, but he was probably an endangered species or something.  Besides, he had sort of been her first friend in Fort Myers Beach, so she couldn’t just blow him off.

As she had done almost every day since she had moved to Florida, Kelly climbed out of bed, knelt down on the tile floor in front of window and rolled the valances open so she could talk to him.  Each morning they had these one-sided conversations with Kelly doing all the talking and Nico listening intently, twisting his brilliantly colored head almost upside down as he kept at least one shiny black eye focused on her at all times.  When he had had enough, he would repeat several notes of a whistle she’d taught him, fluff out his gaudy feathers and fly away.

Kelly and her aunt hadn’t gotten home until around two this morning and five hours of sleep was definitely not enough.  She thought about going back to bed, but she knew it would be hopeless.  Thinking she should take advantage of her exile to start an exercise program and lose some of her puppy fat, she limped to the bathroom and changed into her swimsuit.

She had done twenty sets of her self-designed swimming program with sets consisting of a lap each of freestyle, breast stroke, back stroke and dog paddle.  She realized Ryan Lochte wouldn’t be too impressed with her adding a dog paddle to her set, but it exercised different muscles than the rest.  However, now that that was out of the way, the day loomed long and boring.  She swished her hand through the water and watched it trickle off her fingers, each drop sparkling in the sunlight.  Her skin was beginning to prickle from the heat, so she slid off the rubber mat like a sea lion off a rock and glided through the water.  She made it the entire length of the pool with one breath, and when she surfaced at the shallow end she shook her head to clear the water out of her ears and get the hair out of her eyes.

“Hey, mermaid.  Want me to throw you a fish?” a male voice asked.

Kelly looked up and saw Scott’s blond head peering over the six-foot cedar fence.  “No thanks.  But you could bake me a cake with a file in it so I can break out of this prison.”

“What’s wrong with your gate?”

“Nothing except for the fact that I can’t use it until Thursday.  I’m grounded.”  Kelly walked out of the pool and wrapped a towel around her body, still a little self-conscious about having her friend see her in a swimsuit.  She picked up a lawn chair and carried it to the fence so she could stand on it and talk to Scott face-to-face.

“
Grounded?
  Who does that anymore?”

“Aunt Jane, apparently.  She didn’t take me ruining my new cell phone too well.”

“That’s lame.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“So, I guess you can’t go to the beach with us later?”

“I’m on house arrest until Wednesday night, and then I have to come up with a plan on how I’m going to be more responsible.  Until then, no beach, no movies, no
Spirit Radio
, no anything.”  Just saying it all out loud made her feel even more depressed.  “But on Thursday, I’ll need to go to the mall and get a new cell phone and a backpack.  Do you want to come?”

Scott’s face lit up.  “Sure, we could take the bus.”

Kelly’s shoulders slumped. “Or we could get Austin to take us.”

Another head popped up next to Scott.  This one had dark shaggy hair, bright blue eyes and a crooked grin that made Kelly wish she wasn’t looking like a drowned rat.

“Take who, where?” Austin asked.  He had apparently found a lawn chair so he could join the conversation. 

“The mall.”  Kelly and Scott answered simultaneously.

“I’ve got a college scout meeting this afternoon, but we can go tomorrow.”

“She’s grounded,” Scott offered.  “Her sentence is over Thursday.”

“Really?  Grounded?  The last time I was grounded I was twelve,” Austin teased.

“I was just hoping I could talk you into taking us to the mall so I can replace my phone.  Until then, I’m kinda out of the loop.”

“That’s days from now.  Ask me again on Wednesday.” Austin looked over at Scott. “So, when are you getting your license?”

“I’ve got the book.  I’m not in any hurry,” Scott answered.  “What school today?”

“FSU.  It’s just the scout.  If it goes well, I’ll see the head coach after next season.”

“Good luck,” she told him with a smile.

“Thanks.”  He flashed her that grin that made her knees almost buckle.  “Can you play
Out Of Time
?”

“Yeah the warden is allowing e-visitors so
OOT
is on,” Kelly answered.

“I’m off at ten tonight.  How about ten-thirty?” Austin proposed.

“Sounds good.  I’ll be ready.”

“So how are you guys doing after our island trip?” Scott asked.

“My bullet wound is fine,” Kelly said. “But I thought I was going to scream when my aunt squeezed my leg last night.  How about you guys?”

“I’ve got three layers of skin burned off from the sun,” Scott said.  “I thought my mom would freak, but she said I looked good with a little color.  Funny thing, she didn’t say anything about my black eye.”

“Your mom’s probably glad you’re finally out there horsing around like a normal kid instead of staying indoors getting paper cuts and looking like a ghost,” Austin told him.

“How are your ribs?” Kelly asked.

“They’re a weird shade of yellow now, but they still feel awful and my shoulder is really sore.  I’m glad I don’t have to throw the ball for that scout.  I’m a wreck,” Austin reported.  “Anyone talk to Zoey?”

“She sent me a text,” Scott mentioned casually.  “She has the same bruises and cuts we all got on her face, arms and legs and rope burns around her wrists . . .
AGAIN
.  She capitalized and italicized that.  She said her friends thought she was involved with fifty shades or something . . . whatever that means." 

“Oh?  She texted you?  I see how it is,” Austin teased.

“Yeah, so?”  Scott’s pink cheeks flushed an even darker red.

It occurred to Kelly that she should feel hurt that Scott seemed so happy to have been contacted by Zoey.  But she was glad that Zoey had reached out to him.  Kelly could live with that.

“What do you think about that Kelly?” Austin tried to egg her on.

Kelly responded dispassionately. “At least she has a phone.”

“If we had landed on the beach instead of in the ocean, your phone would have survived,” Austin pointed out as he gave Scott an accusatory look.

“Next time I’m going to make sure we have time to do all the research we need before we go,” Scott promised.  “We were lucky we got out of there alive.  The cell phone was collateral damage.”

“I agree.  But I’m afraid I’m going to have to dip into the garage sale fund to repair that collateral damage,” Kelly said.

“Sounds fair,” Austin agreed.

“I’m okay with that,” Scott added.  “Zoey wanted to make sure she would be here the next time we make our plans.  Her brother is home, but she said she can get away any time.”

“I didn’t know Zoey had a brother.”  Kelly thought back to all the conversations she and Zoey had shared and couldn’t remember her ever mentioning it.

Scott answered, “Neither did I, but apparently, he’s just finished his freshman year at the University of Colorado.”

“Just exactly how long was this conversation, Scott?” Austin asked, his blue eyes twinkling.

“Only about . . . hey, what’s it to you?”

“You boys can fight over Zoey all you want.  But right now, I’ve got to go eat something,” Kelly said as she stepped off her lawn chair, waved good-bye and returned the chair to the patio.

Scott and Austin disappeared back behind the fence, and Kelly instantly felt all alone again and just a little put out that both boys were fighting over Zoey.  That was not at all how Kelly had wanted it to go.

She took a long, cool shower that felt good against her healing skin.  Even her leg was feeling better.  She examined it closely and satisfied that there was no sign of infection, she slathered a generous amount of
antiseptic on it and stuck three bandage strips across it.  After dressing in shorts and a tank top, she quickly made her bed and gathered all her dirty clothes.  She sorted them and started a load in the washing machine before finally going to the kitchen and getting a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

Hours later, she was sprawled on the couch watching a Robin Williams DVD.  She had cleaned the kitchen, re-organized the pantry and made a grocery list of all the things that were missing.  It was a long list.  Her aunt had admitted that before Kelly moved in, she had rarely eaten at home.  And what she did cook, she had bought fresh, which meant there were almost no processed foods in the pantry.  Kelly knew that was probably a healthy choice, but it wasn’t exactly teenage-friendly.  Next, Kelly had finished a book she had started a couple of days ago and was dismayed to discover that she didn’t have anything that she hadn’t already read.  A quick glance at her aunt’s bookcase had confirmed that her aunt wasn’t a big fan of fiction.  She had moved next to the shelves that held Aunt Jane’s DVD collection, which was surprisingly mainstream.

Kelly tried to select a DVD to watch, but had ended up alphabetizing them all first.  She had seen the Robin Williams movie before, but it always made her laugh. 
Almost
always.  Today, she just wasn’t in the mood to laugh.  When the DVD ended, she returned it to its appropriate space on the shelf and was about to start dinner when her aunt called and told her she would be home late and not to wait for her.

With a sigh, Kelly put a pot of water on to boil and took out some spaghetti.  It wasn’t worth the trouble to make sauce, so she just added a little butter and tried not to feel guilty about the calories.  For dessert, she had an apple which she hoped would balance the scales.

By eight o’clock, she was at her computer in her room, killing time until Scott and Austin joined her on-line for their game.  On a whim, she typed in the name Manuel Castillo and Crystal Key.  Dozens of articles came up and she soon became mesmerized by his story.  A few more searches revealed even more information about the family she and her friends had met on Crystal Key.  She was so caught up that she barely noticed when her aunt came home and popped into Kelly’s room just to say “hi” and that she was exhausted and turning in.  Kelly told her goodnight and tried not to appear impatient to get back to the stories on the screen.

As soon as her aunt shut the door behind her, Kelly had jumped back to the internet updates on Manuel, Juanita and Luisa.  It was ten-forty when she realized it was past time to log in to the game with the boys, so she quickly minimized her search screen and signed on to
Out of Time
, a time travel MMO game that she and the boys played with people from around the world on the internet.

Kelly logged in and connected to a private chat room with Austin and Scott.  She adjusted the volume so she would be able to hear both of them clearly without using earphones.

“You’re late,” Scott reprimanded.  He appreciated punctuality.

“Sorry.  I was on the internet and lost track of the time.  You won’t believe what I found out about Manny and Luisa.”

“Yeah, I was checking them out today, too,” Scott said.  “Did you see the article about the day we left?”

“Yes, I did,” Kelly said.

“What?  What?” Austin prompted.  “Tell me what you found out.”

“Just that Manny and everyone else made it to the mainland and to the hospital in time to save him,” Kelly explained.

“Did they send the police or the coast guard or someone to pick up that crazy guy?” Austin asked.

“The coast guard went out the next day and found the guy drowned on the beach,” Scott explained.  “Apparently, he tried to get away in one of those beat-up old boats, but it wasn’t seaworthy.”

“I can’t say I was sorry to find that out,” Kelly admitted.  “He would have killed us along with all those kids.”

“He punched me and he shot you, Kelly,” Scott reminded them.  “It said he had been released from the criminally insane unit of the prison in Cuba and somehow got hired on to a fishing boat.  At some point they were caught in that tropical storm while it was out at sea and the boat sank.  He managed to hang on to some of the wreckage and floated ashore on Crystal Key.  And you know the rest.”