Page 94 of Keep Vegas

My mother slaps my shoulder playfully. “You have got to stop thinking there’s always something wrong. But we are celebrating. Here’s what I can tell you. My blood work came back, and they pulled me off the statins.”

“What? That’s incredible.”

My father hands her a giant, icy glass of what I know is Coke Zero. “And she’s off her diabetes meds because…”

She turns in a circle and shakes her butt. “I don’t have it!”

I throw my arms around my mom, and she kisses my cheek. “Baby girl, stop your worrying. We got this. And after what he did for us, we’re going to be fine.”

I pull out of her arms. “What?”

Her face freezes.

My dad says, “Well, hell’s bells, Leech, you got it out of us.” He shrugs.

My mom shows me a Target card and it’s a preloaded debit card. “What did he do?”

My father starts sliding chicken onto skewers and my mother slides veggies on another. My dad says, “There’s enough on this card to take care of us for now. I think his intention is to set you free, Leech.”

My heart is full, but I don’t want him to think this is ok. My mother washes her hands. She picks up a letter from the chipped porcelain bowl with the cats on it and slides it across the island counter to me.

“Sweetheart, if he ends up being something else to you, we will understand it, but to us, he’ll always be an angel. We rejected his offer several times, but he’s persistent.”

My dad pipes in with, “We’re supposed to tell you that he loves a loophole and that none of this is for you, so it didn’t have to be a hundred dollars.”

I’m staring at a bank statement from our mortgage company. He paid off their house.

“You rang?”

I’m pacing and spitting mad. I’m outside so I can yell and either no one or everyone can hear me. I don’t care.

I come at him with all my venom. “You can’t do this.”

“Which thing?” he says cheekily. It’s sexy and infuriating.

“You bought the church a roof, a shed, and a twelve-passenger van.”

“Yes, they were all things on their prayer list, and I answered their prayers.”

“You’re God now?”

“No, but if you’d like to call me that in certain situations, I’d accept it.”

“This is serious.”

“Hey, slow down. I talked with the pastor and asked where the greatest need was, that’s all. You asked me to patch their roof but apparently it wasn’t structurally sound for a patch, so I gave them a roof. I have the means and I told him why I’m indebted to them. You know this isn’t a bad thing.”

“You can’t throw money at things.”

“Why not? It’s not doing me any good sitting there and they really could use that shed.”

“And an espresso machine?”

“Well, that just makes good sense for Mary Margaret.”

“My parents?”

“Look, my love. You won’t accept anything from me, and I want to give you everything. You specifically told me I wasn’t allowed to pay for your tuition, but being the king of the loophole, if I could take the worry and burden from you and your parents about the mortgage, I’ll do it every time.”