Wealth Pt. 02

There were other patrons and she smiled sweetly as they came up and dropped tips into the jar at the lip of the stage, five here, the occasional ten dollars there, but mostly one dollar bills.

Brooke Robertson smiled vacantly as she again approached the customer; he'd been sitting in her section and waiting for nearly twenty minutes, said he had a friend joining him for lunch.

Barry smiled widely and stood up.

"Mr. Weinstein, over here," he said loudly and waved.

Ed squinted through the smoke and saw a well dressed man, , about his age, waving. He frowned and approached the table.

"Barry Delacroix, Mr. Weinstein; you are Caitlin's father, right?" Barry said, giving Ed a firm handshake.

"Uh yeah, yeah, you said this is about Caitlin?" Ed said, also giving a firm grip.

"Yes, Mr. Weinstein, go on, have a seat; you want anything? They've got the absolute best iced tea anywhere," Barry said, suddenly very nervous.

He routinely made sales that netted Superior Motors tens of thousands of dollars in commissions, brokered deals with European markets that resulted in thousands of dollars in savings, brokered other deals with South American markets that usually garnered him several hundreds of thousands of dollars. And sometimes even lost him just as much. But none of those deals were as important as dealing with a nineteen year old girl's father.

He sat and wondered what his reaction would be if this man would come to him and tell him "I'm dating Toni."

He knew he would not be happy at all. But would he let Toni make her own decisions? She was only eighteen years old, and Barry had to admit, had been very sheltered by him and by her three older brothers.

At the same time, though, Toni did occasionally did display maturity, did display some level headedness. At least she told that Boyd Eastman to take a hike. And she and her best friend, Anita, had an extremely

successful business going.

But dating a man nearly thirty years older than herself?

"Uh, yeah, yeah, give me the iced tea," Ed agreed and then watched Brooke's rear end as the waitress walked away, the bottom of her cheeks very visible in the very short shorts she wore.

"Chicken fried steak is their special today; it's extremely good, comes with skillet gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans," Barry said as Ed's attention was now riveted to the girl that gyrated on stage to Dokken's 'Breaking The Chains.' "Ever been in here before, Mr. Weinstein?"

"No, no, I mean, it used to be that biker bar; hell I was afraid come in here," Ed admitted, blushing in embarrassment. "But, uh, call me Ed, huh?"

"Gentlemen, need a little more time?" Brooke asked, smiling as she leaned over to put Ed's drink down, a maneuver that caused her half shirt to gape open.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, that country fried steak does sound good," Ed agreed.

"Same for me," Barry said.

"Great," Brooke smiled.

Ed admired the girl's belly, squinting at the rose tattoo that peeked out of her low rider shorts and her navel ring.

"When I was a kid, only ones had tattoos was bikers or sailors; and never even heard of anyone putting an earring anywhere but in their ear, am I right?" Barry commented and Ed nodded in agreement.

Barry sipped his iced tea, stalling for time.

"Got to say, you walked in, I knew right off the bat you were Caitlin's dad, explains where she gets the red hair and freckles," Barry blurted. "But never ever in a million years would I look at you and say 'that guy looks like a Weinstein.'"

"I'm what happens when a rebellious Irish Catholic girl meets a smooth talking Jew on the campus of L.S.U.," Ed smiled, then lost the smile. "Yeah, yeah, you said this was about Caitlin?"

"Might as well get it over with, Barry thought to himself, forcing his face to relax.

"Ed, I've been sitting here wondering how I would react if you told me you were dating my daughter and I've got to admit, I really don't think I'd like it one bit," Barry said.

"You're what?" Ed said loudly.

"But I do think I'd listen to what you had to say," Barry went on.

"You're dating my..." Ed said, getting to his feet.

Barry also stood, ready to back up. Ed's handshake had told Barry that Ed worked with his hands, might be wiry, but had strength. A punch from him would hurt. Barry could probably be the victor in the fight, but at a considerable cost.

"Gentlemen, there a problem?" Officer Mike Stevens asked, walking up behind Ed Weinstein.

"No sir," Barry said.

"Damned right there's a problem!" Ed yelled.

"Y'all need to keep it down, y'all are getting too loud," Brooke said, gently pushing Ed back into his chair.

"You, you're what?" Ed snarled at Barry who slowly got back into his own seat. "you got to be at least thirty, huh?

"Forty eight," Barry admitted.

"Forty eight!" Ed yelled.

"What'd I tell y'all? Y'all are getting too loud," Brooke said, putting the two plates down on the table.

"He's forty eight," Ed snapped at her. "And he's dating my nineteen year old daughter!"

"Older men are sexy as shit," Brooke smiled her vacant smile.

"Listen, believe me, I do understand, I'd be upset too," Barry said.

"Listen, y'all are adults, huh?" Brooke whispered attempting to placate Ed. "Talk it out like adults, all right? I been here since ten thirty this morning and it's already been a long day for me; last thing I need is a fist fight in my section, all right?"

Ed glared at her and she smiled a hopeful smile at him. Slowly, he lost his glare, then nodded his head.

"Thanks," Brooke smiled a genuine smile, then turned to check on another customer.

"You, start talking," Ed demanded and cut a too large chunk of the tender steak.

"That's too big," Barry said, cutting a more manageable piece of meat.

"I'm thirty seven years old; I don't need you telling me how to eat," Ed snapped.

"Toni and Caitlin have been friends since the, I want to say the fifth grade?" Barry said. "Said she had this girl had been in the hospital, someone tried to run her over and she was so cool because she had real long red hair and could she get red hair and anyway, Caitlin came to Toni's tenth birthday party and right away puts BJ, Michael, and Patrick, those are Toni's older brothers, puts them in their place; see they're running around trying to be disruptive, you know how boys are and Caitlin tells them they need to behave or they won't get any cake and from that day on, we all respect the hell out of her."

"You're Toni Delacroix's dad?" Ed said, still chewing the large chunk of meat.

"Yep, that's me," Barry smiled.

Barry cut another chunk of the meat and dipped it into the bowl of gravy.

"Anyway, they've been friends and Caitlin's always been coming around, personally I love it; she's there and she keeps everyone else in line and when Darlene; that was my wife, when Darlene announced she's leaving me, Caitlin called, told me she was real sorry Miss Darlene was leaving me and came and got Toni and Toni went and..." Barry chewed the morsel fully before swallowing.

"And brought her over to my house," Ed said and dumped the bowl of gravy on the rest of his steak and the mashed potatoes, also getting the green beans with the gravy. "I remember that."

"Toni does too," Barry smiled sadly. She's thirteen years old, her whole world's falling apart, and this man made a teepee in the middle of the living room and they were Indians for the whole weekend. It was so silly it was fun."

Barry blew his nose.

"I'm sorry Ed; I never did tell you thank you for that. What could have been the absolute worst weekend of my little girl's life was an okay weekend; she got to be an Indian and be a kid while her mother and I screamed and cursed and threw things at each other," Barry said.

"Welcome," Ed mumbled, slightly embarrassed at seeing another man get teary eyed.

"Everything all right here?" Brooke asked, putting a hand on Ed's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, gravy's the best," Ed said.

"More iced tea?" Barry asked.

"Got it, Sugar," Brooke said and gave Ed another genuine smile before walking away.

Barry smiled slightly; the talk was going a little better than he'd hoped. Ed's eyes were firmly on Brooke's figure and not glaring at him.

"Anyway, Darlene and I get divorced and your Caitlin's there, being a friend to Toni, being a help to me, good God, even came over and helped us pack when we sold that house and moved where we are now," Barry remembered. "Anyway, last year, year before? Starts asking me out on dates. At first I'm like 'what is she talking about? I'm a hundred years old; she's a beautiful young lady, I mean, good God is she headstrong, huh? And...'"

"You been sleeping with her, huh?" Ed suddenly demanded, slamming his hand on the table angrily.

"What? No! No, of course not!" Barry denied loudly.

"And here you are; y'all are getting too loud again," Brooke said, putting the two fresh glasses of tea down on the table.

"If I find out you are..." Ed threatened Barry.

"Ed, I give you my word, one man to another, I am not," Barry said, holding up a hand.

After a moment's stare off, Ed resumed shoveling his food down.

"If you're interested, they got a chocolate pie, a caramel pie, and a lemon cheesecake must weigh five pounds," Barry said. "And their coffee is fresh ground when you order it; I'm having the chocolate pie."

"I can't tell you the last time I had cheesecake," Ed said as he scraped the last of the potatoes into his mouth.

"So when you got to be back?" Barry asked Ed as he nodded with his head to Brooke.

"When I get there," Ed said, a little boastfully.

"Two coffees, Ed, you do want coffee, right? And a cheesecake for him and a chocolate pie for me, please," Barry smiled as Brooke quickly gathered their empty plates.

"Well, I can see y'all hated the dinner," she joked. "Hopefully y'all like the dessert."

"I'll try to choke it down," Ed joked back.

Over coffee and dessert, which Ed again ate too quickly, Barry listened as Ed talked about his job as an appliance repairman for Johnson's Furniture and Appliances. Barry could tell that Ed rarely got to talk about his job, so listened patiently, even though he was bored to tears.

When he finished talking about his job, Ed switched to talking about his courtship of Caitlin's mother.

"Yeah, Theresa Chastaine? Grew up right down the street from me, tells me when we're eight years old we're going to get married and I'm like girls are so yucky," Ed prattled on and whistled as he scalded his upper lip on the hot coffee.

"Anyway, I'm going to join the Marines and so I'm not about to get married, then ten years later, right before we graduate from high school, she comes up and says 'guess what, Daddy' and there goes my plans join the Marines," Ed said, this time blowing on the coffee before sipping it.

"Any idea how that happened?" Barry asked, smiling wryly.

"No, not really, Ed returned the wry smile. "So I go to Vo-Tech at night, working my ass of at Domino's Pizza during the day and Theresa's working at First DeGarde Bank and we're doing all right, you know?"

"Anyway, couple of months later, along comes our Caitlin; named her after my Mom," Ed said. "Six months later, rather than go back to work at the bank, Theresa gets a job as the personal assistant for some big shot lawyer, Zachary Fielder and next thing I know, she's telling me she's in love and see you later, loser."

"Pretty much same words Darlene tells me," Barry said. "Later, loser."

"Guess they think that's cute, huh?" Ed shook his head and gulped the last of his coffee.

"Anything else, Gentlemen?" Brooke asked as Barry finished his pie.

"Think that'll do it," Barry smiled and handed Brooke his American Express card.

"Uh, what's my half?" Ed asked, digging out a very well beaten up wallet.

"I'm one asked you to join me, it's on me, Ed," Barry smiled. "But you've been sitting there with your eyes glued to that girl dancing; why not give her a five or something?"

"I can do that," Ed agreed and walked over to drop the five into the tip jar.

"Hope y'all come back and see me, hear?" Brooke smiled vacantly as she slid the charge slip over to Barry.

"Keep making that pie like that, I know I will," Barry promised.

"And that cheesecake," Ed agreed.

Ed shrugged on his weathered old coat and Barry pulled on his long coat.

"Thanks again, Ed," Barry said, shaking the man's hand.

Outside, Barry walked toward his Astin Martin Db5 and Ed's eyes opened wide.

"I seen that when I pulled up!" he said as he stood next to his beat up old Silverado pick up truck. "That's one of them James Bond cars, right?"

"It is," Barry agreed, holding up the keys. "Want to drive it?"

"Yeah, right," Ed laughed. "You're just trying to sell me one!"

"Hey Ed, no offense, but I KNOW you'd never buy one; it's not your kind of car," Barry smiled.

"What's that mean?" Ed asked, offended.

"It's so completely impractical; this car serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever, other than to go fast and look good," Barry said and pointed to Ed's truck. "That? That's not very pretty, but it's practical. You can use it to go to the store, to the football game, or to move your best friend over the weekend, take it to the beach and don't worry if it gets a little salt water on it; it'll be fine."

"Yep, and it's paid for," Ed said, slapping the side of his truck.

"And you've probably had it for ten, fifteen years, huh?" Barry agreed, still dangling the keys to his car. "But, come on, let's go for a ride. When's the last time you were able to tell your girlfriend you drove a James Bond car?"

"Fine, fine, Graham Johnson can handle the store on his own," Ed agreed.

"All right, take this north, cut over on nineteen and when we get other side of Elgee, right when we cross Norman road?" Barry said, getting into the passenger seat.

"Weinstein, Ed Weinstein," Ed said, flexing his hands on the steering wheel of the small sports car.

He kept a tight rein on the car all the way through Elgee, enjoying the looks others gave the sleek automobile. When they crossed over Norman's Road, Barry nudged Ed.

"Go ahead, let her have it," he encouraged.

It frightened Ed somewhat, how quickly the car responded and how they were traveling along at a conservative forty five miles an hour and then suddenly screaming down the highway at a hundred and nineteen miles an hour, if the digital display was to be believed.

"What's the top speed in this?" Ed asked, hands tense on the steering wheel.

Don't know, never got that high," Barry said calmly. "Highest I've gone is one thirty one."

Ed let up on the accelerator and took the next turn to return to DeGarde.

"This thing is unbelievable," Ed said, slightly awed.

"But serves no purpose whatsoever, other than to look good and go fast," Barry agreed.

"And it does do that," Ed agreed.

At Grandmother's house, Caitlin tried to do her homework, tried to concentrate, but just couldn't.

Suppose Daddy didn't like Barry? Suppose Daddy forbade her from seeing Barry? Barry was quite a bit older than her. It would break her heart to go against her Daddy's wishes,

but hopefully, in time, Daddy would forgive her.

Mom wasn't happy about it, but tightened her face when Grandmother smirked and pointed at Briah and then Bobby.

"How old was Briah's Daddy?" Grandmother asked, taking the mask away from her face long enough to wheeze. "Oh, and what about Bobby's Daddy, huh? A nice young fifty two, right?"

"Okay, Mother, you've made your point Mother, thank you Mother, you can shut up now, Mother, I'll be putting a pillow over your face while you sleep tonight, Mother," Theresa had snapped, stomping away.

"Please God," Caitlin murmured. "Please let him like Barry."

She yelped when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" she asked, holding her breath.

"Didn't like it, but said you are a grown woman and can make your own decisions," Barry said and pulled the phone away from his ear as Caitlin screamed.

"Oh, you're kidding, oh my God, oh that's so great, oh I love you, Oh! I have to call Shirley! Love you, bye!" Caitlin screamed.

Barry shook his head as Caitlin disconnected the call.

"Hmm," Henry said, squinting at Barry when Barry strolled into the showroom. "No bruises, no blood."

"No bullet holes," Jack said.

"Must have gone all right, huh?" Bob Robichaux said.

"It went all right," Barry agreed and watched a Mercedes-Benz pull into the parking lot.

"Oh, I have to call Shirley," Henry mimicked a feminine squeal.

"Oh, Caitlin's already on the phone with her," Barry squealed back. "But here comes a customer, let's try to act professional, all right?"

Chapter 16

Anita grimaced as she chased down the last bite of her peanut butter granola bar with the strawberry protein drink. The combination was not very pleasant.

But when she had brought home a box of Oats n' Honey granola bars, that box had been emptied in less than two days.

"Look! Look! Right here! 'Anita' It has my name on it, right here!" Anita had screamed at an uncaring Luther and Marco.

"What?" an unsympathetic Louisa had demanded. "You been eating our food; we can't eat yours, huh?"

The Cinnamon and the Maple ones had fared no better. The peanut butter ones, however, were largely ignored. So she brought home the peanut butter granola bars.

The protein drinks had also suffered a similar fate. It had taken the ravenous trio only three days to drink all of her chocolate drinks. They didn't care as much for the vanilla ones; she'd actually managed to drink two of the twelve bottles before they emptied that case. But the strawberry ones had only lost five of the twelve. Anita did wonder which one of the trio had tried them and gave it two more tried before deciding they just didn't care for strawberry protein drinks.

Louisa waddled into the kitchen, looked at Anita's outfit and asked, "Where you going so early?"

"It's almost eleven o'clock, Mom; it's not that early," Anita answered.

"On Saturday? Early enough," Louisa grumbled as she peered into the nearly empty refrigerator for something to eat.

Anita used Louisa's distraction to make her escape.

Shortly after A AND A Soaps had begun to make a profit, just as soon as Anita began bringing cash into the house, Luther, Louisa, and Marco began with the 'let me borrow ten, let me borrow twenty' and never repaying these loans. Toni, and Miss Sophia, their lawyer, urged Anita to open her own checking account. That checking account came with a debit card and now Anita never had any cash on her, so the trio could not borrow any money.

Marco still bore the scar on his forearm; he had tried to take Anita's debit card and found out that Anita was still quite handy with her blade and had absolutely no hesitation to use it.

"Ever catch you in my purse again," he hissed hatefully into his now quite frightened face, "I will kill you."

And he knew she meant it.

Luther seemed to know he would get no such warning; she would simply gut him and leave him to die. SO he didn't even attempt to help himself to Anita's purse.

Anita dashed into the bathroom, used her whitening mouthwash, noticing with a smirk that none of the others in the house liked it, dabbed on a little of her perfume, then prayed that Toni would be on time.

"Where you going?" Luther demanded then turned to Louisa. "Where's she going?"

"Don't know, God, I hate them peanut butter bars; why's she get them, huh?" Louisa complained.

Outside, Anita smiled as Toni pulled up just as Anita shut the door of the trailer.

"Dropped off them soaps; believe this? They're like already out of them cherry ones," Toni said as Anita buckled up.

"The other ones are all right?" Anita asked after a very brief hesitation.

Anita had almost said she was tired of soaps, she was tired of candles, she was tired of bookkeeping. She was tired of every spare moment of their lives being wrapped up in A And A Soaps.