Chapter 3

While Bobby was driving back from USC, at home someone was thundering up the stairs towards Sammy's bedroom. Sammy saw Blythe tense; then surreptitiously straighten her shirt, aligning the gap at the neck with her impressively deep cleavage.

"Relax, it's not Bobby," Sammy said with a grin, a moment before Julie pushed the door open. She pulled up short when she saw a blushing Blythe sitting a bit nervously on the edge of Sammy's bed.

"Julie, this is Blythe, she just moved into the neighborhood and is going to be on the softball team."

"Oh, hi," Julie said cordially. "I saw you in school today." The girls shook hands and Julie joined Blythe on the bed; Sammy, in the chair at her desk, turned to face them.

"Julie lives close by, too, and hangs out here a lot," Sammy explained to Blythe. "Gee, I suddenly feel flat-chested for some reason," she said, eyeing the ample bosoms of her two visitors. Julie dressed more conservatively than she had in the past, but some things couldn't be hidden. Blythe snorted and Julie laughed.

"Maybe our tits are bigger, but you're still the hotty every guy in the school would love to date," Julie said. "She still thinks she's a tom-boy," she said to Blythe with a roll of her eyes. "She don't know she's beautiful, never crossed her mind," she sang lyrics from a country song, clasping her hands to her chest and swooning dramatically to fall onto the bed behind Blythe.

"Oh, bite me," Sammy said dismissively as Blythe laughed.

"If you weren't hanging around Dave and Bobby all the time, you might be surprised by what guys might stop by," Julie said mildly.

"You are beautiful, Sammy," Blythe said shyly. "You look like a young Penelope Cruz." Then she blushed furiously. Sammy recalled Blythe's confessed attraction to her in the locker room, and blushed as well.

Julie nodded in agreement. "Hey, I think I like this girl," she said to Sammy, looking warmly at Blythe.

"Thanks, guys, but I have a boyfriend," Sammy said. "Julie's got one she's breaking in; it's Blythe we need to find a guy for."

"Breaking one in?" Blythe asked Julie. Her expressionless face reminded Sammy of Bobby's when he was angry about something.

"My boyfriend is pretty inexperienced with girls, and I've had some boyfriend issues in the past, so we're taking it kind of slow," Julie explained. Then she sighed.

"Is everything all right?" Sammy asked softly.

Julie glanced at Blythe and hesitated.

"Do you want some time alone with Sammy, Julie?" Blythe asked.

She shrugged. "No, it's okay. Porter was having trouble dealing with my past in school today. I mean we've talked about it, and he understands - it is what it is.

"But that's different than seeing guys I've been with before hit on me while he's standing right there."

"That'll die down eventually," Sammy said reassuringly. "When Bobby gets home, tell him who those guys were. He'll make sure they get the message."

She didn't notice Blythe's reaction. 'Is Bobby some kind of thug?' she thought.

"I hope so. I..." Julie paused and looked at the floor. "I had people ask me where they could score some drugs, too. It was a lot for Porter to deal with." She looked at Sammy miserably. "I've just been so fucked up, you know?"

Sammy went to hug her, and was pleased when Blythe did the same from the other side.

"But you're not screwed up any more," Sammy said. "You're going to be fine. You said your therapist wasn't sure you were ready for dating yet anyway, right?"

"Right. That's one reason we've been taking things slowly."

"Maybe you need to slow things down even more, if he can't handle it. Maybe you need to wait a while before dating at all."

"But he's so sweet. He's the nicest boy I've ever been out with," Julie said with a sniff. "I don't want to lose him because of some assholes I've been with before."

"When do you see your therapist again," Blythe interjected, somewhat brusquely, Sammy thought.

Julie hesitated for a moment. "In a couple days," she said cautiously to the girl she'd just met.

"Stick it out – don't make any decisions until then."

Julie looked a bit taken aback.

Sammy couldn't help laughing, bemused at Blythe's sudden comfort with giving 'boyfriend advice.' "Now you're even sounding like Collette," she said. At Blythe's raised eyebrow, she explained, "She's not exactly shy with her opinions, either."

"You could say that," Julie agreed.

"And Bobby likes that?" Blythe asked, exaggeratedly casual.

"Seems to," said Sammy.

Blythe shrugged. "Sorry, Julie, I don't have a problem with speaking up when I know about something. But if it's about me and boys, trust me, I'll keep my mouth shut."

"I'll see what she says," said Julie. "But I'm getting kind of..." she looked at Blythe and gestured apologetically before continuing, "horny, too. I might just reassure Porter and scratch my own itch at the same time."

"Is he pressuring you?" Blythe asked sharply.

"Who, Porter? No, of course not. He's still a virgin, and like any virgin guy he'd like to not be a virgin," she said with a laugh, "but he's being cool about it."

Sammy giggled. "It has been a while since you were with..."

Just then they heard Bobby's voice call up the stairs.

"Hi, ladies; I'm home!"

Sammy and Julie grinned at each other; Blythe sensed something. She looked a question at Julie, who just smiled. Then she noticed Sammy was wearing a similar smile. She looked back and forth between them. Her face became an expressionless mask.

"Are you alright?" Sammy asked.

"Sure."

Sammy's head cocked to the side as she worked on figuring Blythe out. She seemed friendly enough with her and Julie, but with Bobby she seemed to bounce back and forth from eager-to-be-friends, to coolly distant.

Raul arrived, followed by Sandy Goodwin with enough spaghetti and meatballs to feed a small army. Sandy's boyfriend, Detective Ron Harris, arrived last – "Only a little late," was Sandy's comment as she welcomed him with a kiss. Julie and Blythe were invited to stay for dinner and both accepted after calling home for permission.

Since they'd unexpectedly outgrown the current configuration of the dining room table (unless they removed all the dishes, inserted a leaf in the table, and re-set everything), the teens were allowed to take their plates into the family room where they could happily multi-task with TV, food, and getting to know Blythe.

By silent agreement, Barbara and Sammy deferred the conversation with Raul about her 'fight' at school until after the meal.

After they'd caught up on the status of Barbara's pregnancy, and Sandy's first day teaching at the high school, Ron looked at Raul and somewhat hesitantly brought up a new topic.

"I wanted to talk about how you helped Sandy once - when she bought a car with a bogus title that had been wrecked before?"

Raul and Sandy glanced at each other. Raul assumed Sandy had told Ron about it; Sandy assumed Raul had told him. As it turned out later, both were wrong.

Raul and two cops, his brother and his brother's partner Pete Riordan, had helped Sandy return an old, previously totaled Volvo that she'd bought from an unscrupulous car dealer.

Sandy reached to take Barbara's hand in hers, interlocking their fingers. "Raul and Barbara have both been great to me," she said with obvious affection. They smiled back at her.

"The problem seemed to taper off after all the cars flooded out by Katrina were weeded out," Harris continued. "But we're finding that some of the crooks that got into the business are still around, and they're getting better at it, too. They're persuading some local businesses to help launder the vehicles."

"Why are you telling me this?" Raul asked impassively.

Ron grinned. "Right to the point, eh? We're looking for a legitimate business to help us set up one of the big fish in this swindle factory."

He paused to gauge Raul's reaction, and Barbara almost laughed out loud. Cops may be good at reading people, but she was sure Ron had met his match with Raul. Trying to tell what her husband was thinking before he wanted it to be known was nearly impossible. Eventually, Ron pressed on.

"We want someone to buy several wrecked cars from these guys, enough to show that it's ongoing and qualifies as racketeering. We know they'll provide fraudulent title paperwork. We'd like your shop to do enough work to make the car safe and drivable; then turn around and sell them to some car lots that are in on the scam. We'll keep track of the cars to be sure no one that buys them gets hurt or stuck with it."

Raul gave the detective a hard look. "My kids come into my shop sometimes, not to mention my employees. Wouldn't this expose them to danger from the criminals?"

"The meetings would be after hours, and we'll have plenty of protection around you. And they'll go away for a long time once we bust them," he said reassuringly. "Besides, I understand you know how to handle yourself. You were in the Corps?"

Raul merely shrugged.

"I guess it's all about doing the right thing," the cop said with a smile. Raul knew he was pushing the patriotism button, counting on his Marine instincts to goad him into volunteering for the 'mission.'

Unfortunately in this case, it was an effective lever. He looked fondly at Sandy, who'd been a friend and lover to him and his wife. He remembered their first meeting, and how devastated the young woman had been at being taken in by these crooks. How many more Sandy's were out there waiting to be swindled?

"Can it wait until after the baby's born?" he asked. Ron frowned, but then agreed.

Raul looked at Barbara, who gave him a slight nod.

"I'll do it."

Eventually Ron left, having an early shift the next day. Sandy stuck around to clean up while Raul and Barbara came in to talk to Sammy. Bobby and Julie were just as in the dark as Raul at the purpose for the meeting; Blythe moved to sit protectively next to Sammy.

"Mom says you need to talk to me about something?" Raul asked.

"Yeah, Dad; I kind of got into a fight at school today."

"You?" Julie blurted incredulously. "Sorry," she said immediately, sitting back.

"Are you alright?" Raul and Bobby said almost simultaneously.

"I'm fine, and so is the other girl. The coach didn't see it, so no one's in trouble at school. It's all over, but you've taught us so long to avoid fighting ... I'm sorry, Dad."

"She was just protecting me," Blythe said earnestly. "The other girl took a swing at her!"

"Whoa; tell us what happened," said Raul.

So Sammy told the tale, with Blythe nodding and interjecting, confirming comments during the telling.

"I know that dyke," Julie commented, when Sammy mentioned Bonnie's name. "She's a real..." She stopped when Barbara held up her hand. "Sorry," she said again.

When the story was finished, Raul didn't hesitate. "You did the right thing, honey. You tried to talk her out of fighting. You warned her. The next thing to do is to just walk away, but in this case you couldn't because you were protecting someone else. Then, when all else failed, you used only enough force to resolve the situation without really hurting her.

"Bottom line, I'm proud of you."

Bobby and Barbara beamed at her and nodded their concurrence as her dad wrapped her up in a firm hug.

"Thanks, Dad. I mean, not just for this, but for teaching me how to take care of myself."

"Could you teach me, too?" Blythe asked. The urgency with which she asked raised alarm bells in Raul's mind. He glanced at Sammy, who inclined her head slightly.

"Of course," he said. "I've worked with Bobby and Sammy for years, and Julie here started not that long ago."

"He's great," Julie enthused.

"Thank you," Blythe said earnestly to Raul.