“Sure, dinner will be ready soon.”

Jamie went to the cabinet and got plates, glasses, and silverware.  He was setting the kitchen table when Ben came back into the kitchen after having changed clothes.  Ben was wearing his casual look.  It was funny if you thought about it, Jamie’s school “uniform” was almost the same as Ben’s casual “uniform.”  Ben wore khakis with a polo shirt in the summer months and a long sleeved polo shirt or a sweater in the cooler months and he almost always wore Italian loafers.

“What can I do?”  Ben asked as he looked from Jamie to Lane.

Lane was pulling the meatloaf out of the oven.  “You can cut the meat loaf after it sits for a couple of minutes.”  Lane said as she handed him a platter.

She had pulled the potatoes out of the oven and they were sitting on a trivet on the counter.  She got a serving dish and put the steamed asparagus into it.  She handed the asparagus to Jamie and she picked up the potatoes and carried them to the table.

“What are you drinking tonight, Mom?” Jamie asked as he filled three glasses with ice.

Lane loved Diet Dr. Pepper, but because of her pregnancy, she was limited to one caffeinated item a day and diet drinks were totally off her menu.  So now, she drank either water or herbal tea.

“I’ll have iced tea.  Get me a small glass of milk too, please.”

The truth was Lane didn’t care for milk, but the baby needed calcium and it was a small sacrifice to make.  She had also added cottage cheese to nearly every meal she ate, so as Jamie put the milk back in the fridge, he got that out.  Ben had cut the meat loaf and the three of them sat down to dinner.  They held hands as Jamie said grace. “Father we come before you tonight.  We thank you and ask you to bless this food.  Please bless our family and our friends.  In Jesus’ name we pray.”

They began passing the food around the table in a clockwise motion.  Followed quickly by their normal dinner conversation.

“So, Red, tell us about your day.”  Ben said.

Lane was Chief Privacy Office at Telco Unlimited.  It was a cell phone provider and her days were always full of meetings with the legal department, the CEO, or with vendors who wanted to sell them something to help protect their customer’s personally identifiable information.

“It was a normal day.  Full of meetings.  I’ll be glad for the long Thanksgiving weekend.  How was court?”

“It was just a preliminary hearing.  We plead not guilty and had a date set for the trial.”

Lane looked at Jamie.  “Anything interesting happen at school today?”

“School was pretty normal.  Everyone is anxious for the holiday break and the team is excited about the state championship game this weekend.”  Jamie looked at Ben, who nodded, giving his approval to talk about the incident at school.  Jamie took a breath and let it out.  “After practice, I found Justin Harper passed out in his Jeep.  I called 9-1-1 and then I called Dad.”

Lane looked from her son to her husband.  Hadn’t she just talked to Ben?  He hadn’t said a word.

Ben smiled his mega-watt smile.  “It’s where we were when you called.  Tanner followed the ambulance to the hospital and is digging around to find out what’s wrong with Justin.”  Ben patted her hand.  “It wasn’t something I wanted to tell you over the phone.”

She knew that what he meant was that he didn’t want to risk upsetting her over the phone since she was home alone.  Lane was 49, which made this pregnancy high risk.  She was almost through her first trimester; soon maybe everyone would relax a little.

“What happened?” She asked somehow making both a frown and a smile at the same time as she glanced from her husband to her son.

Jamie explained how he found Justin.  “He just wasn’t responsive, you know?”

Lane gave an encouraging smile to her son.  “It must have been a little scary.  I’ll call his parents later and check on him.”

She noticed that the experience didn’t seem to affect Jamie’s appetite.  Lately it seemed all he did was eat, but he was a growing boy.  Jamie was six feet four inches tall and weighed 220 pounds.  He had blonde hair and hazel eyes.  She was often glad he went to an all boy’s high school.  They had their fair share of high school girls mooning around the place. Still, she was pleased that Jamie was busy with school and football instead of chasing girls.

Ben’s cell phone was ringing.  Lane glanced toward the counter where he’d left it.  She had very few rules but cell phones at the dinner table was a definite violation.

Ben looked at her.  “I’m sorry, Red.  It’s probably Tanner and I really should take it,” he said as he left the table, retrieved his phone from the counter, and left the kitchen.

“Bellini.”

“Harper’s parents have told the ER doctor that he has allergies to nuts.  I thought I smelled peanuts when I opened the Jeep.  Did you smell anything when you checked him?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, there was a faint smell of peanuts.  Did that rookie cop impound the Jeep?”

Tanner let out a combination snort and laugh, “That rookie cop didn’t do anything.  I locked up the Jeep before I followed the ambulance.  It’s probably still in the student parking lot.”

“You at St. Joe’s?” Ben asked.

“Yeah.  You want me to talk to the parents?”

“No, Lane mentioned that she wanted to call them later.  I think we’ll just drop by.  Call me when they move Justin to a room.”  Ben ended the call and went back to the dinner table.  He looked at Jamie. “Did you know that Justin had nut allergies?”

“Yeah.  The whole team knows.  He keeps an epipen in his backpack and usually has one in his Jeep.  The coach has one at all of the practices and games.  Just in case, you know?  Is that what happened?  Was he trying to get to his epipen?”

“Both Tanner and I noticed a faint smell of peanuts in the Jeep.  It seems likely.”  Ben looked at Lane.  “Maybe we should go to the hospital after dinner and talk with the Harpers.”

Lane looked from her husband to her son.  “I think that’s a good idea.  I’m sure his parents would like to talk with Jamie.”  She nodded toward Jamie, “If he came in contact with peanuts, you may have saved his life.”

Chapter 3

After the left overs were put away and the dishwasher was filled and running, Ben gathered his family together and drove the short distance to the hospital.   As they were walking toward the hospital, his cell phone buzzed.

“Bellini.”

“They’ve just moved him to intensive care.”

“We’re in the parking lot.  Meet me in the lobby.”  Ben ended the call.  He looked at Lane as they went through the main entrance.  “They’ve moved Justin to a room in intensive care.  You and Jamie go on up.  I’ll wait here for Tanner and join you as soon as I can.”  As he pushed the elevator button, Ben kissed the top of Lane’s head and looked at Jamie, silently telling him he was in charge of taking care of his Mother in Ben’s absence.

The Parker Kids all knew the story; Philip Parker had made love to Lane one last time and then had come out of the closet before he walked out the front door; leaving her with two young children and the surprise pregnancy that followed.  Philip left Lane and moved to Chicago to be with a man he’d met a year before.  Jamie had never really known Philip.  Sure, Philip had sent birthday and Christmas cards and then there was the one week a year that Philip went to Omaha and stayed with his mother, Evelyn Parker, and spent some time visiting his kids.  That wasn’t being a dad and Jamie knew it.  It made Jamie’s decision to call Ben, ‘Dad,’ an easy one.  The fact was that from their first meeting, Ben Bellini had been like a father to him.

Jamie had been tall and gangly, his voice was changing, and he just felt awkward all of the time.  Then he’d moved to Kansas and met his mother’s best friend, Ben Bellini.  From their first meeting, Ben had called Jamie, ‘Bambino,’ Italian for Kid.  He shot hoops with Jamie and with Jamie’s older brother, Jake.  He’d taken the boys and their sister, Jess, to play paint ball and taught them to shoot, paint guns and the real ones too.  He’d sat Jamie down and had the sex talk with him.  Of course, the sex talk still galled Jamie a little.  Ben had told him there were three rules:  Rule 1: No means no and stop means stop.  Rule 2:  Never have sex with a woman who was too incapacitated to say either no or stop.  And, the most important was Rule 3:  ALWAYS wear protection.