FOE Family First Chapter 30 We are Italian
"Bethia likes you very much. She had a lot of fun today." Under the setting sun, Colin Hawke held the steering wheel and drove along the interstate towards home, while saying to Tommy in the passenger seat.
Tony Leon, with the cat whiskers that Bethea gave him on his face, was curled up in the back seat and dozing off.
Tommy turned his head and looked at his father: "I don't know why, Dad, I always have a feeling that you are leaving your last words. I hope it's just my illusion."
"Last words? No, not last words, but I have some thoughts recently... I think you should spend more time with Bethia. Although I rarely mention your mother after her death, I often think of what she said before she died." Colin Hawke's eyes were a little sad, and he said with a sigh: "You know, if your mother was still alive, she would never let me..."
At this moment, Tony in the back seat suddenly opened his sleepy eyes and leaned between the two of them: "Dad, please stop at the convenience store owned by old Jason. I want to buy Trojan. Ashley is waiting for me."
"You can buy that stuff in any supermarket, son." Colin Hawke, whose mood was completely ruined by Tony's words, said unhappily, "Why do you insist on buying it in the store owned by old Jason ?"
"Because old Jason allowed me to take it first, and then Ashley helped me pay the bill the next day." Tony said shamelessly.
"You're dating your girlfriend, and you even buy that thing on credit? Boy, let daddy teach you how to leave a better impression in front of your girlfriend and avoid being treated as a jerk. The first thing is that you must pay for that thing with your own money..." Colin Hawke was quite shocked that his son said such shameless words. He held the steering wheel with one hand and fumbled around in his pockets with the other hand. Finally, he withdrew his hand in vain and changed the subject: "Ashley is a good girl. She is a bit like your mother, gentle and kind. You can't let her down."
After being interrupted by Tony, the old man did not return to the original topic until Tommy Hawke got out of the car. Colin Hawke leaned out of the car window, looked at Tommy standing outside, and grinned: "See you next time, son."
"Goodbye, Dad. Goodbye, Tony." Tommy Hawke waved and watched the pickup truck turn around and drive away. Then he turned his back to the sunset and walked towards the apartment.
He didn't know whether his father had been enlightened by a pastor or for some other reason, but he didn't have time to understand it in depth. The most important thing right now was to make money. All the troubles of the family at this moment needed to be solved with money.
After taking out the key and opening the door of the apartment, Tommy saw Melonie sitting on the sofa in the living room with her head resting on her knees, biting her fingertips gently with her teeth. Her expression looked a little conflicted. Although the TV was on, her eyes were fixed on nothing.
"Is Bethia okay?" Seeing Tommy Hawke coming back, Melonie put away the expression she had when she was alone, sat up straight, and asked Tommy Hawke with a smile.
Tommy nodded. "Very good. She has grown about half an inch taller than the last time I saw her. She looks more and more like my mother, but her personality is a bit like my father. She is always curious about everything in the world. Moreover, I spent most of the time playing with Bethea during this visit."
"What are Tony and your father doing?"
"Tony went to help Mrs. Hopkins, the foster family, clean the lawn and check the car. He hoped to use this behavior to express his and her husband's gratitude for Bethea's meticulous care." Tommy Hawke changed into slippers, sat on the sofa, and said to Melonie, "As for my dad, he sat in the park and watched me and Bethea play. I don't know what happened to him, but I always feel that he is a little abnormal. I will find out after I finish my cigarette business."
Melonie sighed, "Tony inherited the character of your mother, Alida Leon. He is like a lion, with a strong sense of family. He will do anything for his family."
"When I first came in, I noticed that you were a little worried, aunt. Are you worried that if you can't repay the loan, the bank will take away this apartment?" Tommy Hawke asked Melanie.
Melonie casually looked at the layout of the room, then looked at Tommy Hawke and said seriously, "I'm using this apartment to apply for a mortgage loan with a maximum amount of $40,000. The bank has agreed, and I can sign the formal contract at any time."
"It seems that you are more confident about this than I am, Aunt. You have to know that twenty thousand dollars means that if we don't make money from this business, we can barely pay the bank interest by working hard. But with forty thousand dollars, if something unexpected happens in the business, you will be the only one left to do striptease, and I will be a drug dealer to work hard to make money to pay off the debt and avoid the bank taking away this apartment." Tommy Hawke looked at Melanie calmly.
Melonie looked back at Tommy Hawke for a long time before nodding and smiling. "I've thought about this. If you can do what you promised me, why can't I give you all my trust? If your business really fails, I can only teach in elementary school during the day and do striptease at night. I can handle it. After all, even my nephew has bought me champagne time. I don't think I'll ever encounter anything more embarrassing than this."
"Thank you for your trust. I never thought that teaching Hugh Spade a lesson would make your trust in me swell to this extent. But that's not important. What's important is, what were you struggling with just now?" Tommy Hawke smiled.
Melonie looked away and back into the air, as if thinking seriously for a moment, then turned her head back to look at Tommy Hawke in frustration: "You know, before you came back, I had been thinking about a problem. How can you, a high school student, find a buyer in Canada? I wanted to do this for you, but I sat here thinking about it for a long time and still had no idea. Tommy, I really want to help you, but I don't know how to help you. This is my dilemma."
"The buyer is not someone you can think of by sitting here. In fact, if your mortgage application is approved, I plan to take a three-day trip to Yarmouth, Canada and Portland, New Hampshire." Tommy Hawke stated his next plans.
"I won't agree with you, a high school student, going on a hike away from home to find cigarette dealers." Hearing that Tommy Hawke was going to Canada and Portland alone, Melonie shook her head decisively: "Tommy, you are smart, but that doesn't mean you have enough social experience."
Those are two coastal cities , one in Canada and the other in America. Although Portland is not too far from Warwick, about 470 kilometers away, the farthest city Tommy Hawke has ever been to is Boston, 100 kilometers away. As for Yarmouth, it is located in Canada, across the Gulf of Maine from Portland.
"I'll find a paid guide for myself." Tommy Hawke took out a cigarette and lit it. "I guess there will be a lot of buyers in Yarmouth, because that tobacco ship used to stop in the high seas near Yarmouth and spread Marlboro throughout Canada through smuggling channels, so Yarmouth should have a complete cigarette trafficking network."
"Unless you agree to let me accompany you as your guardian, I won't agree. I will inform your father immediately. You are just a high school student. I can't let you go to a strange city alone, and deal with smugglers." Melonie spoke quickly to express her concerns: "Maybe they will deceive you, like in the movies, they will accept the goods but refuse to pay..."
Tommy Hawke smiled and looked at Melonie. Melonie was a little puzzled by his look. When she found that the other party had no intention of speaking, Melonie could only ask, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. If you insist, of course you can come along on the trip as my guardian, but I'll still need a paid tour guide." Tommy shook his head and said to Melonie.
Melonie stared at Tommy and asked, "But your eyes seem to be laughing at me. Did I say something wrong?"
"Nothing, just reminding you that you missed a point when considering certain issues."
"What's missing?"
“We are Italian.”
