Err on the Side of Violence: Terribly Acronymed Detective Club Series (Book 3)

Chapter Six: Joe, Summer, 1973

"I love you!" Rachel shouted outside his window. "I love you!"

She'd been doing this for five minutes, and Joe was worried his mother might hear her.

He went to his window and opened it. "Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Because I love you," Rachel said, as if this explained everything. "We're in love, aren't we?"

"I don't know," Joe said. "Are we? We're only seven."

"But you kissed me. That means we're in love."

Joe had only kissed her on the cheek yesterday because she'd been sad and he'd wanted to make her feel better. He couldn't even remember what she was sad about... maybe she was missing her mother... but she was so rarely sad that it had broken his heart to see her that way, and he'd wanted to change her back into the happy girl he knew. It had worked too, except now she thought they were in love.

"I don't know if I can be your boyfriend," he said. "I don't think my mom will let me. Maybe your dad won't let you either. They'll say we're too young."

"Oh." She looked sad again, and Joe found himself back in the situation that had caused this whole mess in the first place.

"But we're still friends, right?" he said in desperation. "I like that you're my friend."

"Yeah," she said, still looking down at her feet.

"And hey," he said, "how about this? When we're old enough to drive cars and buy houses, if you still want me to, I'll be your boyfriend."

Rachel brightened at that. "Okay! Maybe that's better, because if we get married we'll need to buy a house and a car."

They stood smiling at each other on opposite sides of the window. "So, what are you doing today?" Joe asked.

She shrugged. "I'm over at Mrs. Anderson's today but she let me come over here if your mom's okay with it."

"Here, come in." Joe offered his hand, and she grabbed it and used it to hoist herself through the window. 

She stood looking around her room. "I've never been in here before," she said.

"I haven't been in your room either," he said.

She found the statue on his desk and looked at it. "What is it?" she asked.

"That's Jesus giving a boy Holy Communion. I got it as a gift when I had my First Communion."

She stared at him in confusion, as if he'd spoken a different language. 

"Careful with it," he warned, "it can break if you drop it."

She put it back on the desk reverently. "Where are your toys?" she asked.

"I don't have many. I've got some Tonka Trucks there in that box. Otherwise my dad says I should just use my imagination and play with whatever's around."

She looked sad for him. "But you guys have money. I don't have many toys because my dad doesn't have money, but you should have lots of toys."

Joe shrugged. "My dad thinks I should start working soon anyway. Fun always comes after work, he says."

Now she really looked sad for him. "Maybe we should go outside. Where are Al and Sunny today?"

He shrugged.

Suddenly the door to Joe's room opened, and his mom stepped inside. When she saw Rachel, she started. "Giuseppe, what you doing with la ragazza in you room? How she get in?"

"I helped her through the window," he said, as if this were an everyday occurrence. 

"Hi, Mrs. DiTomaso," Rachel said politely. "Can Joe play outside?"