Crazy Enough

Crazy Enough: Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Ivan waited in their room when they returned. Alex stopped in the doorway and said to Ivan, "The door was locked."

Ivan chewed on a burrito, said nothing, and Corkie pushed Alex aside to enter.

"By now, you should know not to assume such things, like locked doors, with my friends," she said, and rushed over to grab one of the wrapped burritos. "Bean and cheese?"

"It was what they had," Ivan muffled around a bite.

"Who had?" Corkie eyed the contents of the burrito suspiciously. Alex shut the door with a click and stayed by it.

"One of those food trucks...out by the Pemex station."

Corkie dropped her burrito with disgust. "Couldn't you find a nice little taqueria? Or something that wasn't sitting out in this heat in a metal box on wheels?"

Ivan swallowed and said, "You are too picky, nińa. I was working on a way to get you across the border legally."

"And you couldn't stop to grab a couple of decent tacos?"

"Allow me to repeat," Ivan said slowly. "I...was...working."

Alex made a sound from his corner in the room, and then said, "She doesn't understand the concept."

"I do, too," she said, and grabbed some tortilla chips from the bag. "You two take work way too seriously. You should both lighten up and relax once in awhile."

"Coming from the woman who's been chasing a ghost for two years," Alex replied and walked over to take the burrito she discarded on the small table. She watched him sniff it, scrutinize it, and shrug at it—then he took a big bite. Corkie shuddered. She liked to eat, but she liked knowing she'd keep it down later, too.

"But I know when to have a little fun," she said. "I betcha, Alex, if given half a chance, we could have a lot of fun together—"

Alex choked on his burrito, and Corkie hopped up to smack him on the back. "Slow down there," she told him. "Don't kill yourself on cheap burritos. I've got plans for you later—"

Then, Ivan started coughing and gagging on his food. "Not you, too," she said, whacking him on the back at the same time. "I knew those things weren't good—"

"Stop," Alex choked out, waving her off. He sucked in some deep breaths. "It's not the damn burritos. It's you!"

"What did I do?"

He stared at her while wiping his mouth with a paper napkin. "You honestly don't know, do you? After all that talk in the store, and your teasing and your questions, and hell, don't even get me started on you groping my crotch every time I kiss you—"

Ivan, drinking from a soda can, spurted cola all over the table, burritos, chips and all.

Corkie sighed. "Ivan...are you okay?"

Ivan stood up. "I'm too old for this, nińa. Juan...maybe he can tolerate your ways better than me, but you're too much like my Sophia. There are some things a father just does not want to hear." He kissed her on the cheek and said, "You will not be able to cross the border here until tomorrow. Hibram has men everywhere, looking for you. But I managed to call a friend of mine and let it spread that there is a blonde American woman asking a lot of questions up by Cuidad Juarez. I should be able to slip you across in the morning."

Corkie breathed. She had time for Alex. And she gave Ivan a smile. "That's fine. But can you call Juan and let him know? I'd hate for him to tell Daddy I'm in Mexico when I'm practically swimming across the Rio now."