First, Best and Always

Chapter 30 – Dinner For Three


Raven and Vin pulled into the parking lot at Tadesco’s at 7:46, Raven, who hated to be late for anything wanted to make sure that they were there on time. As they exited her car and headed for the front door of the restaurant Vin was stopped by an assortment of teenage fans, wanting autographs. He found himself surrounded by 6 or 7 adolescent boys all clamoring for his signature on anything they could find that would hold it. Raven, who had become quite used to these little mini mob scenes, nodded to Vin that she would head inside and reminded him to hurry with the autographs as Eric, evidenced by his truck in the lot, was already inside. He promised to rush it and set about signing slips of paper, tee shirts where they hung on the owner’s backs, and one kid even wanted Vin to sign his sneakers.

It was during this signing, when Vin bent down that he noticed the unusual red mud on the kid’s jeans, just like the mud he’d seen earlier in the day on the seat of Raven’s pants. As he looked further he could see that it was all over the tires and the wheel well of her car. Curious, he asked the kid how he got so dirty. The young man responded that they liked to go dirt bike riding over near the old cemetery, that that was where all the red mud came from, adding that it was the only place in town like it.

“It’s a great place to ride, but we always get in trouble about being so far out away from everything, you know, in case there was an accident or something”

The second boy piped in with, “My mom doesn’t’ worry as much about that as she does the dirt, she says it’s hard as old Harry to get out of your clothes, told me if I’m gonna ride I gotta get some gear that’s just for that and nothing else.”

“The only place in town, you say” Vin responded.

“Yeah, the old folks and the Indians said it has something to do with all the volcanoes that used to be here, it’s the only place in the county with that red mud.”

“Interesting,” Vin said as he finished signing and turned to head into the restaurant. It was at that moment that his eye caught sight of something unexpected. He stopped and walked back towards the cars, Eric’s red truck was parked two spots down from Raven’s. As Vin took a closer look he could see that the tires, the wheel wells, and the mud flaps were all covered with the same red mud. He touched one of the flaps and one of the tires and found that the mud was fresh, it hadn’t even had time to dry completely, indicating that it was picked up sometime recently,

“Yeah,” he said to himself, “like in the last 2 hours or so.” Vin was fuming, “She lied to me” he said almost aloud, “She fuckin’ lied to me, stood right in my face and lied about being with him.”