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Part I: The Pitch
"Okay, well my girl..." he gestured vaguely her way, "Clarissa is abouta explain it all!"
He turned to her, though she didn't seem willing to be forthcoming, so he turned back to Clyde, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, "We're gonna rob a bank, man. And it's gonna be sick. And we can't do it...without you!"
Clarissa stared daggers at Dom.
"But...this is the president of schools," Clyde said in disbelief.
"We all have hobbies," Clarissa replied, before digging into the explanation. "They say speed kills, and you're pretty fast. We'd be hitting the community bank on Easton. Small joint. You and I go in, I keep any interference under control, you pick up the loot fast, and Dom drives us away. Pretty simple if you just do what I say, keep your head down and your mouth shut. Can you manage that?"
Clyde was quiet for a bit. "I don't know. I got a good thing goin' here, man. Got a basketball scholarship on deck that'll pay for college no problem. I don't need the money and I got practice to keep up with..."
"Listen, man..." Dom looked him in the eye, "I'm your friend, right?"
Clyde's eyes darted. "Uh...yeah."
"And have I ever steered you wrong?"
"Well...there was that time you told me to bet on the Pelicans."
"But mostly!" Dom interjected, "My word's good money. So if I say we're gonna come away from this with like a coupla ballers, we've got a pretty high success rate."
He beamed, "Call me Hillary, my man. Safest fuckin' bet you can make."
Clyde stroked his chin. "Aight," he beamed. "Let's do it!"
"HEY, CARTER! YOU'RE NEEDED!" a voice from outside the room called.
"Be there in a second, coach!" Clyde called back.
"We'll meet for details later today," Clarissa was sure to tell him before he left. "Denny's, side of Exit 4E. Can you make it?"
"Whatever you say, Prez!" Clyde assured her, jogging backwards and then turning, cheering, "WOO! LET'S LIGHT IT UP!" The crowd cheered in turn, leaving Clarissa and Dom alone.
"I'm not sure if I trust 'your boy,'" Clarissa said to her new partner in crime.
-Clyde and Clarissa
"Well, start trusting," Dom told her, "You trust me, right?"
Clarissa glared at him, looking him over head to toe.
She walked off.
********************
The first day of the rest of her life.
As yesterday had been, and the day before. And likely every day to come for the rest of her life.
But she was used to it. Some days, Sarah Teague-Goldberg almost enjoyed it.
Other days...
"Hey, Stu-bear," she leaned over the desk, pecking her husband on the cheek, "Hard at work?"
Stu Goldberg had a lovely home, a lovely wife, and a simple life. To him it was a good life, one that would keep him content and hopefully keep his wife happy.
Sarah was too good a woman not to be kept happy, He couldn't give her the world, but he could give her what she needed. And boy oh boy would she be pleased when he earned his next promotion, so he was putting in some extra work tome then and again.
He smiled his goofy smile as he saw his wife and leaned into the cheek kiss,
"Well you know the saying dear, money never sleeps, and neither do accountants." He said with a soft laugh.
"They're working you too hard," she said lightly, "It's Sunday."
"All the hard work I do today will lead to less work in the future." He said taking her hand, in his hands.
"The vacation to Fiji won't pay for itself after all." He told her with raised brows in a matter of fact tone. He stood up from his desk in his home office, and placed his hands on her shoulders, "Picture it, us on the beach, drinking those little umbrella drinks."
"If you want I can take fifteen minutes, we can eat something, drink some coffee, at the island in the kitchen?" He asked
"Fifteen minutes...a day," Sarah smiled, "Things have a way of spiraling, you know. I don't know if you'd want to risk it..."
Fiji. A nice idea, a pretty dream. She'd never been anywhere before, none of them really had. Anne was content with it, of course. She'd chosen a life of staying in the same place until she dropped dead.
"I haven't told Daddy yet," Sarah continued, "This tiny rebel part of me doesn't want to," she smirked, "My one indulgence."
"I think I can risk fifteen minutes for my wonderful wife." He said taking off his glasses for a moment and placing a brief kiss to her lips.
He placed his glasses back on and headed towards the kitchen,
"You know I really wish you had a better relationship with your father, I know he doesn't like me much, but it pains me that there's such an emotional distance between the two of you."
"He and I talk!" said Sarah, "Just...not a lot," she opened the fridge, "I have chicken paaaaarm..." she singsonged, taking out a dish of leftovers and committing the suburban sacrilege of placing them in the microwave.
"He's been so busy, you know, and...well, honestly I don't think he talks to anybody. Except, maybe Jamie, but they live in the same house, so how do you avoid that?" she paused, "Though, I guess if he's still sleeping in the office, maybe he does."
"Chicken Parm in my tummy, chicken parm is so yuuuuumy." He sang as he tapped an off beat drum roll.
"You know what I think we should do?" He asked as he walked over to the coffee maker, yes a coffee maker, not one of those fancy kurigs. He didn't like the taste of those much.
"I think we should invite your whole family over for dinner."
"Stu, if you rhyme about dinner to my father, he might actually get violent," Sarah said lightly, "You know, I'd have to make this house presentable first," she told him.
Not that the house wasn't clean. Sarah had little else to do these days except buff out the floors while watching The View. She had to be the most reliable 22-year-old in their audience. But there were some things...the cutesy cat figures, the modern art, the stair master she never used...
"And I'd have to lure Anne away from the convent, which she only does when one of us is about to die."
"C'mon, it would be really good for all of us." He told her, and gave her a little nudge,
"And if you work things out with your family, we dont have to visit my folks every Hanukkah.." He offered the sweet escape from his mother's perpetual judgement.
"I like Hanukkah!" Sarah protested, though she smiled, "What, do you want them over for Thanksgiving? I could ask Dad to go out and shoot a turkey."
"I'd much eather he buy it at the store, but whatever works for him." He said as the brew finished and he poured himself a cup."
"It'll be quite the evening, having the nun in the house." He said with a chuckle as he sat down.
"You know how he is," she told him, "He must feel like he contributed to the meal, and he's not the type to buy a pecan pie and call it a day."
Sarah beamed, "Anne likes you! She does. She's not some fanatic," she paused, "You know, I think she only joined the convent to get guys off her back anyway. Don't tell her I said that."
"Yes, from what I've heard Anne was quite the eye carxher back in the day." He said as he looked over at her, raising his mug.
"But I think I may just have won the heart of the most beautiful Teague woman."
"Well, duh," she wrinkled up her nose, taking an indulgent sip, "I've got to make a run tonight, to Lakewood. Maybe I'll pay Daddy a visit and let him know how much you love him."
"Oh please, like i need another speech about how I'm too soft to take care of his daughter." He said with a shake of his head.
"So are Bob and Susan still on for double date night Friday?" He asked as he gathered two forks and set up their seating places for the lunch.
"Bowling and Apple Bees this week." He said with a romantic shoulder sway
"Bob and his Applebee's," said Sarah lightly, "We spend 30 minutes sitting around the table arguing what to get before we get the same thing," she laughed, though there was a catch as she did so, "Don't you just want to run away sometimes?"
She hadn't meant to ask that, yet there it was.
Stu furrowed his brows and shook his head,
"Why would I want to runaway, I have everything I need, everything I want, right here with you." He told her.
Sometimes Stu saw something in Sarah's eyes, bit he couldn't wuite place it,
"You okay sweetie?"
"Oh!" Sarah whirled around, snapped back to reality, "I'm sorry, that was..." she hesitated, "That was silly. Just...thinking of Fiji, I guess."
She cleared her throat, "I...uh...I've got to get ready to...um..to go."
Stu stood up and put his hands on her hips,
"Fiji soon honey, I promise." He told her as he kissed her cheek and made a plate.
"If you need me, just call okay?"