Fresh Temptation

park?”
    “I want a wace caw.” He grinned.
    Patty appeared at the door. “What are you doing home so soon? What happened? Why didn’t you call?”
    “Shh.” Cara’s eyes widened at her mom. She turned back to Isaac. “I’m gonna go get you some more to drink. We’ll talk about that race car later.” Cara stood and turned on the small television to Isaac’s favorite cartoon channel, then left the room.
    “So?” Patty asked, her hand on her hip. She followed her daughter downstairs. “What happened?”
    Cara raced down to the kitchen, trying to put this talk off as long as possible. Like she could change the past if she didn’t talk about it. “I lost my job.”
    “What?” Patty brought her hand to her chest. “You got fired?”
    “Not exactly.” Cara opened the refrigerator and took out a small bottle of apple juice. When she plunked it down on the kitchen table, tears ran down her face. “They shut the company down.”
    “Who shut the company down?”
    “The IRS.” She sniffled. “Doyle owed taxes.” Her cry changed to a high-pitched wail. “I’ll probably never get the money they owe me.”
    Patty put her arms around her daughter and let her cry against her shoulder.
    Cara continued through her tears. “What am I gonna do? I’ve applied for jobs everywhere. There’s nothing.”
    “We’ll see if you can get some unemployment.” She rubbed her back. “And you can stay here and help me fill some cake orders.”
    Cara groaned at that thought. Her mom worked at a bakery before she retired. She now lived on a fixed income and baked for the few cake orders she received. Cara, however, hated to cook. She felt she just wasn’t born with that gene, and her mom’s skills had never rubbed off on her. “If you get a lot of orders I’ll help, I guess.”
    “Don’t worry, dear. We’ll be okay. You make enough from Marcy’s cleaning service to pay for groceries for you and Isaac. We’ll scrape by.”
    Cara pulled away from her, wiping her face with her hands. “I don’t want to just ‘scrape by,’ Mom. I was trying to save money so I could relocate when I finally get another job offer.”
    “I know that, but life doesn’t always go the way we want.”
    Cara scoffed. “You don’t have to tell me that. I learn that lesson, daily.”
    Patty rubbed Cara’s shoulder. “You know, I think you’re missing the obvious here.”
    “What’s that?”
    Patty sighed wistfully. “A certain rich Mexican gentleman who gave you his business card—”
    “Oh, Mom.” She shook her head. “Will you stop talking about that? I know you told Marcy all about it, too. Look, he’s probably moved on to some other charity case by now. Just because he’s rich, it doesn’t mean he’s sane.” She picked up the juice bottle and started toward the stairs. “Trust me, he’s gotta be crazy to come all the way out here like he did. Remember that movie we saw about that girl who fell in love with that oil tycoon and he was psycho and killed her whole family?”
    “That was a Lifetime movie. It wasn’t real.”
    “Oh, I’m pretty sure it was based on actual events.” Cara knew it was a stretch but she had grown tired of her mom’s nagging. “Think about it. A guy like that could ruin our lives. He might be a total nut job.”
    “Sure, he might be. Or he might not be. Seemed like a nice guy as far as I could tell. Very down to Earth. And he loved my cooking.”
    Cara sighed as she walked upstairs. “Everyone loves your cooking. Especially psychos.”
    “I don’t care what you say. If you don’t call him, I will.”
    Cara shook her head. As she approached Isaac’s room, she thought she heard him talking aloud, maybe to the television. But her mouth dropped open when she saw him laughing with her cell phone to his ear.
    “Uh-huh,” Isaac said into the phone, laughing hysterically. “Cwoaky fwog.”
    Cara ran across the room. “Who are you talking to?”
    He put both hands on the phone, holding it like he didn’t want to let it go. “Bictow.”
    “Big toe?” Cara snatched the phone and brought it to her ear. “Who’s this?”
    A man laughed. “ Big toe .” He laughed some more. “ I mean, Victor .” He cleared his throat. “ Victor Barboza .”
    Her eyes and mouth both dropped open. She stared at Patty as she rushed to the hallway for privacy. She stumbled over her words, nervous. “Um…um…my son isn’t supposed to be using my cell phone. I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be