He made it to her side of the car and tapped on the window.

It whirred down and she looked out.

“Sorry, didn’t know you were police,” she muttered, cheeks pink, eyes hidden behind expensive sunglasses even though the sun had barely risen.

But her expression was easily read, showing irritation at the further delay, something she was not going to share to his face, and embarrassment because she’d been caught by a cop who could do something about her being an impatient bitch.

“It make a difference I’m police or not?” he asked.

“I’ve got an early meeting,” she explained. “Dropping off Asa, I’m late for work.”

“That might be so, ma’am, but, and I hope you agree with me, you honkin’ and behavin’ like that in front of a bunch of nine-, ten-, and eleven-year-olds does not teach good lessons. Makin’ it worse, nothin’ anyone can do to make the drop-off go faster, seein’ as there’s nowhere anyone can go until it’s open to go there. So think it’s best you keep your hand off your horn and wait your turn like everyone else.”

“They should do something about this,” she snapped, flicking a hand at the cars slowly passing them, a long line to get in, the line crawling to get out. “It’s like this every day and it’s ridiculous.”

She was not wrong.

He didn’t share he agreed with her.

He stated, “That’s not the issue. The issue is, I got a boy in that school and he’s of an age where there’re a lot of ways he’s learnin’. And I don’t want him to see folks actin’ like you and thinkin’ it’s okay when it’s not. He’s gotta learn to be patient, workin’ with his fellow citizens to get on in life. If this situation doesn’t work for you, take it up with the school or the town or suck it up like everyone else. Don’t take it out on other parents who got the same goal as you to get their kids to school safe and get on their way. Yeah?”

“Yes, Officer,” she mumbled.

He nodded. “Thanks for your time.”

She nodded back.

He walked to his truck, thinking that there was not a lot of joy in his job.

Except when he got to do shit like that.

He got in his truck. It took him all of three minutes to crawl to the exit of the school and pull out.

Then he went to his dad’s.

He pulled in the driveway, got out, and made his way up to his dad’s house, the house Garrett and Raquel grew up in, the house their mother was murdered in.

He never got why his father didn’t sell it before Rocky and him moved out, and he definitely never got why he didn’t after.

He also never questioned his dad about it. The Merricks didn’t do shit like that.

Which might be one of the reasons why they were all, in their own ways, fucked up.