Page 52 of Crash Course
Finally, the woman cocked her head. "Wait. You’re Priscilla Randolph! I recognize you from your pictures online."
In the words of the immortal SpongeBob,"What the . . .?"
Gobsmacked, Cilla remained still, lining up her thoughts. She’d wanted this trip to be on the QT and off—way off—Dad’s radar. She hadn’t anticipated being recognized.
Behind her, Cruz’s spidey sense must have gone on alert because she heard the truck door open. She glanced back, spotted him coming toward them.
She turned to the couple. The only thing to do would be to admit it. Cut the tension immediately and then come up with a reason they were here.
"Yes," she said. "I’m Priscilla."
"Knew it!" The woman laughed. She looked up at her husband. "She’s Darren Randolph’s daughter. Remember, I told you about her a couple of weeks ago."
"The bigshot lawyer out of Charlotte?"
Gosh, how Cilla loved when people spoke about her as if she weren’t witnessing the entire exchange.
"Yes! That’s her."
Um, right here, folks.
Cruz stepped up, nodding at the couple.
"This is my friend, Cruz." Cilla swung to him. "These fine folks recognized me."
Hellos and handshakes were exchanged and the woman—Sherry Tate—met Cilla’s gaze. "I’m not a stalker. I promise."
"Well," the husband cracked. "Not totally."
She laughed and waved him off. "Hush, you." She came back to Cilla. "Your daddy called us."
Her fathercalledthem? Beside her, Cilla felt Cruz’s gaze on her. She couldn’t look. Couldn’t let these people, these strangers know they’d just shocked the hell out of her.
"We know the name, of course," Sherry continued. "Everyone in this town does. But imagine my surprise when Randolph Industries came up on my caller ID. Well, it was the man himself. He’s so kind to check on us."
What in the hell was this woman was going on about? And why would Dad be checking on them?
Hoping she’d continue her prattling, Cilla nodded. "He’s good that way."
"And so kind! He wanted to tell us about the Randolph Community Resource fund. I can’t tell you how much that’ll help with bills."
Community Resource Fund? This rabbit hole got weirder and weirder. Attempting to stay focused on the conversation, Cilla filed that away to research later.
"Sherry," Jake said, "too much information."
"Oh, I’m sorry. I do that sometimes. Anyhoo, we got to chatting about our kids and your daddy was going on and on about you. You know, he’s awfully proud."
She did know. Absolutely. Everywhere she went, people told her. What she wasn’t altogether sure of was if Dad’s pride revolved around her or himself, since he’d raised her and could therefore take complete credit for her success.
Dad, she’d learned, didn’t do a lot of things that wouldn’t somehow benefit him.
Still, Cilla played along, nodding at Sherry. "Thank you for saying that. He’s been good to me. Makes me happy he’s proud."
"Oh, he is. When I got off the phone, I told Jake I needed to see who you were because you were some kind of legal Wonder Woman."
Smiling, Cilla held up a hand. "Okay.That’s overkill."
"I showed my daughter all the magazine covers you’d been on. She’s ten and still dreaming about what she wants to be when she grows up. I keep telling her, go to school. Get aneducation. Be a businessperson or doctor or lawyer, like you."
