“Fitz said his Coast Guard friend is going to call later.”
“Around eight tonight,” Cope said confidently. At the moment, the time was the only thing he could see about the phone call. He had no idea if Milt could help Cannonball. “Come to our room and you can sit in on the conversation. I’m sure the information you can offer will be helpful in determining if the Guard can help you.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Cope stood up from the bench ready to head back to his family. Wolf’s turn was coming up again. “You know it’s not too late to forge a relationship with CJ. In the last two days I’ve learned that he loves trains and sharks. FYI, they’ve got a set of megalodon jaws at the Ripley museum.” Cope pointed up the street where a large purple and aqua King Kong statue that marked the entrance to the museum. “You can stand inside of it and have your picture taken. There’s also a train museum back over the U.S. border in New York.”
“How do you know all this?”
Cope held up his phone. “This little invention called Google Give it a shot.” He turned and headed back to Wolf, who was waving him forward from the second hole.
Cope didn’t know if his little chat with Cannonball would change his future, but maybe the man would take the hint and go to theRipley’s Believe it or Not museum to spend what could be their last afternoon together.
Fingers crossed.
16
Jude
The rest of Saturday went by in a flash. After mini golf, the kids had gotten bubblegum ice cream and wanted to take a drive on the racetrack. Wolf had wanted to drive the little race car by himself, but didn’t meet the height requirement. Jude sat him on his lap and let him steer. All of the kids had a ball, so did Ronan, and Fitz, who took Kaye to the Fallsview Casino to try her hand at the slot machines. She won over five hundred dollars, while Ronan lost forty.
For dinner, they’d gone to the hotel’s buffet. It was so much easier than trying to order for eleven people and expecting everyone’s food to be hot. Not to mention that if the kids or Ronan didn’t like something, they could go back to the buffet and grab something else.
After dinner, Jude and Ronan got the kids settled in their room with snacks and movie, while the adults got ready for the call from Fitzgibbon’s friend. He’d asked Everly what was going to happen on the phone call and she didn’t have an answer. At a few minutes to eight, Cannonball showed up with Heidi and CJ, who was excited to join his new friends for movie night.
Heidi and Cannonball looked like they hadn’t slept in a month. Cope had no idea what to say to either of them. They knew what was at stake. Cannonball was hoping the Coast Guard could save his stunt and his ass, while Heidi was hoping her husband would call the whole thing off.
At a few minutes past eight, Fitz’s phone rang. Ronan had set it up so that the video call could be shown on the television. “Hey, Milt!” Fitzgibbon said.
“Good to see you, Fitzy!” Milton Forsythe was a silver fox. His salt and pepper hair was cut short and he was dressed in his navy blue uniform jacket with yellow stripes on his cuffs signifying his rank.
“This is Cannonball Jackson, our daredevil,” Fitz said after introducing everyone else in the room.
“Cannonball! That sound like a Guard nickname if I ever heard one.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Now, let’s get down to brass tacks.” Milt was all business now. “Just so that I understand the situation, you want the USCG to lend you an assist when you attempt to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel because your father died doing the same stunt twenty years ago?”
Jude couldn’t help but think how ridiculous it sounded when Milt explained the stunt in such simple terms.
“Yes, sir, that’s what I plan to do. The Coast Guard getting involved wasn’t something I knew could possibly happen until this morning.” Cannonball turned to Ronan. “Does he know about…?”
“Yes, Milt knows about Everly and her gifts. As a matter of fact, she reunited Milt with his father. It was a very touching reunion.”
“Everly is quite a little lady. I haven’t had my ass handed to me like that since I was a boy.” Milt grinned at Ronan.
“Yeah, she definitely has a way with people.” Ronan laughed.
“But evidently not with you, Cannonball.” Milt raised an eyebrow at the daredevil before continuing, “This little girl along with a ballroom full of psychics told you that you were going to die doing this stunt and you’re still going through with it? What in tarnation am I missing here, son?”
Cannonball’s mouth dropped open. For the first time since Jude met the man, it seemed he was at a loss for words.
“And you, Mrs. Cannonball, what have you got to say about this?”
“Nothing that could be repeated on television, that’s for sure.” Heidi crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head at her dumbass husband.
Milt barked out a quick laugh. “At least someone in the family has some common sense. You realize that water is around fifty degrees this time of year and what a shock to your system that would be on a normal day, not to mention after you’ve dropped eighty feet off a waterfall.”
