“This is terrible,” she said, surveying the damage.
“All clear,” Danny yelled from inside. He stepped over shards of broken glass as he returned.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Someone sabotaged all the GOP signs in the neighborhood last week. Some guy came over and accused Fletcher of doing it. They almost got in a fight.”
Danny picked up the red brick and turned it over. Spray-painted in black, it said, “RIP Democrats.” He showed it to Dot. She shivered.
He went to the back and grabbed a push broom. “Let me clean this up.” He started pushing the shattered glass into one pile.
“Oh, I can do it,” Dot said. “You need to get to work.”
“I’m not leaving you to do this. I’ll stay until Jake can come over and investigate. He’ll want to see the security camera footage.”
“Good idea,” she said, pulling out her phone. She took several photos of the broken window, the damage to one of the computers, and the brick and sent them to Jake. Then she texted Fletcher, Rose, and Kitty with the news.
“All right. I’m almost done here,” he said. “I’ll send one of my guys over to replace the window today, or at least board it up immediately. It’s too chilly outside to leave it like that.”
“Thanks. I hope this doesn’t get any worse. We have five weeks to go. Everyone is too amped.”
“Agree. I had to turn off the news last night.” He leaned on the broom with one arm. “The nation needs a circuit breaker. Too many angry people,” he added.
“I’m so glad you never get angry.” Dot went over and put her arms around his waist.
“It’s a choice. I don’t get too worked up about politics,” he said. A year ago, that comment might have irritated her. Now, she found herself appreciating his approach. “We all agree on most of the big things. What we need is a little common sense.”
“I think Lopez has great common sense,” she said. “Maybe I’ll get you to vote for her after all.”
“No chance of that,” he said, but his tone was light.
“All right. It was worth a try. A kiss before our day gets taken away from us?” He obliged.
A few moments later, Jake pulled up out front. “Political violence and you two are making out?”
Danny scoffed, and she took the broom from him.
“Hope you can find out who did this,” he said. “Things are a little too hot around here.”
“Looks like it.” Jake laughed and smacked Danny’s back.
“I’m out of here,” Danny said, a smile on his face. “I’ll call you later, Dot.”
She waved and started from the beginning as Jake took down the details for his report.
Chapter 60
The Crew was up early that Sunday morning in early October. Jake was on his way with Tommy and Danny in the Taylors’ Suburban to pick the girls up for the Packers game that afternoon. The guys were excited to show them a good time.
“Where in the world did you get those?” Dot was in the kitchen drinking tea when Mary came in wearing green sparkly spandex leggings. Her legs looked impossibly long.
“Amazon,” she said. “I’ll probably only wear them once, but totally worth it, don’t you think?”
She twirled and Dot had to admit, “Absolutely worth it.”
Dot’s dad had sent each of them a Packers’ sweatshirt through the team’s page, so they were coordinated in green and gold, ready for this Wisconsin rite of passage.
“Let’s take a pic for my dad,” Dot said. She gathered Harper and Mary on the stairs. Harper held up Pippi in her own little Packers’ sweater.
“Cheeseheads!” Dot snapped the photo and texted it to her family group chat, “#GoPackGo.”