freaked out. It’s brave, helping us.”
Elijah rolled his eyes – but smiled. “Yeah, yeah, sure.” He said goodbye, and headed off for his car.
When Carter slung his leg over his bike, fastened his helmet, and glanced to see if Mercy was ready, he found him grinning at him. “What?”
“Nothing,” Mercy said, buckling his own helmet. “It’s just my little pretty boy’s growing up.”
“Dude. Shut up.” But he couldn’t hold back a grin as he cranked the bike.
~*~
Leah checked the sidemirror of Ava’s truck and glimpsed their escort, riding close behind. It was a prospect she’d never met before, lanky and floppy-haired and fresh-faced: Evan, Ava had said.
“Not to doubt your dad’s security assignment or anything…”
“I know,” Ava said, sighing through her nose as she piloted the truck through the next intersection. Behind them, Evan nearly missed the light and accelerated to keep up. “Evan’s not exactly the Punisher or anything, but he’s not totally incompetent. I don’t think,” she added with a wince. “Mostly it’s just about having a presence. No one will try anything crazy if they see a cut tailing us. And if they did.” She patted her purse where it rested between them. “I’m packing.”
“I’m not,” Leah said, unnecessarily. It was a weak joke and she knew it, but she said, “You’ll have to do the shooting for both of us.”
Ava didn’t miss a beat. “We’ll have to get you your own piece. I can take you up to the cattle property and show you the ropes. Or.” She turned away from the road long enough to send her a shit-eating grin and an eyebrow waggle. “Or Carter could take you. Show you those ropes.”
Leah sighed. “Sometimes I miss the days when you thought romance was stupid.”
“I never said it was stupid.”
“No, you just didn’t care about anybody’s romantic life but your own.”
Ava made a scandalized sound, and Leah burst out laughing. “I’m not that big of an asshole – am I?”
“Not now, no.”
Ava sighed. “Well. I guess you change enough diapers and clean up enough vomit and you start liking to live vicariously.”
“Is this you wishing you’d married Carter instead of Mercy?”
“Uh…yeah right. No offense to your taste in men or anything.”
By the time they pulled up to Cook’s Coffee, they were both laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes and side stitches.
Evan’s face appeared on the other side of the window, scrunched up with concern. “Are you okay?” he called through the glass. “Are you crying?”
“We’re fine!” Ava called back, waving him off until he retreated up onto the sidewalk. “Reverting to sixteen-year-olds, but otherwise fine.”
They’d left the kids at the clubhouse under Maggie, Holly, and Kris’s watchful gazes, and so once they’d checked their mascara and collected themselves, they headed into the shop.
“Girls!” Marie called the second they were through the door. She’d been ecstatic since Ian had said he would buy the building; she looked at least five years younger. The lines of worry on her brow and around her mouth had smoothed; her skin seemed to glow. “What a nice surprise! Are y’all here for lunch? Out shopping? Ooh, Ava, you’re kid-free. Nothing like a good girls’ day.”
All of Leah’s good humor for the car fizzled as she was reminded why they’d come. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, Mrs. Cook.”
Marie picked up on their tones right away. Her face fell. “Oh no. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Leah said, and then made a face, because that wasn’t true at all.
Ava had more experience with this sort of thing. With calm aplomb, she said, “Mrs. Cook, if it’s alright, we want to tell you a little bit about some of what’s been going on here in the shopping district, and prepare you for what to expect moving forward.”
“Oh, dear,” Marie said. “Well, that doesn’t sound good.”
~*~
Ghost got all the way to ten ‘til one before he had to deal with Dave Connors. He was standing behind Ratchet’s chair, watching him click through screens at wild speed – he’d hacked into yet more traffic cams, and with new info from the high school kids via Carter, they were trying to pin down a black Chevy Malibu on the night of Allie’s disappearance – when his cellphone went off. It was Boomer up at the gate, his tone cringing. “He says he’s Jimmy’s father, and he is – pissed ain’t the word. He’s outta his goddamn mind.”
“Let him in,” Ghost said. “Tell him where to find me. I’ll be ready.”
“Okay,” Boomer said, doubtful.
Ghost slipped his phone away and