Something was happening here, something important. I just didn’t get what.
“Hawk,” I breathed.
“Fuck me, totally missed out.”
“Baby,” I replied softly.
“Coffee, querida,” I heard, my neck twisted and I was surprised to see Maria standing there, offering me coffee.
I took it with a, “Thanks.”
“No problem,” she muttered, her eyes shifting quickly to Hawk then she turned back to the bacon on the stove.
“So Gwen, what do you do?” Gus asked and I looked at him, relieved at a normal question and how it shifted an atmosphere that had bizarrely grown heavy.
“I’m a book editor,” I answered then took a sip of coffee.
“Like it?” Gus asked.
“Yes,” I answered.
“What’s your Dad do?” Gus went on.
“Construction, ex-Army and part-time handyman because his daughter bought a money pit,” I told him.
Gus smiled. “Keeps us young, lookin’ out for our kids, no matter how old they are.”
“Well, I endeavor to give my father every opportunity to stay young.”
Gus’s smile widened. “Bet he loves every minute of it,” Gus guessed wrongly.
“He lectured me for five hours not to buy that house and I bought it anyway so when the bathtub crashed through the floor into the living room, he had to take an hour long timeout so he wouldn’t strangle me and be known on on-line encyclopedias as a daughter-killer so I’m not sure he loves every minute of it.”
“Trust me,” Gus stated, still smiling, “he loves every minute of it.”
“Okay,” I decided to agree.
“And your Mom?” Gus kept interrogating me.
“Meredith is a secretary for a divorce lawyer,” I answered.
“Meredith?” he asked.
“My stepmom.”
“What’s your Mom do?” Gus kept at me.
“Pop,” Hawk said low and Gus’s eyes went to his son.
“She disappeared when I was little,” I answered readily and the Delgado intensity hit me again coming from all sides.
“Sorry, Gwen, I didn’t know,” Gus said.
“It’s okay, Gus, it was a long time ago,” I replied just as Hawk’s neck twisted so he could look toward the door.
I looked up at him to see his brows knit and heard him mutter, “Who now?”
He let me go and moved to the door as I took another sip of coffee, smelled bacon and my stomach informed me I was hungry.