Roam took a breath. “Careful of Crowe.”
Sniff looked at his feet.
“Sorry?”
Roam got up and looked down on me. Sniff got up too but he was inching away.
“He’s a player,” Roam told me. “Heard about you two. Everyone’s talking about it. He’s movin’ in fast.”
I could tell he was uncomfortable, so was I, so I cut in. “Roam, don’t worry about me. It’s not –”
“He’s a player,” Roam interrupted me.
“Roam –”
“He’s a player,” he repeated. “Everybody knows it. He wants a piece of your ass.”
“Roam!”
“That’s all he wants.”
“I think I know what I’m doing,” I said, even though I didn’t but I still could not believe I was getting a talking to from a fifteen year old boy. So he had more earth-shattering life experiences than your average adult.
Still.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Roam finished and before I could say anything he and Sniff moved away.
I watched them go and I was trying to get my mind around what just happened when I heard an exclamation from across the room.
“Sugar, I just love that sweater! Where’d you get it?”
I turned to look at the front door and Indy, Jet, Roxie, Daisy and a beautiful brunette who looked like a female version of Lee Nightingale were standing there. Daisy was addressing Clarice who was wearing a big, fluffy pink sweater.
“Stole it,” Clarice declared boldly to Daisy.
Daisy didn’t even blink. “Okay then, where did you steal it?” Then she turned to Indy. “Gotta get me one of those. It’d go perfect with my new pink cowboy boots.” She turned back to Clarice. “You steal another one, darlin’, my size is medium.”
“Daisy!” Jet exclaimed.
“What?” Daisy asked.
Clarice stared at her like she’d dropped to earth from another galaxy. I walked up to them.
“Hey Jules,” Indy said when I arrived.
“Hi. Um…” I didn’t know what to say.
Roxie smiled at me. “Thought we’d pop by, say hi.”
“I’m Ally Nightingale.” The brunette offered her hand and I shook it not surprised by her last name.
“Hey,” I said to her then turned to Daisy. “Sorry about this but you probably shouldn’t encourage the kids to steal. We try to talk them out of that kind of thing.”
Daisy looked at me for a beat then turned to Clarice. “What’s your name, Sugar?”
“Clarice,” Clarice told her.
“Well, I’m Daisy. You go back to that shop, you let me know and I’ll meet you there. You have a cell?”