slightly cooler, with a fan going in one of the windows and another oscillating in the corner. An old woman sat in the tiny living room, rocking slowly in a rocking chair and watching a telenovela. She nodded at them as they came in, smiling vaguely. “Buenas,” she muttered.
“Buenas tardes,” Riel said. She felt the woman’s curious eyes on her as they went into the tiny kitchen. Women were somewhat rare in this business.
“Sientense,” Luis said, waving toward the chairs around the kitchen table.
They sat, and Luis disappeared into the back of the house. She and Evan exchanged a glance, and both of them wiped the sweat from the backs of their necks at the same time. Evan giggled. “It’s goddamn hot in here,” he said.
Riel waved away the flies trying to settle on her sticky brow. “When we retire, let’s do it somewhere with air conditioning.”
“Done and done,” Evan said.
Luis returned, lugging a large cardboard box. He sat it on the floor, then disappeared into the back again.
Evan got up and went over to the box and started unpacking it. Inside were square packages wrapped in white plastic and stamped with a grinning emoji with heart eyes. Luis came out with another box, setting it beside the first.
Evan counted the bricks. He carefully tore aside a corner of the plastic on one of them at random, stuck his thumb in and brought it to his nostril, snorting up the white powder.
He straightened, sniffing and rubbing his nose. Luis watched him. Evan’s eyebrows crept up his forehead. “Whoa,” he said.
Luis laughed. “It’s good, right? Got a new guy this time. Old one, he was fucking with us or something. Stuff wasn’t so good anymore.”
Riel’s stomach clenched. She didn’t want to know what had happened to the old guy.
They hauled the boxes out to the car and opened the secret compartment. Evan handed Luis the bag of money, and then started packing bricks into the compartment while Luis leaned against the car, counting the cash.
Riel glanced around, her heart pounding in her ears. The old men were still deep in conversation on their porch, the kids still playing across the street. A pair of older ladies were strolling down the road, dressed in linen skirt suits, and Riel wondered how they didn’t faint in the heat. None of them seemed to be showing any interest in what was going on here. She supposed they all knew better than to pay too much attention.
When the goods were all squared away, the compartment and the trunk lid closed, Riel felt her anxiety lessen somewhat. Now it’s just a matter of running it north. And since Mishmash had a guy at the border, that should be easy.
Luis shook both their hands, lingering again with Riel and giving her a cocky smile. “See you again soon,” he said.
“Hasta luego, entonces,” Riel said, heat rising to her cheeks. She could feel Evan’s eyes on the two of them.
They climbed back into the car as Luis strutted back into his house, the panting pit bull trotting behind him.
Evan started the engine and cranked the air conditioning. As they bumped down the rutted, dirt road out of the neighborhood, Evan sighed and reached over to rub Riel’s shoulders. “You doing okay?”
“I’m fine.” She adjusted the pistol, which was pinching her hip.
He put his arm around her and pulled her against him. “Let’s go to the beach and get some seafood. We’ve got some time to kill before Mishmash’s guy goes on duty.”
“Okay.” She was silent for a moment, tugging at her hair. “Evan?”
“Yeah?”
She looked up at him through her eyelashes. “Am I really your girlfriend?”
He looked sheepish, then shot her a nervous grin. “I…well…I mean, is that okay with you?” Riel’s response got stuck in her throat for a moment, and Evan shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, Riel, I just…I didn’t like Luis looking at you like that. It just popped out. But if you’d rather it not be…”
“No,” she said. “I want to be your girlfriend.”
He blinked at her, then grinned.
“It just took me by surprise, that’s all,” Riel said. “I thought you just wanted a, you know, friends-with-benefits sort of thing.”
“Sure, but friends with exclusive benefits.”
A smile spread across Riel’s face. In the middle of all this bullshit with Isaias and Mishmash, it was good to have something to be happy about. It might not work out with Evan; he may renege on his promises to help her get out of this business, get into school…he may