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The phone didn’t even ring half a ring when he picked up.
“What the hell, Alora? I thought you’d been kidnapped,” he yelled into the phone.
“Well, hello to you too. I’ve told you at least a thousand times over the years you need to stop watching those crazy ass shows. They make you more paranoid by the minute.” I laughed into the phone.
“It’s not funny. Shit like that happens every day. I don’t want you to end up a statistic.”
It was hard not to laugh again when I knew he was being sincere. He wanted to make sure we were all safe. A few years ago, he’d gotten me, Mia, Elizabeth, and Toni each a can of mace, a taser, and safety alarm for our key chains so he’d feel better about us being out on our own. If he could clone himself and be with each of us at all times, he would.
“I’m sorry for laughing, but you have to admit sometimes you’re over the top. As you can hear, I’m perfectly fine. I arrived safe and sound.”
“Thank God for that. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. You’re my best friend,” he whispered, and tears filled my eyes.
I hated how everything had made me emotional lately.
What the hell, Alora. Get it together.
“How’d the meeting with the funeral director go?”
“As good as can be expected. My grandmother made all the arrangements years ago, so there wasn’t much for me to do,” I told him.
“That was thoughtful of her. How’s it feel being back there after all this time?”
That was a tough one.
On one hand, I felt like I was home.
One the other, I felt like I couldn’t escape fast enough.
“Good and bad. Everything is different but the same. If that even makes any sense.”
Unlike me, Ramiro grew up in Vegas. But like me, he didn’t speak to his family. I think that was why we’d bonded so quickly. We were kindred spirits.
“What are you going to do for the rest of the evening?” Ramiro asked. I heard a vehicle start in the background and a pause on his phone letting me know his phone had connected to the Bluetooth.
“I’m at the coffee shop in town at the moment. Once I finish my latte and go through all my notifications and messages, I’ll grab a bite to eat and head back to the house.”
“Are you putting off going back there as long as you can?”
He knew me too well. I avoided my emotions and put them on the back burner. A trait I’d picked up years ago when my parents skipped town. You couldn’t change a zebra’s stripes and all that, right?
“Something like that. For the brief time I was there earlier, the memories started invading my thoughts, and I had to grab the outfit and escape as quickly as possible. I have no idea how I’m going to sleep there tonight. I probably won’t sleep much at all. It’s quiet here. Something I haven’t been used to in years,” I confessed.
When I first moved to Vegas, sleep evaded me because it was too loud. Now I missed the noise.
“I’ll call you after I close the studio and talk to you until you fall asleep.”
Laughter broke my focus from the call with Ramiro, and I looked up to see where the commotion had come from.
There he was in the flesh. The man who’d invaded my dreams at night and my thoughts during the day.
He looked sexy as hell in the uniform he wore. I couldn’t make out the patches on the side of his shirt, but the letters on the front of the shirt said EMS. We didn’t talk much about our careers, but I knew he worked for the fire department.
“Oh shit,” I whispered and covered my mouth with my hand. I hadn’t spoken too loudly, but I hoped he didn’t hear me in the midst of the laughter that was still ringing out.
“Alora, are you okay?” Ramiro asked.
Was I?
