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The Diaz homestead is dark when we pull up in front of her little cottage. She pulls into the space beside the house and I pull up alongside the porch and wait while she climbs the steps and unlocks the front door.
I lower the window, struggling for the right thing to say but as the door swings open and the light flicks on inside, Terra turns around to look back at me with a guarded expression.
"Goodnight, Justice," she says dryly, but I see the faintest hint of a smirk perking one corner of her mouth before she gives me her back and closes the door.
As I pull out of the long driveway, I lift my hand to my lips and taste the remnants of her sweetness still coating my fingers, thinking how she insisted on using the only name she ever calls me by while she screamed for me.
Of course she didn't do what I told her.
7
TERRA
"So,it is the same backhoe then?" Zephyr plops down next to me on the couch and whispers so the kids don't overhear us talking.
It's getting late in the day and only a few kids are left waiting to get picked up. Hyacinth works across the street, helping to run the sporting goods store that she and her husband own. And Ginger owns the brewery next to the new cafe. They usually walk over and pick the kids up together but they're running late today.
"Mmm," I mumble absently.
"I really thought you got caught," Zephyr says-- again. "I mean, it took you so long to answer me, I was sure you were going to call me from the sheriff's station."
My co-worker slash bestie has been fishing for info all day.
I barely even remembered to text her back when I got home last night to let her know I was okay and I promised to tell her everything when we got to work this morning.
Except, I just haven't been able to bring myself to tell hereverything. I don't know why, but I don't want her to know that Hawk caught me in the shed at all, and I sure as hell don't want to tell her what happened after he did.
"So do you think the deputy is the one that was operating the loader?"
"I don't know, I mean, Hawk's not the kind of guy that breaks rules, right?"
Memories of last night wash through me and I hope my friend doesn't notice if I'm blushing. He definitely broke some rules last night. I haven't been able to think about anything else since.
"What if he does ask you out, Tee? Are you going to go?"
"What?! No! I mean...I don't know. Why would you think I'd go out with him?"
Zephyr regards me curiously.
"Because he'shot, Tee. And he'sintoyou. I mean, you already know each other, he's tight with your brothers, none of them tried to kill him when he asked if they were okay with him dating you-- even though he's like eighteen years older than you--"
"Fourteen."
Zeph gives me alook. It's a look that says she's onto me. I hate that look.
"Huh, I thought he was the same age as Vale."
"No, he's right between Vale and Mesa," I explain. "He only did eight years in the Marines before he retired and went into law enforcement back in Georgia."
The look deepens and I realize I just fell right into her trap.
"He knows you want a million kids, right? And he's got that big house and a good job and I bet he'd be thebestdad."
Zephyr's eyes go all starry when she mentions Hawk as a dad.
I was just barely starting to think of him as a different kind ofdaddy...now she's got me picturing him taking three a.m. feedings and pushing strollers and teaching kids how to ride bikes.
And I don't like that Zephyr is thinking about him the same way, just like I don't like the way April saves croissants for him every morning.
