Teddy was quiet for a long time as I held her. When she finally pulled away, she gave me a halfhearted smile and rose to her feet.
“David Granger hasn’t ever given up on anything he wants, and he hates losing. If he finds a way to get Finn, he’ll take it.”
“So we don’t give him an opening.”
“Why are you doing all this, really?” she asked softly. “You could’ve been living here with Dylan, a couple of bachelors, no stress or worry. Why take this on?”
“In the beginning,” I answered as she reached down to take off her shoes. “Because my president told me to. Markers are sacrosanct, and we owed your pop.”
“It was a job.”
“It was a job,” I confirmed. “But that started shifting by the time we left the rest stop. When you and the kids came out of the bathroom, Finn was pluggin’ his nose and laughin’, and you said somethin’ to him to make him stop, and then Jesse came out of the bathroom lookin’ green, and I knew what was goin’ on.”
Teddy looked at me doubtfully.
“He’d been teasin’ them, and you put a stop to it, but he was still smilin’. You didn’t rip him a new one, but whatever you said made him knock it off. Then it shifted more when Finn started tellin’ me stories about your pop, and you let me hold your hand when you were upset.”
“He misses him,” she said, biting the inside of her cheek.
“I know.” I shook my head. “Got worse when Jesse started beltin’ out that old rock song like they were auditionin’ for somethin’.”
She laughed. “Yeah.”
“A million little things before we ever got to Oregon,” I confessed. “Just didn’t realize it. By the time we got here, I was all in, and it didn’t have anythin’ to do with Harv and everythin’ to do with you and those two kids.”
“He threatened to take Finn before,” Teddy said, picking up a sweatshirt. “When he was in kindergarten. That’s why I modified some of his vehicles. That was the deal I made.”
“I figured it was something like that.”
“The crazy thing is, I love doing it. All of it. The best hidden compartments are basically puzzles that are impossible to solve unless you already know the answer.” She grimaced. “But I hated doing it for him, and I won’t do it for anyone else. I’ve made a good life for me and Jesse and Finn, and I’m not going to screw that up by providing a way for a lowlife to hide drugs. It’s not fucking worth it.”
“Mom,” Jesse called from outside the door. “Finn wants lunch. Do you want me to make him something?”
“As if he can’t do it himself,” Teddy said to me, rolling her eyes. She walked over to the door and threw it open. “Give me a second, and I’ll come down and figure out lunch.”
“I thought you were taking a shower,” Jesse replied suspiciously.
“I was planning on it, but then Curt came up and distracted me.”
“Oh, ew,” Jesse spat, waving their hands in front of their face. “Don’t want to know.”
“Don’t be such a baby,” Teddy joked. “We were just—”
“Lalalala!”
“Talking,” Teddy finished. “Get out of here. I’ll be down in a minute.”
I walked into the bathroom and turned off the ice-cold shower. When I came back out, Teddy had pulled on her sweatshirt and was sliding the hood off her head.
“It’s eighty degrees outside,” I pointed out.
“I’m chilly.”
“You’re gonna be sweatin’ in a minute.”
She shrugged and pulled her braid over her shoulder.
“Question,” I said, making her look at me. “Why did you agree to the plan? Grease mentioned on Saturday that they’d come to you a few times before, but you always found reasons shit wouldn’t work. Why’d you agree this time?”
