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I wasn’t planning on lying to Hailey, telling her that I hadn’t been thinking of the guy. Truth was that he’d been on my mind since the moment I’d laid eyes on him, to say nothing of what he’d said to me about my mom. The rest of the shift had been too busy for me to have the chance to tell Hailey what had happened.
“I don’t know where to even start with all of that.”
She cocked her head to the side as she pulled the key out of the lock. “What does that mean?”
“Something he said when I went over to talk to him.”
She smiled slightly. “Alright, it’s a fifteen-minute drive over to my place. That’s just enough time for you to fill me in on what the hell happened with that guy.”
Part of me wanted to tell her I wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. I remembered right away, however, that trying to keep gossip from my half-sister was as fruitless of a task as they came.
“Fine, fine,” I said, nodding toward the front of the truck. “Let’s get this over with.”
We climbed into the front seats of the truck, Hailey behind the wheel. She turned the key, the heavy-duty engine of the food truck grumbling to life, the vehicle vibrating from its power. Hailey drove forward, taking us out of the parking area where we’d been working for the last twelve hours. I let my eyes drift over the other stalls, the workers closing up shop and preparing to do it all again tomorrow.
“So, the guy?” Hailey’s eyes twinkled the way they always did when she had a line on some fresh gossip.
“The guy. God, where to even begin…”
I started into it as we pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road that led north to Queen Anne, the neighborhood where Hailey and I both lived. On the way there, I told her about the conversation, how the man had said he’d wanted to speak with me about…something. I told her about how I’d been ready to tell him to screw off once and for all.
That is, until he’d mentioned Mom.
“Yourmom? I mean,ourmom?”
Hailey’s and my history was a little complicated. We had the same mom, but not the same dad.
“Our mom. Like I said, I’d been about to tell him to get lost, and that’s when he mentioned that he knew her.”
Hailey, with her pixie hair, big green eyes, and tiny, cute features, had always struck me as elf-like in her looks. On top of that, her face was as expressive as they came. Whether she was shocked, angry or surprised, you knew it. In that moment, there was no guessing about how blown away she was by the news so far of the meeting.
“HeknewMom? Who the hell was this guy?”
“That’s the most annoying part—he didn’t tell me. He said that if I wanted to know more, I’d have to meet with him tomorrow.”
Her big eyes flashed with excitement, not a trace of fear or doubt on her face.
“Then, what the hell are you waiting for? Did he give you his number or anything?”
“Kind of. He gave me this card.”
I began to pull the small card out of my pocket. As I did, Hailey drove the truck into the lot of her three-story condo and her usual, and illegal, spot in the alley.
“Hales, you need to find a better place than this to leave the truck. You’re going to walk out here one day and see that it’s been towed.”
She waved her hand through the air. “It’sfine. The landlord and I have an arrangement—I slip him an extra hundo with rent, and he looks the other way. Trust me, it’s the best deal we’re going to get in this freaking city.”
Hailey nodded to get out, and I did. Together, we went to the back of the truck and opened the doors to get out the vehicle cover.
“Oh! The card?”
I handed it over and she gave it a squinty-eyed look, as if there were a secret code or something written in invisible ink.
“Lucas Mortensen,” she said out loud to herself. “And his number.” She handed the card back. “That’s it? He didn’t give you a title or anything like that?”
“Nothing like that. I didn’t like it, it felt way too…mysterious.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew they were wrong. His dark, brooding, serious nature was actually more of a turn-on than anything else.
“Well, what’s the hold up? Call him!”
