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“Do I know her?”
“I don’t know if you’ll remember her, Benny. She’s younger than us and just graduated from college. She’s the Specters’ oldest daughter. Her father had a heart attack, that’s why she came back. From what I remembered, she’s a good kid. And in need of a job.”
The red light on the phone blinked a few times. We wanted a way to reach out to the person inside the room, without risking waking up the kids. Whenever someone called the room, the phone would just light up.
Mia answered it and listened to whoever was talking to her—most likely Haley. “Please, send her to the playroom, Danny’s here with us. Thank you, hun.” She disconnected the call. “Lisa’s here. She’s coming our way.”
Right on cue, someone appeared at the door. Mia stood up, picking up my baby, and I mirrored her so we could greet the girl. Her light brown wavy hair was pulled up in a ponytail, which made her look younger than she probably was. Mia stretched her hand to greet her.
“Hi, I’m the one who texted you. I’m Mia.”
“Hello. Thank you for arranging this interview. April talked a lot about you guys.” Her amber eyes seemed sharp at first, but when she smiled, they became mesmerizing.
And mesmerized, my giant of a friend was. Seemingly having forgotten how to stand up and say hello to people, Danny punched a squeaky toy, pulled down a chair, and kicked a stuffed giraffe.
“Hello—” Cue cough.
What the hell is wrong with him?
Mia started again, trying to talk louder than Danny’s breakdown. “This is—” another toy found its way onto the floor, “this is our china shop. And this,” she pointed her thumb over her shoulder to Danny, “is our bull.” It was my time to cough so I could hide my laughter.
Finding his voice again, Danny stepped closer, not tearing down anything this time. “Hi. I’m Daniel Delgado. I’m the one who wants you.For my baby. She doesn’t have her mother now. Well, she does. I don’t mean I expect you to be her mother. I can be what she needs. Not that I could be a mother, because I’m her father. I just need a nanny. Again, for her baby.Mybaby. Not for me. I can take care of myself.” The girl suppressed a melodic giggle, whereas Mia stared at him, horrified. “I’m not saying you couldn’t take care of me. Not that way, I mean—”
“Tell us about you, Lisa,” Mia asked, putting a pause on the train wreck.
She didn’t seem appalled by Danny’s awkwardness, so that seemed like a good sign. I guided her outside the room to show her around. After he seemed to get ahold of whatever happened with him, he took the lead and guided her to his office so they could talk.
“Good Lord. What the hell was that?” Mia asked as I cackled.
“Whatever it was, we need to vow to never let that story die. We need to tell it to our generations and always remember this day.”
Another few weeks have gone by, and I was killing it at the parenting thing. Most of the time. With a lot of help. It was certainly overwhelming, but we were starting to establish a new routine.
Danny ended up hiring the girl—that seemed promising—who was starting a couple of weeks away, after his mother went back home. We were all settling into our new reality.
Zach, on the other hand, wasn’t himself. Since the last time we talked with Aaron, Zach was anxious and tense. Even his relationship with Mia wasn’t as fluid and easy as it used to be.
I was starting to realize what she complained about months before, when she said Zach and I didn’t treat her like a colleague. He wasn’t being fair to her, especially since he was still trying to get her out of the investigation. However, I most definitely related to Zach’s dread over Mia.
They weren’t talking as much as they normally did. Whenever they interacted with one another, it was always tense. Zach bursting at the seams, ready to lose control, Mia trying to placate him while also standing her ground.
It was during one of those strained exchanges that I witnessed what I swore I’d never watch. If I could, I’d do anything for their first fight, their only fight, never to happen.
Zach stormed into my office and closed the door. “We need to talk.”
“Did something happen?”
“We can’t let Mia go on with that investigation.” His hair was pointing in all directions, his eyes were round, and the circles around them were pronounced. I could barely recognize my pacifying friend behind his cloudy eyes.
“We can’t keep her out of it. She was right. Out of all of us, she’s the one who knows the cartel the best. Danny is a close second.”
“I don’t care!” He thrust his hands inside his hair. “They’re after her. They’re getting closer to her. You know they’re afterThe Bryant Prodigy; it’s only a matter of time until they figure out it’s Mia. Then what? There’s no stopping them if they want someone.”
“Is there anything you’re not telling me?”
He bit his lip and shook his head, ignoring my question. “I can’t lose my sister, Ben.” His turmoil was killing me. What did he expect from me? “We need to outvote her.”
“What?”
