“Luke’s dad was pure asshole. He treated Aunt Josie like shit, and she’s one of the finest women I know. But the one who caught the most of his damage was Luke. Weirdest funeral I’ve been to, that man’s. Don’t think anyone but Josie was sad he was gone. Not even Dad. Think Luke was confused, not sad he was gone, not happy he was either. But bottom line, he lost his father.”
I found it odd he named his Aunt Josie, but not “that man.”
I sensed this said a lot about Luke’s dad, and that made me upset for Luke, a dude I’d just semi-kinda met.
“I think Dad was scared he had that somewhere in him, when he didn’t,” Gabe continued. “He’s a great guy. Fortunately, Mom is sharp as a tack, and when she was introduced to Dad’s family, she saw what tweaked Dad and she faced it head on. Dad got over it, they got married and had my sister and me.”
Since it would be rude not to say anything, I forced out what I hoped was a blasé, “Right.”
I stopped watching him speak when he smiled shrewdly at the windshield.
He was totally onto me.
Ugh.
“Obviously,” he went on, “Luke’s the absolute shit. Since I could cipher, I knew I wanted to be like him. Got my degree, double major, criminal justice and criminology with a minor in psychology.”
Psychology.
No wonder he could read my looks. Experience, training and education.
I was screwed.
Also, college degree with double major and a minor, whereas I had a nine-week course in baking and pastry from the Arizona Culinary Institute under my belt with the add-on of a week-long cake decorating class I took online.
Not exactly equals in that regard.
Gabe kept going.
“Got my degree, thought about becoming a Marine, maybe Army, possibly going on to be special forces. But I went into the academy. Became a cop. Pushed for it, made detective. Did it young, after three years of patrol. And I did that because I realized investigation was where I wanted to be. Heard Lee, Mace, Luke and the team were going to expand, I signed up, moved from Grand Junction to Phoenix, and now I’m here.”
“You have a sister?” I asked, my voice tight, actually nearly strangled with holding back all the questions I was desperate to ask.
“Yeah. Older. Two years. Her name’s Kacie. She got married three years ago. Wanted to hate the guy, but Wyatt is solid. They live in Gunnison, both of them are rangers at Gunnison National Park.”
“Wanted to hate the guy?”
“It’s a brother thing.”
No, it was a loving, protective brother thing, and I was absolutely not going there.
Hence, I pivoted. “So, she’s outdoorsy.”
“Always was. Knew the Colorado Monument like the back of her hand by the time she was probably twelve. Dad and she would go out nearly every weekend.”
“Not you?”
“Yeah, I’d go. But I was into sports, body building and shit like laser tag.”
Of course he was.
He fell silent, thank God.
Then he broke his silence.
“Your turn.”
Damn.
