The man held my gaze for several seconds before glancing around at the people who were watching. A man in a uniform was making his way out to us.
“Do we have a problem here?” he called.
The man looked back at Jade once more before turning and shaking his head. “No. No problem.”
“Come on, Geode.” I put my hand on her cheek as she leaned into my shoulder. “Let’s go back to our digging.”
But Jade wouldn’t have it. In fact, she was too scared to be within fifty feet of the man, and we had to move three times before she was willing to start digging again.
The move was worth it, though. Because not fifteen minutes later, Jade found her diamond. She held it up proudly to show me, and my jaw nearly hit the floor as I found myself looking at a shiny brown stone nearly the size of a pea. Jessie gushed all over Jade, too, of course. And as we made our way back to the building to return our equipment and get Jade’s stone looked at, she stopped and cupped a hand to her mouth.
“Thanks for making us move,” she called to the man who had yelled at Jade. When he’d looked up, Jessie grinned and added, “Without you, she never would have found it.”
He sneered. “Found what?”
“Her diamond.”
The man watched us walk away, his mouth open, and I paused long enough to level him one last glare.
The diamond was nothing short of 2.7 carats. I swung Jade up onto my shoulders, where she gleefully clutched at her little drawstring bag as we made our way back to the parking lot.
“How about ice cream for our geologist?” I asked, to which she squealed and began to chatter happily, naming at least five different flavors she wanted on her cone.
After we got back into the car, I turned on the ignition. But instead of backing out, I turned to Jessie. Dirt was still smudged beneath her eye. Without thinking, I reached up and wiped it off. “Thank you,” I said.
She stared at me, eyes wide. “What for?”
I gave her a sad smile. “You did something for my sister most people wouldn’t know the first thing about handling.”
“I told you,” she said, smiling sadly. “I really do care.”
I smiled, too, and for once, it wasn’t forced. “I know.” Then I put the truck into reverse as a new atmosphere settled over the cab. It was a strange sensation, knowing that we were now a team. Also strange was the sudden awareness that I didn’t really want her to leave Jade. Not anymore. Anyone willing to stand up to someone twice their size for the sake of my sister was all right in my book.
“Also,” I added, trying to lighten the mood slightly, “my mother will probably want to thank you, too.”
“She doesn’t need to.”
“Oh, not for Jade.” I gave her a wry grin. “For keeping me out of jail.”
“Well,” she studied me before a slow grin spread across her face. “I guess this means you owe me.”
I laughed as we pulled out of the parking lot. “I guess it does.”
16
Pro Bono
Jessie
In the week that followed, I wasn’t sure what to expect after my unorthodox bonding moment with Derrick at the diamond mine, and it sat on the back of my mind for the remainder of the weekend. I felt as though I’d seen a color in him that I hadn’t even known existed before. He joked about jail, but back in that moment, when I’d caught a glimpse of him staring over my shoulder at the man who had yelled at Jade, I’d known he truly was very likely to put the man out of his misery.
It’s funny how a single look can change the way you think about someone. Sure, he’d told me about his passion for his sister, but I hadn’t realized in that moment just how deep his devotion ran. And it was impossible not to be touched by that kind of love.
And the moment he wiped the dirt off my face? For some reason, stupid alarm bells went off in my head. And though I knew it meant nothing…it should mean nothing because he had a fiancée, I had to wonder. When was the last time I’d been touched by a man? Except for my relatives, of course. And me grabbing Sam’s arm in the bar to pretend he was my boyfriend to escape Tanner didn’t count.
The last time I could remember having any sort of physical contact initiated by someone of the opposite sex was in college, when I’d stumbled in a stairwell, and my friend’s boyfriend caught my arm so I didn’t plunge to my death.
Maybe Madison was right. I did need to get out more.
