Five hours and seven cookies later…this might be one of my favorite places on earth. Fiona wasn’t wrong. Nonna's recipes are definitely here. But there’s something unique about the way they were interpreted by Fiona. If I cared about cooking, I might make an effort to figure out what, but buying them will be easier. Though my nonna left her mark here, Fiona has left her own mark on the place.
Which is why it’s also becoming one of my least favorites. Fiona and her orange and cinnamon perfume are everywhere. She’s been to my table ten times already, checking on me and reassuring me that Hope is doing well.
It’s been impossible to focus on my work.
Between Nonna and that irritatingly amazing perfume, I can’t keep anything in my head. We’re just going to ignore the fact that sixty-nine teenage boys have come in already. My little girl is in the back, where there are only two pimply-faced, lanky boys who aren’t my daughter’s type.
Wait, Hope doesn’t have a type yet, does she?
Impossible. And it certainly wouldn’t be pimply-faced boys.
That isn’t true at all. I taught my daughter to see the person and not judge them by appearances.
I hate this place.
“What happened?” Maddox asks as he slips into the chair across from me, unnoticed until now.
Huh? “Didn’t Fiona tell you?”
“I’m not talking about that. I went back and watched the video. Nice reflexes, by the way. There aren’t many people who could have moved that fast.”
He must want an update about our money-laundering friend. “I haven’t had time to go in-depth on our new friend.”
“I’m not talking about that. What happened with Everett? He said you fired him. There’s no way he wasn’t good enough. That kid is some kind of genius. Wait, did he already hack your system? I warned you about that.”
“You did. This isn’t the venue to talk about what happened.” The place is swarming with people.
“Somehow I figured Everett would complicate my life.” Maddox nods towards a man sitting by the door. “That’s Canyon. He’ll keep an eye on Hope while we chat. No one will bother her.”
Maddox’s guys are trained, but to varying degrees. Is this guy good enough to leave Hope with? It would be a faux pas to question his skills, but—
“You’re worried he isn’t good enough, aren’t you? I should be insulted, but I’m not a father, so I’ll let that slide. Canyon has killed more people than any other man or woman on my team—though to be fair, I’m not sure of Dyce’s head count, and I really don’t want to know.”
Dyce scares me in the best way.
“But I’d trust Canyon with Mindy’s life.”
That is all the information I need. “Let’s go for a walk.”
He doesn’t wait until we reach the empty bench across the street to ask, “Why did you fire the kid? It better be a good reason, because that kid looks stricken, like you stole his dream and shot his dog all at the same time. I can’t abide by that happening to my kids for no good reason.”
After the shock of yesterday, I’m not surprised. “Good, because I don’t either. He wasn’t fired.”
“What? Everett told me that you fired him. Why would he lie about something like that? He knows we’re friends, and there was a possibility that I would talk to you.”
“Everett didn’t think I would talk to you about what happened yesterday. If I were a gambler, I would put money on his believing that.”
Maddox shakes his head and steps back. “Why? That doesn’t make sense.”
Nothing has made a bit of sense in the last two days. “Where did he come from?”
Maddox shrugs. “Where do any of them come from? We don’t ask questions like that.” He walks over to one of the benches, sitting down heavily. “But Everett was different when he arrived. He wasn’t looking for a place to live. He tested us to see if The Street was really a safe place for kids to land. And I got the impression that he was scared of someone or, more like, some group that was big…powerful.” Maddox shakes his head. “I could have questioned him, but that kid is all kinds of jumpy. It doesn’t matter where he comes from. We’ve got that covered.”
“If only that were true.” A simple life would be way too easy.
“What do you mean?”
“Everett thinks he’s my brother.”
