“Tell me your uncle is six feet under?”
“Not yet. Someday. For the moment, I take great joy in blackmailing him whenever I need a morally bankrupt snake to do my dirty work in San Francisco.”
“Baby, that’s not safe. He’s a monster. What if he tries to take you out?”
“Baby? Given your hang-ups about my age, you couldn’t come up with something better?”
“Shit. Babe?”
“Ugh.”
“Give me a break here. I’m still processing. And also wondering where I left my ammo.”
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t make a habit of shooting things.”
“Neither do I, but I still know where my ammo is.”
“You have a gun?”
“It was a Christmas gift from Jez.”
“On any other day, I’d be horrified.”
“You don’t have to worry. I have a video, a dead man’s switch, and several morally grey friends who’ll make a prison sentence look like a vacation if he does anything stupid. My uncle understands that.” Jez and Dusk had paid him a visit a few years back, and he’d pissed himself. No kidding—I had a video of that too. “Can we change the subject now? I’m hungry.”
“I’m sure as hell not.”
“Cool, I’ll share yours with the dog.”
“How can you act so calm about all this?”
“I’ve lived with it for most of my life.” I freed an arm and wiped my face. “Next time you make a wish, think about whether you really want to let that genie out of the bottle.”
“Lesson learned.” Nolan loosened his arms. “But I’m not walking away. I’m never walking away from you again.”
There was a knock at the back door, and I glanced past Nolan to see a man peering through the kitchen window. The foreman. Teodoro Morataya, husband of Fernanda, father of Elias and Ximena, Guatemalan, green card holder, no criminal convictions. He fidgeted and looked away.
“You gonna get that?” I asked.
“It can wait.”
Teodoro knocked again.
“I don’t think it can.”
“We’re not done. Not with this conversation, not with the truth, not with us.”
“There’s a fly on the tomato.”
“What?”
“It’s bugging me.”
“I’ll pick you another fucking tomato.”
“Great, you can do that after you talk to Teodoro.” I wriggled out of his grip and stepped back. “Don’t worry about me. Everything’s under control.”
