She shrugs.
Celia gave up too quickly. I narrow my eyes at her. Yeah, right. She’s giving up. If she’s giving up on matchmaking, I will give up swearing.
It would undoubtedly make Papa happy.
That thought makes me smile.
Chapter 6
“Not about my car warranty, then.”
-Cat
Five weeks later
I smile as I watch Cam and Aaron trade incredibly strange vows with each other. Love makes you do stupid things, like run into the path of a domestic terrorist or buy matching outfits.
Seriously. Those couples who have been together for years and wear matching outfits to the store or a festival. Is that so they can find each other if they get lost? Like, do you go up to the lost and found and say, “Hey, have you seen a guy wearing this same thing?”
I snort-laugh but keep my eye on my sister and her soon-to-be-husband. It was about time Cam got her head out of her ass and married that fool. They’ve been in love with each other since the moment they met, more than twenty years ago.
Not that I believed in love at first sight, but it was a lovely fairy tale idea.
The happiness is radiating off of them in waves. I glance around the backyard of our brother’s house. Luke spared no expense in building the home for his family. And it came equipped with state-of-the-art security around the perimeter and inside.
Our whole family is here. Celia and her husband, Flint. Carolina, her husband Rand, and their daughter Faylor. Luke is sitting with his kids, Ruston and Sienna. Aaron’s daughters are holding one of Luke’s twins - Carmine. Wil is in the arms of Cam’s son, Ryan.
The backyard is full of love. And it’s almost enough to make me puke.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for them. But there’s no way I’m voluntarily chaining myself to some man for the rest of my life. I once believed the fairy tale. But that ship sailed. Many times over.
Luke’s wife, Wysdom Ward, wraps up the ceremony. Cam and Aaron kiss. And everyone heads inside for cake.
I need more coffee. The nightmares have gotten worse in the last few days. Every time I close my eyes, I see the dump truck that rammed into my car, knocking Cam and me off the road and into a ditch.
I could do nothing as Dakota Helfinger - a.k.a. Dakota Hell - threatened my twin and my nephew, Ryan. Thankfully, Aaron came to the rescue, and together with Ryan, Cam and Aaron captured Dakota Hell.
While I sat on the fucking sidelines, trapped in the car.
The crash left behind cuts and bruises that aren’t healing as quickly as I’d like them to. And that meant I’m now on the sidelines, again, for my job. Sheila has a new temporary partner while I recover in Flamingo Cove.
It’s making me twitchy.
That could also be the phone in my pocket. It keeps buzzing. I keep ignoring it.
Nothing good can come out of someone calling me on a Sunday.
When my phone buzzes a third time, I pick it up and yell: “What?”
“Saber?”
The person on the other line wasn’t a car warranty or hotel timeshare call. It’s my boss, Thalia Anders.
“Shit, sorry, Thal.”
“No harm. No foul,” Thalia didn’t laugh the way I thought she might. “I realize I’m calling on a Sunday, but it’s an emergency.”
Those words send me into full-on business mode. “I understand. What’cha got?”
