The door closed again.
Lee pinned me with his eyes.
“Go home,” he ordered.
I nodded, because he said two words, but other words wereunspoken.How I knew that, I couldn’t tell you.I just knew.
He disappeared from the window.I heard his knuckles rap onthe roof, his macho-man reminder to get the eff out of there.I hit the buttonfor the window, started up the car and we rolled out.
It was a miracle I didn’t plow into some cars considering myeyes were fixed to my rearview mirror, watching Eddie walk through my nowvacant parking space to join Lee on the curb, both of them watching us leave.
Toni was right.
That was too much fine.
“Did you see that?”Lena’s voice was breathy.
“Oh, I saw it all right,” Toni answered.
“Eddie was a cutie in high school,” Lena started, and Isnorted, because “cutie” was not how I’d ever describe Eddie Chavez.
A baby shark was cute, it was still a shark.
“But…whoa.”Lena finished.
“You gotthatright, sister,” Toni agreed.
“He was sowhoa, and Lee was sooh man, Iforgot what I was doing,” Lena said.
I could totally see that.
“And now I don’t know if Michael has a girl in there withhim or not,” she concluded.
“Let me put my ear to the ground,” I said.
“What ground?”Lena asked.
My eyes found Toni’s in the rearview.
She knew.
But I hadn’t told my sister.
If Lena knew I was holding out on her, she’d be ticked, butmore hurt.
It was just…I couldn’t tell her.I couldn’t tell anyone, butToni.
And I wasn’t even sure I should tell Toni, but I had to tellsomebody, and I trusted her not to do anything I wouldn’t want, like tell myparents, or Lena, or get up in someone’s face who wouldn’t appreciate it.
This being the fact that three years had passed since Liamand I had moved back from Fort Collins, and in that time, it wasn’t a habit,but it wasn’t infrequent, and the fact Eddie and Lee showed up when I was doingsomething stupid with my sister wasn’t a surprise.
Because, first, Darius Tucker kept an eye on me.
And second, Darius Tucker found reasons to visit me.
It was always at night, when Liam was asleep, and it wasalways when we needed him.
Like when someone plowed into my car in the grocery storeparking lot and didn’t leave a note.Thus, in order that I wouldn’t have toclaim it on my insurance, Darius showed with a loner car that very night, hadmy car taken away and brought back, not only fixed, but detailed.
