Kenzie threaded her way to the corner, where Megs and Ahearn sat together with Julia Marcs and most of the primary members and some spouses—Austin and Lexi with little Emily, Eric and Victoria with their new baby, Creed Herrera, Sasha Dillon, Nicole Turner, Malachi O’Brien, Isaac Rogers, Jesse Moretti with his wife Ellie and the twins, and Chaska Belcourt and his wife Naomi and sister Winona.
“Hey, Kenz.” Lexi waved.
Eric gave her a nod. “There you are.”
“How you holding up, Kenzie?” Austin asked.
“I’m fine.” She walked over to Vicki Hawke, peered down at the tiny baby boy in her arms. “Congratulations! This must be little Caden. Welcome to the world, little guy. God, he’s precious!”
He was sleeping now, two little fists clutched to his face, his dark hair mostly hidden beneath a blue knitted cap.
Kenzie wanted to kiss his chubby cheeks. “How are you feeling?”
Vicki had had an emergency C-section. “I’m healing.”
Eric put his arm around his wife’s shoulder and looked down at his infant son, love shining on his face. He kissed Vicki’s cheek. “She’d be doing better if this little dude would let her sleep more than two hours at a time.”
Kenzie would give almost anything to have a man look at her like that.
Vicki smiled. “He’s finally nursing well. Eric stayed home for the first two weeks, but he has the firehouse to run. Robin has been a godsend. I don’t know what I would do without her.”
Robin was Eric’s mother. She lived down the mountain from Eric and Vicki.
“I’m glad she’s been able to help.” Kenzie watched the baby sleep. “He really is perfect.”
Vicki kissed his forehead. “Thanks. We think so.”
Kenzie glanced around the almost-full table, looking for a seat.
“Sit by me.” Winona, a wildlife vet, scooted to make room for Kenzie, patting the bench beside her. The two had bonded over their love of animals when Winona had moved to Scarlet Springs with her wolf, Shota, to start her wildlife rehabilitation clinic. “How are you really?”
Kenzie had learned that the Belcourts didn’t waste words on unimportant things. Born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, they were Oglala Lakota. If they asked you how you were doing, they truly wanted to know.
“I’m okay, I guess.” It wasn’t the first time Kenzie and Gizmo had gone searching for a live person and found a corpse. “I wish we’d had a different outcome. I always feel so bad when parents lose a child, even an adult child.”
Winona’s brow bent in a thoughtful frown. “You and Gizmo brought those parents closure. You enabled them to bring their son home. That’s something at least.”
“Yes. True.” Worse than finding a corpse was findingnothingand leaving a family with unanswered questions and the agony of false hope.
“Good work today,” Megs called from across the table.
“Thanks, but Gizmo deserves the praise.”
Megs gave her a sarcastic look. “Right—because he taught himself how to find bodies. What a smart dog.”
Their server came—a young woman Kenzie had seen walking down the street with a crash pad on her back. New to Scarlet, she was obviously here for the climbing. “I’m Sam. I’m new here. Can I get you something to drink—a brew, wine, one of Marcia’s concoctions?”
“I’ll have a Sex in the Spotlight.” It was Kenzie’s favorite drink, although she’d never participated in the activity after which it had been named.
Sam took the rest of her order. “I’ll get that drink over here as soon as I can. I heard what happened today. Thanks for what you do.”
Megs waited for the server to leave. “Conrad came by The Cave today. He had Gabby with him.”
Creed looked surprised at this news. “Conrad is back?”
“Seriously, man, do you pay attention to your Team emails at all?” Malachi asked. “Megs went to Nepal and brought him back two weeks ago. He left the Team, and he’s lying low for now. I don’t think he wants company.”
“Well, shit. I should give him a call,” Creed reached into his pocket for his phone.
