The warning stung.
What would his mom think of the fact that when he did have a Sunday off, he didn’t go to church anymore? That he rarely prayed or fed his soul in any way?
He must have been quiet too long, because Finn piped up. “I will say, you have been a little better since Dani Kim came back into your life.”
“Dani?”
“Yes, Dani. You’re different with her around. Lighter. Nicer even.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.” Even if he hadn’t stopped replaying that kiss outside the Snake Pit.
“I dunno, Mikey. I saw you two at the football game. And even your Italian skin can’t hide the blush creeping over your cheeks right now. I think you like this girl.”
“We practically grew up together. She’s like another little sister.”
“But she’s not your sister, and that makes a world of difference.”
Probably, it was better to keep his mouth shut. Because Finn wasn’t wrong. He hadn’t thought of Dani as a sister while she was kissing him. When they’d sat together in his room, going over Donner’s statements, it had felt different. Like he wasn’t alone, carrying the heavy load of injustice and all that was wrong in the world.
He’d even slept better last night with her floral scent still hovering in the air.
Finn chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”
Michael wanted to slap the smug look right off his partner’s face.
Dani’s leg bounced under the table as she counted the seconds on the cheap clock hanging above her desk. The numbers on her computer screen were no longer fitting in their boxes. She was too impatient to make them work.
But she had to.
She’d promised her brother she could babysit for a much-needed date night tonight, and it was the only thing getting her through the day. Especially now that Archer had warmed up to her and no longer screamed his head off when she arrived at the house. Lily had sent a text at lunch with Simon’s itinerary for the evening. Her night would include monster trucks, books on construction vehicles, and an episode of Bluey. How cute was that?
Plus, she needed to figure this embezzling thing out soon. Anything had to be better than this.
Funny, she hadn’t minded going over Gary Donner’s financials with Michael a few nights ago. Trying to piece together the man’s life had made it interesting. And working with another person made it a million times better than this solo gig. Not that they’d found anything special. Donner had spent more than he’d made and taken side jobs to help cover costs, but he’d never seemed to crawl out of the red.
Now she was back at SL and endless spreadsheets about payloads and cargo.
She rolled her chair closer to the door to see the open office area. Owen and Chris, the IT guy, had left already, but Shirley stood laughing at something Van had said.
As tempted as she was to see what was so funny, if Dani got caught up in whatever they were joking around about, she’d be stuck here even longer. She had a face-to-face with Kumar tomorrow morning—she’d called it a dentist appointment on the PTO form—so she needed to make up the hours tonight. Then she could rush to Josh and Lily’s and start her evening of auntie fun.
“Well”—Shirley’s voice carried over—“I’d better get. I’ve got a dog to feed.” She picked her leather purse off the desk.
“I’ll walk out with you,” Van said.
Lucky ducks.
Dani continued to plug in numbers from invoices and balance the columns while the little natural light that filtered in from the open office space diminished to almost nothing. She still needed shop expenses from Campos to finish this last report. Going back to her email tab, she found nothing in her inbox from him.
Ugh. She’d told him this morning that she needed them.
Maybe, like last time, he’d left them in the shop. Once she got them, she could leave. She stepped outside the back door. Brr. With the sun sinking behind the mountains, the temp had dropped drastically from the sunny sixty-eight degrees it had been earlier. Dani pulled her sweater sleeves down over her hands and set a brisk pace to the shop. The sooner she got those numbers and got out of the wind, the better.
She reached for the handle on the main entrance door, but it didn’t budge. Great. Locked, and she didn’t have a key. She jogged around the corner and stilled at the sound of a large diesel engine.
Well, that’s weird.
An RWM truck pulled out from behind the building. It wasn’t the typical garbage truck but a flatbed trailer with oil drums. Seemed late, though, for a pickup. Then again, she didn’t know the typical schedule. Maybe she’d ask Campos about it tomorrow.
