“No, I couldn’t hack it. I’d like to think if the chips were down, I could, but I’m not gonna risk a patient’s life to find out for sure. As for this job…I love it, so far, but I think it’s too soon to tell if this is what I’m supposed to be doing. Depends on how it goes, I guess. But never mind me, this is about you. What else does your manager say?”
He frowned at her for a moment, but she nodded at his phone, so he resumed scrolling messages. Then his smile returned and darn near blinded her. “We’re debuting on Billboard at number nine next week!” He grabbed her and hugged her right up off her feet, turning her around in a circle. When he stopped, they went silent, as she gazed down into his eyes and tried to remind herself she was done chasing him, and that making love with her had not made him want to stay.
She needed to toughen up her heart.
“Downloads, sales, and plays are all up,” he said, as he set her down again, returning his attention to the phone. “Ang is getting a lot of interview requests. Holy…three of them are network shows.”
She raised her brows. “That’s fantastic, Ethan.”
For some reason he touched her again, sliding his hands down her arms to clasp hers and bring them to his lips. He kissed them and said, “You did this. All of it.”
“You did it,” she said.
She wanted his arms around her, and the only way she could stop gazing into his eyes with her heart pouring out was to look somewhere else. At the floor, at the workers she could see through the porthole windows in the kitchen doors. They were out there milling around the place like the world wasn’t reversing polarity every couple of minutes.
Fortunately, the sound of a vehicle skidding into the parking lot and a door slamming provided the perfect distraction. Frowning, Ethan headed through the double doors into the main room of the cantina. Lily followed.
Willow was heading for the entrance. She was in uniform.
“Well, this can’t be good,” Ethan said. “She looks serious as a toothache.”
Lily said, “Let’s talk to her outside, okay? You’ve got all these people busy. They don’t need distractions. Much less, gossip.”
Ethan grabbed his hat and they stepped out just as Willow reached the door, so she backed off a few steps. She wore her hair pulled back. It hung in a long braid down her back that was probably against regulations.
She didn’t bother with preamble. She said, “We found Gringo Sombrero,” she said, “Out past the onramp in an old brown Buick with front end damage. He was in the pull-off by the river there, where folks park to go fishin’…unconscious behind the wheel.”
“Oh no,” Lily whispered. “I knew he was hurt. I feel awful.”
“You feel awful?” Willow asked. “I’m the one who hit him. I hope he didn’t wait too long to get help, you know?”
“How bad’s he hurt?” Ethan’s only reaction to the news had been a quick lowering of his head. It was still lowered, but he didn’t have his hat on to cover his eyes.
“Busted ribs. Concussion. Been unconscious since we found him. No ID on him, and the car’s registered to an Olive Dennison, New Mexico, deceased. Natural causes. I’m running his DNA.”
“I want to see him,” Ethan said. “I need to talk to him.” His gaze shifted to Lily’s. And she knew why he wanted to see the stranger—to ask whether he’d had anything to do with Angus Silver’s accident.
“Once he wakes up, you can head over,” Willow said. “Doc says other than the accident, Gringo’s the healthiest un-homed person he’s ever seen.”
“I never pegged him as un-homed,” Lily said. “Why would he sleep in the shed, when he had a car?”
Lily had always figured Manny knew who he was, but Manny said he had no idea. The guy had just started showing up one day. Never said much. Helped break up a couple of fights, stepped in when help was needed, and then just went back to his perch. Always paid in cash. Tipped well.
He wasn’t in the cantina every day. But he’d been there a lot of days, right up until they’d closed for the re-boot.
“I want to see him now,” Ethan said.
“Give me a half hour and the DNA will be—” Her phone pinged. It was already in her hand. She looked at it and said, “It’s in now,” before tapping a button, and walking away, out into the parking lot. Her brown boots tapped and she spoke low to someone on the phone, then suddenly louder. “Are you serious right now? Holy…” And then she turned slowly, staring at Ethan, and Lily knew something was up.
“Okay,” she said. “Okay.” She was walking back as she said it, sliding the phone into a hip pocket, biting her lip. She met her cousin’s eyes then, and said, “Gringo Sombrero’s name is Jeremiah Thorne. He was serving time, but got released early in exchange for his testimony against a kingpin who was already in for another crime, and who’s since died in prison.”
Ethan looked at Willow, his face slowly changing. Curiosity was replaced by something that might’ve been dread. “Who was the kingpin?”
“His father,” Willow said. “Vincent de Lorean.”
The words landed, but they sat on the surface of Ethan’s brain for a moment. And then they sank in just enough to make him say, “But that would make him my brother.”
“Half-brother,” Willow said. “Different mother. He’s two years older than you.”
