“Then why won’t you tell me?”
“You’re going to get mad, and I’m just not sure about this job yet. It’s… I’m trying to become a bartender.”
Truth. That was the truth.
“Why would that make me mad?”
He wasn’t buying my bullshit, so I was going to have to do a much better job selling it. “I assume you’re going to lecture me about being on the road home late at night.” I lifted an eyebrow at him.
Gotcha.
“I am! It’s dangerous. I can tell you a million stories about fatal accidents that happen in the middle of the night.”
I lifted the other eyebrow. “What about me being an adult?”
“It’s not you I’m worried about,” he lied. “It’s the other crazies on the road that late.”
I didn’t have any eyebrows left to raise, so I pulled out the big gun. “Okay, Daddy.”
His face froze in horror at the name. “No.”
“But, Daddy…”
“No. Jesus fuck.”
I stuck out my bottom lip in a pout. “What will you do if I misbehave, Daddy?”
“I am not your father.”
“Say it again, but this time call me Luke.”
He finally snorted with laughter and grabbed me in a chokehold as if he was going to give me a noogie. I pulled out of his reach easily. “Touch the hair with disrespect and you lose petting privileges,” I grumbled. “Believe me, you donotwant to lose Stevie petting privileges.”
“No, I do not.”
We settled back down on the sofa, our lips finding each other again before long. Conversation came to an amicable end as our mouths and hands explored each other’s bodies well into the night before Evan took mercy on me and let me fall asleep in his nice big bed surrounded by his warm embrace.
There wasa bad brush fire on Walnut Farm the following day that took the Hobie FD all day and into the night to contain. Everyone assumed it had started after some high school kids had neglected to properly extinguish a bonfire since it was the site of most of the town’s bonfire nights. But whatever the cause, the result was no Chief Paige in the bakery or in my pants. Which sucked or didn’t as it turned out.
That afternoon I stopped by the hospital and quit my job at the coffee cart. If things at Feathers were going to work out, I wouldn’t be able to juggle another overnight job at the same time. And the tips alone at Feathers far outstripped the measly hourly wage at the coffee cart even when I considered the fuel cost of driving to and from Dallas.
But more important than any of it was Willow. I left the hospital and headed home to get there before the school bus did. There was no sign of my mother having come home the night before, so I tried her cell phone again. Still no luck. I tried desperately not to think of her doing something stupid. I packed Willow up and drove to the vape shop just to see if anyone there knew where she might be, but I didn’t have any luck. The stoner behind the counter didn’t even act like he knew who she was, so I gave up and went home.
By Friday morning, I was dreading Evan’s call. I knew he’d ask about my mother, and I’d have to tell him she was MIA. He’d already stretched the rules by not calling CPS after finding Willow home alone, and I would never ask him to cover for us twice in the same week. As it was, I already felt awful for putting him in this situation.
To add to my stress, I was scheduled to work again that night at Feathers. Darius planned on putting me behind the bar but said he couldn’t guarantee it. Either way, I needed the tips. I’d already signed Willow up for dance before finding out about my mom losing her job. As great as it was to see Willow so excited about the lessons, I knew I now needed to keep working hard to make enough money to pay each month’s dance tuition on top of all the other obligations we had. There was no telling whether Mom would be helping with the next month’s rent, so I had to assume it was all on me.
The stress of managing everything and keeping secrets from Evan had me in knots all day until he finally called me midafternoon after I’d come in from getting Willow off the bus.
“Hey,” I said, wandering back to the privacy of my room. My stomach jangled with nerves, but the sound of his familiar voice soothed me anyway.
“Hey, sweetheart. Did you make it home okay from work? I stopped by Sugar Britches, but Nico said you’d already left.”
“Yeah, I had to get home before the bus came. Is everything okay at the fire house?”
“Mm-hm. Catching up on all the work we missed yesterday with the Walnut Farm fire. Things are slammed over here. Listen… I have this thing tonight. I’m supposed to meet up with some buddies of mine in the city to celebrate an engagement. I was thinking I might cancel since I haven’t seen you…”
“No. I have to work tonight anyway, and Willow is staying with the twins again. You go ahead and have fun with your friends.”
