He gestured at my jaw and chuckled. “Better than you.” He leaned in. “By the way, it was the cashier.”
“Helen? I knew it,” I said, fighting to keep my voice light even though being accosted in the aisles had soured my mood. “Is there a group chat dedicated to me?”
He laughed and nodded. “Of course.”
I tilted my head. “I actually believe you.”
“You should.” Then his eyes softened. “But really. How are you?”
I stiffened. The last time I’d seen him had been when he brought all of Jason’s belongings from the firehouse to Gigi’s a few days after the funeral. By the look on his face when he saw me, I knew he’d gone there because he’d thought I’d be at home. Taking them to Gigi’s had been his attempt to make things easier on me.
He was a decent man who’d always looked out for his crew and their families, and that’s what he was doing right now. I needed to remember that. “I could be better. But all in all, I’m good.”
“Yeah?” He waited a beat, classic Suarez, but when I gave him nothing else, he continued. “That’s good. You, ah, been to see him yet? Jason?”
My heart skipped two beats. I swallowed. “Um. No.” I slid my eyes away. Visiting Jason’s grave was something I’d only had the courage to do once.
“Right. Well,” Chief said and cleared his throat. “I’ve kept up with you on social media, you know. Seems you’ve had quite the adventure these past five years. You look great, Devon. The hair’s new.”
I touched my shortened locks. “Yeah.”
“I’m happy to see you.”
“Just here to do what I have to do to keep Gigi’s house—but I’m sure you know that.”
He smiled. “Of course. Glad Aaron was around to take you to the hospital.”
I bit back my surprise at the shift in his tone. I knew Chief used to fancy himself a matchmaker, but would never have figured he’d turn his sights my way.
At the same time, there was no mistaking the way butterfly wings fluttered against my stomach at the mention of Aaron, either. So there was that. Still, I wasn’t giving Chief an inch. “Yep, guess so,” I said, blatantly ignoring the smile that spread across his face and focusing instead on Ceci and the twins, who had appeared at the end of the aisle. “I should go.”
“See you around,” Chief said.
“I’m sure you will,” I muttered under my breath. Then I plastered a smile I didn’t feel onto my face for Luke and Eva, and we headed for the register.
“Ew, what’s all that?” Luke said, pointing to the contents of my cart. The cart that did not, unfortunately, have any bottles of wine in it.
“I thought baby food was only for babies,” Eva said.
I managed a semi-grown-up response to them, but I was not nearly as good when we rolled up to Helen. It was stink-eye central for her. “Helen,” I said, drawing her name out and making it sound sickly sweet. Normally I’d keep my frustration to myself, but I was d-o-n-e done today. “How nice of you to alert half the town that I was here.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, and I kept going.
“Be sure to let everyone know that I’ll have my jaw wired shut for at least a month, okay? And I’ve been staying at Ceci and my brother’s, but now I’m heading back to Gigi’s like the plan has been ever since I got to town.” I leaned back. “By the way, is your husband still causing a ruckus at the bingo hall, or did you finally convince him to stop cheating?”
She stared at me, twin spots of color on her cheeks.
“What’s my total?”
She sputtered out a reply and I paid, then left as quickly as possible. This town wasn’t that small, but it was small enough for people like Helen to wreak havoc on me in the name of gossip.
At Gigi’s, I couldn’t get out of the minivan fast enough. I gathered my bags and gave Ceci a grateful smile. “Thank you. For everything.”
“We’re all here for you, Devon. You know that.”
I nodded. “I’ll see you soon.” But not too soon. Because I loved them, but I needed some serious alone-time. A bath in a quiet house sounded like the most decadent thing I could possibly ask for.
With wine. A bath with wine. Because even though I’d failed in my attempt to get wine of my own, Gigi had been the buy-a-case-from-Costco kind of woman, and I knew exactly where she kept it. After I set down my purchases—for the record, baby food wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t awesome, either—I beelined for the dining room sideboard.
“Praise baby Jesus,” I muttered, taking in the beautiful sight of no less than ten bottles of Costco’s branded Merlot and Pinot Grigio. I grabbed one of each, put the Pinot in the fridge, opened the Merlot, and poured it into a coffee cup. Because I was classy like that. “Cheers, Gigi,” I said, then raised the cup to the house and took a sip—through a straw, of course.
I raised my eyebrows. Not bad by Costco.
My phone beeped with a message. I pulled it out, and my belly swooped.
Aaron
Heard you broke out of jail.
I grinned. I’d not really heard from him since I got to Rick and Ceci’s. Just a few “how are you” texts that seemed more professional courtesy than anything. But this one felt different right off the bat.
I did. Who told you?
Chief.
Damn. Chief moved fast. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, to be honest. Another text appeared.
Care to stretch your legs with a hike tomorrow?
