Redemption by Ledford Deborah J

Author:Ledford, Deborah J
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2023-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

EVA

By the time Eva and Kai finished their lunch, the storm had passed. She rolled down the window and breathed in the scent of rain-kissed juniper, sagebrush, and soil. Nothing settled her mind more than after a good downpour. She chose to alter her initial displeasure about the disruption hindering her investigation, see the sign from nature as a fresh start.

“Can we go to the pet store this weekend? I want to get Shadow a collar and tag so Santiago doesn’t forget which one is mine.”

As often happened, she had been so lost inside her own skin she had forgotten she wasn’t alone. She glanced at the boy as if he’d just appeared. “Umm . . . sure. We could do that.”

Kai rolled down his own window and took in a loud sniff. “Smells goooood.”

They rode in pleasant silence for a mile, until his next words surprised her. “Tell me something about my mom I don’t know.”

She didn’t feel comfortable sharing confidences and wasn’t sure what exactly he knew about her friend. To her relief he clarified. “Nothing bad or crazy or anything that will scar me for life.”

She smiled and searched her memory. “Well, she can sing like no one I’ve ever heard.”

“I know—she’s known as a dancer but can sing like an angel. That’s old news. Heard it a ton of times.”

“Okay . . . She can spot the perfect stone from thirty feet away. Dora used to make her go with her when she wasn’t having any luck. She’d tell your mom what color and shape she needed to finish a piece of jewelry and to go on the hunt, and then boom, no time at all later, she’d walk back and hand over half a dozen perfect rocks to consider.”

“Dora told me that. What else?”

“She could run faster than any of the boys growing up.”

“Next.”

“She could put together jigsaw puzzles like nobody’s business.”

Kai rolled his hand in the air, heard it before.

“When she was a freshman in high school, she beat up five seniors who were picking on a girl. You should have seen her! Arms flailing, legs jumping and kicking out, howling like a coyote after a fresh kill. It was awesome. Kids called her ‘Flying Fists’ for years after that.”

She turned to him. His mouth hung open in awe. “I did not know that.”

“Surprised you, huh?”

He smiled and bobbed his head.

“No one ever messed with me again. And sure as hell not Paloma.”

“The kid was you?”

Eva nodded. “Your mom looked out for me, even as kids. And Tonita, even though Paloma was younger.”

A proud smile swept up his lips. “Nice.”

“If you were in White Dove’s orbit, you were safe. She even lashed anyone with her tongue if they bashed any of her friends. An old-timer one time, when he yelled at Cruz for kicking up too much dust while he pulled up weeds on the old guy’s property. Told him Cruz was trying to make his place look nicer. That he should thank the kid instead of making him feel bad about helping his elder.

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