Ross and I drove in companionable silence as we turned off the bridge into Riverdale. The streetlights were on, thanks to the hydro plant, but the roads were quiet. The spring days were still short, and once the sun went down, there was little reason for anyone to be outside.
Ross passed the gym and apartment buildings and headed into the neighborhood all of us lived in. The houses and yards gave people a sense of normality, and vehicles and ATVs belonging to those who wanted them were parked in the driveways. Biodiesel had become easy enough to produce with the influx of community members, though not everyone wanted or needed means of transportation. Other than scavenging, there was no real reason to leave Riverdale.
I could take one of the patrol vehicles when I needed to, which I did from time to time, but I liked the quiet way of the world, and I preferred riding Puck or walking where I needed to go, if it was close. Living here was so different from the hustle and bustle of being on an Army base. Things were still fairly regimented, but it was slower and peaceful most of the time, and it was a nice change of pace.
My acre of land was like a buffer from the growing town. I didn’t want someone like Meghann waving me down every chance she got, like Ross had to deal with, or people stopping to talk to me when I pulled into my driveway after a grueling day of work. I didn’t want to worry about someone poking their head over the fence to say hello, or coming over to borrow a cup of sugar. I liked simplicity and peace and quiet, everything the world hadn’t been before.
“Do you think Puck’s pretty bad off?” Ross asked, turning down our street.
“No,” I said with relief as I watched the houses pass by through the passenger window. “I don’t think so. I doubt Jonathan will want me to ride him until his hoof is healed, though, just to be certain it doesn’t get worse.”
“Maybe Thea is trying to sabotage you.” Ross didn’t smile, but I could hear the jest in his voice. He had a dry humor I liked, even if I’d never tell him that.
“I wouldn’t put it past her. I’d feel bad for taking him, except, knowing Jackson, Thea will get a horse by the end of the year if she wants one bad enough.”
“It’s not as easy as that, though—finding a trained horse, I mean. Especially one for a little girl to handle. Is it?”
“Thea’s not so little anymore,” I told him with a wry smile. “But you’re right. For anyone else, it would be difficult to find one, but I know a guy.” It was the same guy JJ and I had gotten our horses from in Hartley Bay. He was taking in horses that had been trained for trail riding and ranch work before the outbreak and had gotten a bit wild since. He used his animal telepathy to tame them again. “Some horses miss having human companions,” I told him. “I can find her a good one when they’re ready.”
“Too bad Del’s got Beauty now, that would’ve been a nice horse for Thea. I think JJ would’ve wanted her to have Beauty too.”
The way Ross said JJ’s name, like she was still a sore subject, reminded me that even if Ross was overbearing a lot of the time, he was a big softy beneath the surface. What he’d done for JJ was proof of his compassionate heart, and even if I hated him for it the moment I found out she was dead, it hadn’t taken me long to realize how selfless he’d been, taking her pain and suffering away to bear himself, so JJ didn’t have to. His Ability was one I could hardly fathom.
“Yeah, it’s too bad,” I finally answered. “But this way, Thea will have something of her own. Not something leftover or handed down, like whichever wolf Beau isn’t playing with, or a pet she has to share with the farm, like Big Red. And let’s be honest. Aria is her friend, but she’s more like Beau, she prefers animal companionship to people. I think Thea desperately wants that—a friend of her very own.”
Thea was an easy kid to love, with a bubbly personality that outshined her grumpy brother even on her worst days, but I got the impression there was a lot more to Thea than the happy-go-lucky girl everyone saw. She didn’t want to make waves or upset anyone; she was what people wanted her to be. I saw it in the way she clung to things—people, specifically. She never wanted to be left behind; always afraid she’d miss something. She hated to make people sad or upset, and she never complained, even when Beau picked on her or made her the butt of his jokes. I imagined Thea’s need to be accepted was a lot like my need for simplicity. There was a comfort in it, a sense of security. While for me it was more like a chance to finally be my own person at the ripe age of thirty-two, for Thea, it was a reminder that she wasn’t alone.
“She deserves something of her own,” I mused. I saw an old soul in those amber eyes of hers, and I hoped that all she’d been through the past five years wasn’t catching up with her. “I’ll see if I can nudge Elle and Jackson to let her have one. They’ll have an extra paddock once Puck is gone, anyway.”
I could feel Ross’s gaze on the side of my face.
“What?” I asked, refusing to look at him. I didn’t know which expression I would find: the one he sometimes had when he looked surprised to discover I was human and cared about something, or the perturbed one because I’d said something too real or offensive.
“I’ve seen the way you are with Thea,” he finally said.
“And how’s that, exactly?” I stared out the windshield, at the empty street as we cruised down the road. The moon was out and bright in the sky, casting the interior of the truck in a wash of pale light.
“I don’t know, she just looks up to you, I guess.”
“Ha. I doubt that.”
“I don’t.”
My gaze drifted to him. When Ross glanced at me, his deep blue eyes shimmered in the moonlight, and his red and brown stubble shadowed his features. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, Kat,” he said. “You—” Ross squinted out the windshield.
Strangely thwarted that he didn’t continue, I glanced in the same direction and groaned inwardly. A familiar redhead flagged Ross down to pull over. “Here we go,” I muttered.
Ross flashed me his trademark glare as he slowed the truck to a stop by the curb, and he rolled down his window. “Evening, Meghann.”
“Well, here you are.” Meghann’s eyes shifted from Ross to me, skimming my face quickly, like she hadn’t seen me a thousand times before, then she looked at Ross with a pretty smile parting her lips. “I didn’t see you pass during your patrol, so I wasn’t sure if something was the matter.”
“No, not at all. Just changed things up a bit tonight to tend to some family stuff.”
“Oh, well, that’s a relief. Christine was telling me about the gangs in Edmonton and down south.”
Fucking Christine. “So much for confidential,” I grumbled, just loud enough for Ross to hear. Christine was methodical and smart on her feet, but she couldn’t keep her mouth closed to save her life, a quality that was grounds for removal from the city council, if it were up to me anyway.
“Well, don’t worry about any of that. We’ve got plans in place.” Ross held the steering wheel with one hand and draped his left arm on the window frame. He was the picture of cool, calm ease and indifference, save for one thing—the way he rubbed the pad of his middle finger and thumb together, methodically, was a telltale sign he was anxious. It was one of a few nervous twitches he had that I’d picked up on over the years, which meant he probably liked Meghann, since she made him feel so uncomfortable. “I promise, you’ll be plenty safe.”
“Oh, good.” Meghann patted her open palm on her chest, and I couldn’t help but notice her scoop neck was a bit lower than usual. Good grief. I’d never realized just how annoying Meghann was until lately.
“You know,” she continued. “I like to think the self-defense classes that Jamal’s been teaching on Mondays and Thursdays are helping, but living alone is still new and a little frightening sometimes. I get so anxious being out here.” Says the woman who could easily live in the apartment complex up the road, sharing a wall with her neighbors, if she was truly that concerned.
“I can understand that,” Ross drawled. “But like I said, there’s no immediate danger, and tomorrow we start moving forward with safety preparations.” I liked that Ross pointed to me, including me in the we, like he hadn’t forgotten I was sitting there. It was good that he thought of us as a team, because I did.
I also appreciated the way Meghann’s brown eyes narrowed on me, as though she didn’t like the reminder of my existence. I smiled at her politely. Even if Ross annoyed the shit out of me sometimes, he deserved better than sissy la-la Meghann Wyss. Ross was a good, hardworking man who turned this place into what it was with his devotion to this town and the people in it. Meghann was just a bored gossip queen who liked to cook, and I didn’t even know what else.
“Well,” he started to say, then Christine and her pit bull, Samsonite, came into view down the street.
“Shit,” Ross and I muttered in unison, and he looked at me. I hid my smile, and we waited impatiently for Christine to approach with an added spunk in her step when she noticed us parked on the curb.
I’d had enough of her in the past week to last me a lifetime, but I forced a half-pleasant smile. “Christine,” I muttered in greeting as she stepped up beside Meghann. Her dog sniffed Meghann’s butt, making Meghann wriggle in place a little, embarrassed, and I chuckled to myself.
“Ross. Kat.” She nodded at us both, and she pushed her coke bottle glasses further up the bridge of her nose. “I was just talking about the gangs with Jamal. I’ve convinced him to add an additional self-defense class on Fridays.” A wisp of her salt and pepper hair whipped across her face in the breeze, and she brushed it out of her face.
I rubbed my temple, knowing she was going to cause panic if she wasn’t careful, and Ross and I would have to clean up her mess.
“I was thinking,” she continued. “What if—”
“I appreciate your forethought, Christine,” Ross said, interrupting her, and I could hear his patience thinning dangerously. “And I think the extra class is a good idea, after we meet with the council tomorrow afternoon. Okay? You’ve been back less than six hours. Why don’t you go home and get some rest,” he urged. “This can all wait until tomorrow. There’s no need to get everyone worked up quite yet.”
She smiled and huffed out a breath, as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to her. “Well, I guess you’re right.” She sighed and nodded to Meghann, then to Ross and me. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Ross.”
“Until tomorrow.” He nodded at her as she waved and headed back in the direction she came.
“I’m just glad—” Meghann started, and Ross cut her off by looking up at the moon.
“I guess it’s getting pretty late,” he said with a charming grin. I hated that he flashed one at her, even if I didn’t believe it was real. “I better get Kat home.” Ross nodded up the road.
Once again, Meghann’s eyes cut to me, then she forced a brittle smile between her lips. “Okay,” she simpered. “Well, goodnight, Ross. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
With a dip of his chin, he put the truck into first gear.
“Wow,” I muttered as we pulled away. I didn’t wait for him to roll his window up, unconcerned whether or not Meghann could hear. “Obvious much?”
He glowered at me. “What?”
“Nothing.” I bristled, suddenly anxious to be home.
“Well,” he said, and proceeded to flash me a jovial smile, which didn’t happen very often. His mustache lifted and gave way to a big, white grin.
“Well, what?” I glanced from him to the road, then back at him again. “Why are you smiling like that? You’re being creepy.”
Ross chuckled and pointed behind him in Meghann’s direction. “You said no one would care or notice if I changed my patrol route and time.” His eyebrows lifted. “You were wrong. I’m pretty sure you owe me a beer or something.”
I rolled my eyes. “Meghann doesn’t count.”
“What? Why not? Of course she counts.”
“No, she doesn’t, because it’s Meghann. She’d notice if you had a whisker out of place.”
Somehow, that made Ross’s grin widen. He angled himself to look at me more fully and glanced from the road to me. “Kat, is it just me, or do you sound a little bit jealous?”
“Oh, God. No. Don’t start.”
He chuckled, clearly pleased with himself. “Or, maybe you have a secret crush on someone,” he said.
My eyes shot to his, and my heart thudded. “What?”
“Meghann,” he prompted. His eyebrows rose suggestively.
I barked out a laugh. “No. Not in the slightest. Why the hell would you—” My laughter died away, and suddenly, I was acutely aware of the fact that Ross, and everyone else for that matter, would assume I liked Meghann, and I felt the nagging need to clarify. I cleared my throat. “I was with JJ, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like men.” I could feel my cheeks burning crimson as I realized I was having this conversation with Ross. And as much as I didn’t want to, I forced myself to look at him, my mind spinning in his silence.
He had a contemplative look on his face, and finally, he said, “Taylor, then?”
He asked it so seriously that I choked out another laugh. “What? No.” I shook my head. “He’s my friend, but I could knock him over with the flick of my finger. Besides, I think I intimidate him a little,” I admitted.
But Ross only half-smiled, like he was too deep in thought. I wasn’t sure what was going through his mind as he stared at me, but I couldn’t handle the discomfort another minute. “Look, this is getting weird, and it doesn’t matter anyway.” I reached for the door handle. “I’m not trying to be with anyone, man or woman—”
Ross killed the truck engine as I opened the passenger door.
I frowned. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going in to make sure it’s safe,” he said, but I shook my head.
All embarrassment dissipated, replaced with annoyance. “Ross, it’s fine. You’ve got enough to worry about. Besides, I have neighbors.”
“Yeah, an acre away.”
My gaze locked with his. “I’m serious. Would you pull this crap if it were Bert or Phil living out here? I don’t need you to see if it’s safe for me. It is. And if it isn’t,”—I patted the pistol in the holster at my hip—“I can take care of it. I’m perfectly capable.”
“Yeah, but Kat—”
“Ross,” I bit out.
His jaw clenched, illuminated by the interior light, but he didn’t argue anymore as I slid out of his truck.
“Why won’t you at least practice your Ability with Elle like she asked you to?” he grumbled in annoyance, and my gaze shot to his. “It might actually save you someday.”
“Ross—”
“Kat.”
“It’s not your business,” I told him. Rolling my eyes, I slammed the door. “Goodnight, Ross,” I drawled, and headed up the path to my house. Ross and Elle didn’t understand, and they needed to learn to leave things well enough alone.