“Jeb?”
“You have a backpack.”
“Oh.” She thought I was coming to stay the night. I smiled. “I’m actually just returning from an overnight trip.”
“Overnight?” She cocked one of her thin black eyebrows. “Do I need to sit down for this story?”
My smile increased. “Probably.” The bear hunt returned to me. “Actually, yes. Unless you want me to spare you certain details.”
She paled.
Yeah. She probably didn’t need to hear about the bear.
I took her hand and led her to the couch, and we both took a seat.
“Before you begin telling me, have you had lunch?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“I am not asking you if you are hungry. I am asking if you had lunch.”
“I ate a sandwich on the plane.”
“The plane? You took un avión? Where did you go?”
Clasping her lotion-softened hands in between mine, I started from the beginning but left out the midnight battle. Just as I was about to speak to her about August, the front door opened, and Frank traipsed in, forehead glossy with sweat, which he mopped with his forearm.
“Hi, Ness. Heard the trip went well.”
Evelyn spun in her seat. “You knew about the trip and did not tell me?”
“Evelyn, you know I can’t share all the happenings in the pack. And not because I don’t trust you, but because I don’t trust that someone won’t try to get that information out of you.”
Her intake of breath was so turbulent I squeezed her hands.
Frank walked over to the sink and poured himself a glass of water before returning to the living room. “Heard about that hunt of yours,” he said, sinking into one of the armchairs. “Proud of you, kid.”
“What hunt?” Evelyn asked.
I shot Frank a look, which made his gaze widen before dropping to his glass. “Um. The deer. Ness caught a deer.”
“I have never seen you so fascinated by a glass of water, Frank,” Evelyn said.
He tipped up his face, shooting her a rueful look from beneath his bushy white eyebrows.
“It was no ciervo that she hunted, was it?”
Frank tugged at the collar of his sweat-soaked undershirt. “It’s mighty hot out today. I’m going to go shower. You girls probably don’t even want me around.”
Oh, I wanted him around.
I sent tiny imaginary daggers into his back as he walked away.
“Why do I feel like I am going to have an attack to the heart?”
I clutched her fingers a little tighter. “Let me preface this by saying that I’m a hundred percent fine.”
“What. Did. You. Hunt?”
I winced from the brittleness of her tone. “A bear.” I said this really fast and really quietly.
Her black eyes went so wide they looked like eight-balls. “A bear? You hunted un oso?”
“Not all by myself.”
“Is that supposed to reduce my worries?” she asked. “Why?”
“To secure the Rivers’ backing.”
Her lips thinned, vanished. “They made you hunt down a bear? Please tell me you were sitting in a vehicle with a very big pistola.”
I grimaced.
She clapped a hand over her heart. “As un lobo?” she whispered.
“Yes.””I believe even the dye I put on my hair will turn white.”
I grinned, but then realized she wasn’t joking, so I swallowed back my smile. “Evelyn, I completely forgot to tell you this, but I ran into a woman at the bank the other day. She asked me if you were looking for work.”
“I do not think I have the energy to clean-”
“Not a housekeeping job. She asked if you’d be interested in becoming the chef in her son’s restaurant.”
Evelyn’s dark eyes grew wider, rounder. “A chef? Me? I am no chef.”
“Are you kidding? You’re the best cook I know.”
A smile played on her red lips. “Do you know many cooks, querida?”
“I know enough of them to appreciate how talented you are.”
Her hand rose to my face and cupped my cheek affectionately.
“Will you at least interview for them?”
“Perhaps.” She lowered her hand. “I will talk about it with Frank. What is the name of the restaurant?”
After I gave her all the details, I steeled my spine and said, “Oh, and I need to talk to you about something else.” I eyed the bedroom door that Frank had closed behind him. “It’s nothing dangerous or worrisome. I just need advice. About boys.”