Page 34 of No Sweet Goodbyes

“Shirley Temples,” Nox whispers loudly. “They’re soda with fruit and some special cherry flavors in them. You’ll love it.” He turns to his mother, all business. “We’ll have two of my usual. And whatever Bee wants to eat, two of those. That way she doesn’t have to eat it alone.”

I have to hide my laughter and shock, because Nox doesn’t deviate. The kid has food that he eats, no matter what. Tacos. But the fact that he is willing to change it for Bee is huge. Without anyone having to tell him what to do or how to treat her, Nox puts Bee at ease.

Then he proceeds to read the menu to Bee, stopping only when she asks him a quiet question about something.

“It’s shocking how grown-up they are,” Kennedy murmurs next to me.

“When you’re forced to grow up before your time, you get an old soul,” I tell her. “For Nox, he grew up in Danny’s shadow, the hero’s son. Bee? She had to grow up before she ever learned to walk. She’s the strongest little girl I know.”

“Me too,” Kennedy answers. “You’re not off the hook, you know.” She changes the subject while everyone else is distracted. “What’s going on with you and Dom? You stole his shirt, but you’re not doing the dirty.”

I take a deep breath and wave her off when our waiter comes by to take drink and food orders. When he leaves and we are back in the midst of too many conversations at once, I tell her everything that happened, down to me stealing a detective’s truck.

She laughs. “I don’t get it. Why would he take you home and then just talk at you? Why didn’t you get naked?”

“Because he’s Dom,” Alice Ortiz says loudly from the other side of the table, and I’m embarrassed that she’s eavesdropping and even more so that she’s got something to add.

I flush, realizing that it’s not just her, that everyone is listening to us, and I completely missed it.

“What’s that mean?” Kennedy doesn’t suffer from the same embarrassment I do. “Isn’t he the one who Linc ended up accidentally teabagging during a football thing?”

Parker chortles, laughing so loud that I think she is about to piss herself. “Oh God yes. It was the funniest thing in the world. They all ended up in a pile because of a tackle, and Linc didn’t wear underwear, and I swear what got me through labor and delivery with our baby was remembering Linc shout, ‘There’s air on my balls!’ and hearing Dom say back, as cool as could be, ‘Hey, Linc, why in the absolute fuck do I feel your balls on my hand?’ and I almost died. Best. Memory. Ever. But, I mean, technically that’s not teabagging. Teabagging would have been something gross and on purpose. This was just… hilariously accidental.”

Parker claps her hands on the table, laughing even more.

“Yep,” Alice says once Parker quiets down. “Mama can tell you. Dom’s like that. He doesn’t talk very much, but when he does… there’s a reason.”

“He’s a thinker,” Alta adds. “I don’t know where he gets it from. Must be from his father because it wasn’t me.” She pats Alice’s arm. “Ask my daughters. They know. They suffer from the same affliction. Say everything that pops into our mind, no matter how much trouble it gets us in.”

The way Alta says it, mixed with the pitiful looks that she gives both Vi and Alice, only makes Parker laugh harder.

“I’m dying.” She wheezes. “Someone call my husband.”

“That’s okay,” Kennedy says with a smile, eyeing the entire group that’s now watching the interaction. “Did you know that Emma strapped flasks to the inside of her thighs during Parker and Remy’s wedding?”

There are tears streaming down Parker’s cheeks at that, and I want to curl into a ball and die. “She threw up her dress and offered everyone booze, and I thought Dom was gonna have a heart attack. He almost choked on his tongue.”

If there was a hole in the floor that could swallow me up, I would have gladly jumped into it with eyes wide-open at that point.

“I hate you all,” I tell them honestly. “Except for Bee and Nox, you guys all suck.”

“I love you too,” Kennedy says with a smile. “But seriously. It’s clear that Dom has a thing for you.”

“He’s her training officer.” Parker sounds way more somber than she had a few minutes before, but she is still out of breath. “Dom would never do anything to jeopardize her education or training, or to get fired.”

“You know what?” Alta says suddenly. “Let’s get our food to go. A fire sounds amazing.” She turns to Alice. “Call your father. Tell him to go to Dom’s.” Her eyes twinkle when she looks at me over the table. “He can carry me home from there.”

That’s how I find myself driving in a convoy across town ten minutes later with enough takeout to feed an army.

Even if I want to go home, at that point I can’t. Both Kennedy and Vi are crowded into my car.

And if anyone wants to question it, I’ll point them in Alta’s direction.

“I love this song!” Kennedy claps her hands along to the song we can barely hear coming from the speakers. “Turn it up.” Before I can, she reaches over and does it herself, but I know she is just trying to be annoying, so I don’t say a thing.

“I just wanted to get tacos and go home,” I whine. “Now we’re going to a fire. This is my last real free weekend. Next week is going to suck while I get ready to go to the academy, and then I’ll be packing all next weekend. I just want to sleep forever.”

“No.” Vi sticks her head through the opening between our seats. “You don’t want to sleep. You want Dom to pull his head out of his ass and do other things with you over the weekend. And into next week.”

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