Page 38 of One Last Promise

Axel put the noodles back on the stove, thenhung up, no message.

“That’s not good,” Moose said.

“Let’s try London.” Axel dialed her number, then added the cheese mix and retrieved milk from the refrigerator as the call rang.

Again, no answer and it went to voicemail.

Axel hung up, then added the milk and stirred. Silence.

“Okay, now I’m worried,” Moose said. He looked at Tillie. “You think your friend Rigger went back to your house . . .”

“He’s not my friend,” she said, a little flash to her eyes.

He looked at Axel, who was opening the tuna can.

“Eat,” said Axel. “Then worry. Besides, Shep and London can take care of themselves. You don’t have to rescue everyone.”

Really?Because it felt like it.

Axel poured Hazel some milk, then gave her a bowl of hot macaroni and cheese.

“I love macaroni and cheese!” Hazel put down her milk, leaving a mustache of cream on her lip.

“Doesn’t everybody?” Axel said and winked.

Hazel picked up her spoon and dug into her dinner. Moose poured himself a glass of milk and offered one to Tillie, but she declined, preferring water. Then he sat at the island and ate a perfectly decent, but a little overdone, steak, trying to do exactly what Axel said.

But . . . he had to know. Not in front of Hazel, however, so he started with, “Where’d you learn the superglue trick?”

Tillie had cut up her salad. “The Marines.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Staff Sergeant Tillie Young, reporting for duty.” She winked, popping a bite of steak into her mouth.

“Wow. Staff Sergeant. Four years, then?”

“Straight out of high school. Was going to be career. I was in for six.”

“Why the Marines?”

“My dad was a marine.” She lifted ashoulder. “Semper Fi.”

Right. “And then?”

She sighed. “Then my sister got sick and she needed medical care, so . . .” She glanced at Hazel. “We moved to Anchorage.”

Yeah, there were a few empty spots in that answer. But maybe that’s all she wanted Hazel to know.

Axel had fixed himself a plate, too, and now ate at the end of the island, scrolling through his phone. Maybe sending Flynn a message. Hopefully.

His thoughts returned to Shep and London. The last thing Moose wanted was for them to get tangled up with Rigger.

He didn’t care what Axel said. Of course they were his responsibility.

“Bro.”

Moose looked up from where he’d sopped his steak in ranch dressing.

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