Page 11 of Searching for Valor

But then it all went wrong.

His hazel eyes, blazing with betrayal.

The muscles in his jaw, tight with the effort it had taken not to explode at her.

She’d ruined everything with him. Not that they’d everreallyhad anything, but there’d been so much potential simmering under the surface, something that she hadn’t dared name. Something that could have been beautiful.

And she’d crushed it.

Izzy sighed and rubbed her temples, her chest aching with the weight of the choices she’d made. Choices she would make again in a heartbeat. Because she hadn’t done it for herself. She’d done it for the people who mattered most.

A muffled argument from the garage pulled her out of her thoughts. She cracked open the office door to see her father and brothers bent over the engine of her old Jeep, their voices rising over the clatter of tools.

“I’m telling you,Papá, you can’t just guess! The diagnostic tool isright there,” Diego said in exasperation.

“And I’m tellingyou,” Javier shot back, brandishing a wrench like a sword, “I don’t need some fancy gadget to tell me what I already know. It’s the alternator.”

Diego threw up his hands. “You don’tknowthat!”

Izzy stepped into the garage, a small smile tugging at her lips. “You two argue like an old married couple.”

Her oldest brother, Mateo, straightened and shook his head. “Worse than an old married couple. I don’t know how they work together every day without killing each other.”

Javier straightened, wiping his hands on a rag. “Mija,tell your brother I’m right. It’s the alternator.”

Diego groaned. “Don’t drag her into this.”

Izzy leaned against the workbench, arms crossed. “Considering the Jeep’s been stalling for months, andneitherof you have fixed it yet, I’m not taking sides.”

Her father looked affronted. “Ungrateful, that’s what you are. We’re trying to help you.”

“And I appreciate it,” she said, holding up her hands in mock surrender. “But if this Jeep gives me another scare on the highway, I’m switching to a bike.”

Diego snorted. “Likethat’ssafer.”

Before Izzy could retort, her mother’s voice rang out from the house.

“¡Niños!Breakfast is ready! Bring your father before he turns that Jeep into a pile of scrap metal.”

Izzy grinned at her father’s indignant expression. “You heard Mamá. Time to hang up the wrenches and fill your bellies.”

Javier grumbled under his breath but set down his tools. Diego clapped him on the shoulder as they made their way inside, but Mateo hung back and eyed her with concern.

“You doing okay, Issa? You’ve been holed up in that dusty office all morning.”

Izzy forced a smile. “Just trying to make some progress on this course. It’s kicking my butt.”

He nodded, but his eyes were still searching her face. “You know you can talk to me, right? About anything.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. Mateo had always been her protector, her rock. But this was one burden she couldn’t share. He didn’t know about the home invasion a few months ago—nobody knew except for Izzy, her grandmother, and her parents—and her father wanted to keep it that way. He didn’t want to worry the family. ”I know. I’m fine, really. Just stressed about this career change.”

“I’m still not sure why you decided to leave the sheriff’s department for this PI thing.” He slung an arm around her shoulders as they walked into the house. “But you’ve got this.”

The smell of chorizo and fresh tortillas wafted through the air. Breakfast before Mass was a Sunday tradition in the Delgadofamily, and despite the early hour, the kitchen was a flurry of activity. Her mother, Marisol, flitted between the stove and the table, deftly flipping tortillas with one hand and arranging a colorful fruit platter with the other. Her dark hair was pulled back into a loose bun, a few strands escaping to frame her face.

“Issa, there you are,” she said, her eyes crinkling with a smile. “I was about to send out a search party.”

Izzy kissed her mother’s cheek. “Sorry, Mamá. I got caught up in my course.”

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