Page 16 of Kilo's Edge

“What about dinner?” He flashed me that smile.

“After you teach me to shoot.” It was a step in the right direction. The nerves fluttered in my stomach because I’d accepted a date with a man. One who I was insanely attracted to. This was the first step in taking back my life. No one was going to force me into that dark place again. I wouldn’t allow it.

CHAPTER 7

Kilo

“Thank you,” I said, smiling at Lucia as she set a bowl of pozole in front of me. “Have you lived in Phoenix long?”

Camila and her mother exchanged glances at my question, but it was Carmen who piped up. “No. We moved here from Idaho.”

My brows shot up. “What brought you here?”

“Well, we lived in New Mexico for my whole life,” she said, buttering a piece of bread, “but then-”

“We needed a change of scenery,” Lucia interrupted with a tight smile. “But…Idaho…was too cold.”

I studied Camila as she turned away to get the pitcher of sweet tea. Her shoulders were tense. Lucia was giving Carmen a warning look. I’d already suspected these women were hiding something, but I didn’t know what. Now I was sure of it. Not that they owed me an explanation. They didn’t know me. But I washoping to get to know them enough that they’d feel comfortable enough to share with me.

The women sat down and I focused back on Carmen. “Do you like your school?”

She smiled, the spark coming back in her eyes. “I do. I’ve made a lot of friends already.”

I watched them closely as we ate. Carmen was chatting up a storm with me, but the others were quiet, more withdrawn. Though, I did notice that they both watched Carmen like she was the light in their lives as she spoke.

“What about you two?” I asked, once Carmen paused for breath. “Are you making friends?”

Camila looked up at me with a startled expression on her face. I could see the confusion in her eyes as she tried to decipher my meaning.

There’d been no meaning behind my words, but I didn’t want her to be nervous. “Besides me, of course,” I added.

She gave me a half-hearted smile. “I have a friend at work.”

I had to bite back the immediate question that sprang to my mind. Man, or woman? It wasn’t exactly my business. Yet. And I didn’t want her to stop talking. “Where do you work?”

“Oh, just down the road at the grocery store.” She told me the name and I knew which one.

I was going to have to start shopping there. “How about you, Lucia?”

“I work for a cleaning service,” she replied. There was a wariness in her eyes, as though she thought I was going to judge her for that. I wasn’t. It impressed me that they did whatever was necessary for their family. It was clear that Carmen was happy and wanted for nothing.

“I own a local shooting range,” I told Lucia, keeping the conversation flowing. “It was a natural progression for me andmy best friend once we got out of the military.” I’d added the last because Lucia had tensed up when I told her about my business.

I stared at the pot of pozole on the stove, wondering if it would be bad manners to ask for more. I’d wolfed the first down so quickly I was left sitting here while they were still eating their own dinners. Camila followed my gaze and without a word took my bowl and went to the stove to refill it. I gave her a sheepish grin when she set it back in front of me. “Thank you.”

“We’re not used to a man’s appetite anymore,” Lucia said with a grin.

“Why’s that?” I asked. I’d been dying to figure out where Camila and Carmen’s father was. It was the wrong question to ask because all three of them fell quiet.

“He’s no longer with us,” Lucia said in a soft voice.

“I’m so sorry.” The statement was ambiguous, but her tone implied that whatever it meant, it caused them pain to think about it. I wasn’t about to ask, though, since the mood at the table had turned so somber.

It only took a few minutes for conversation to start back up and to stay steady until the end of the meal.

“I’ll walk you out,” Camila offered when it was clear that it was time to go.

“Thank you all for sharing with me,” I told them. I followed Camila to the front door. “Sorry if I-”

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