Page 14 of Loving My Enemy

“I sure will, but Antonio said he’d take care of the bill.”

“I’m perfectly capable of paying my own car repairs.” There was no way I’d let that jerk pay my way. Ever. “Just call me with the cost and I’ll take care of it. Please.”

“Sure thing. Antonio won’t be pleased, but if I had a pretty thing like you smiling up at me, I’d let you do whatever you wanted.” His eyes sparkled with mischief that told me he still had a way with the ladies, then he flashed a wink and walked off.

Austin, you won’t believe this town!He would get such a kick out of it. From the old-school diner to the feisty twins and even the Hometown Heroes calendar, he would have been in fits of laughter.

“What’s that smile for? Please tell me the thought was super dirty!” Nina’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and memories of my brother.

“Nothing dirty at all. I was just thinking about how much my brother would have loved this town. He said small towns were where all the real weirdoes were.”

She smiled. “Are you weirdo hunting, Elka?”

I laughed. “No, but I’ve never been anywhere before this, so it’s all kind of new to me.” I couldn’t believe how easy it was toshare with her. Not that I shared all that much, but for me, it was a lot.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m fine.” That was mostly true anyway. “Between work and getting my place set up, I’ve been too busy to think about … things.” Some nights I woke up from dreams of that gun being aimed at me, but I was working on getting over it. Things like that happened in the world every day—one look at the news would confirm that—so I tried to feel grateful that nothing else had happened.

“If you’re sure …”

“I am. How’s it, uh, going?”

Nina took pity on me and grinned. “You are terrible at small talk.”

“Practice makes perfect.” I liked Nina’s honesty and that her words didn’t feel like judgment. Just facts.

“You have to come to our next girls’ night. You can meet some of the women in town and maybe brush-up on your communication skills. If that’s something you want?”

“I do. I haven’t spent much time around people other than family. I moved here to do all the things I never could.” Why was I sharing so much with this woman who was practically a stranger?”

“Were you in a cult or something?”

Her question made me laugh. It also made me realize that I wasn’t the only freak here. “Nothing as interesting as all that. My parents had me so I could be a living donor to my brother Austin.”

“That sucks,” she said simply and offered a smiled filled with sympathy.

“It did, but I loved Austin and I would have done it anyway.” But it would have been nice to be wanted on my own merit too.“Anyway, I spent most of my time in the house or the hospital, staying healthy in case he needed something else.”

Nina held up a hand and I feared that I’d said too much, made her sad or angry. “Okay, hold up. This story requires booze and backup. We’re moving girls’ night up to tonight. Your place. Eight o’clock.”

I stared at her, not sure what to say. Girls’ night sounded good. I’d seen movies where it looked like a lot of fun. But a bunch of strange women at once? That was scary as hell. “Okay?”

Nina grinned. “Perfect. We’ll all bring a little something—food or booze, probably both.”

Girls’ night. I wasn’t justattendinga girls’ night; I was hosting it. I’d been in town a couple weeks. This was another thing I’d missed out on and now I’d get to experience it for myself. “Sounds great. See you later.”

Girls’night was a tradition that I was unfamiliar with since there was never a right time for me to interact with girls my own age, thanks to my parents’ fear that I’d bring back a super germ that might kill Austin. “Not thinking about that right now.” Nope. I refused to think about my childhood today—or any day really.

Unfortunately, just as I made the resolution to push everything about my past, except for Austin, to the deep recesses of my mind, the phone rang again. One of my parents calling. Again.

No, thank you.

Instead, I did a quick run-through of my rental, making sure discarded shoes and clothes were carefully out of sight, tidying up the guest bathroom, and putting together a playlistfor background noise. Maybe it was overkill, or maybe I was just nervous about entertaining for the first time. Either way, I kept myself busy and tried not to think about why, all of a sudden, my parents remembered they had another child.

When the doorbell rang, I froze, suddenly feeling like I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t. Looking around the living room—myliving room, which I paid for and cleaned—I straightened my shoulders and opened the door just as the bell sounded again. “Deputy Vargas, what are you doing here?” He wasn’t dressed in his uniform—a fact my lady parts were grateful for—so it couldn’t be an official visit.

“Can I come in?”

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