Page 12 of Justice for Radar

I turned my head and laughed.

We stood outside the do-it-yourself frozen yogurt bar.

5

Radar…

“There’s something else there,” I muttered, and Atlas gave me some side-eye as he licked some frozen yogurt off his spoon.

Justice walked ahead of us on the beach, smiling with a ridiculous amount of delight at the little sandpipers scuttling along the beach, the sky turning all sorts of subtle pastel pinks and yellows as the sun dipped in the west.

“Most definitely. You going to fill me in on the full meal deal or what?” he asked.

“Later,” I said.

“Don’t want her to know you’re digging?” he asked.

“When do we ever let any of them know we’re digging?” I asked.

“Fair,” he said with a lift of his shoulder.

“It’s not like you to take on a project like this,” he said, and I nodded.

“I know it. Like, I don’t see anything long term and it’s not like that… I’m just saying—”

“It’s a puzzle,” he said, and I nodded.

“Been a while,” I agreed.

“Nothing serious since Marisol,” he agreed, and I scowled at him. He held up his hands, his spoon sticking out of his mouth.

“I just got done telling you it’s not like that, didn’t I? I mean, shit. I just met her today.”

“What is it about then?”

I took a bite of my own frozen yogurt and rolled it around my mouth as it melted, considering the question.

“She seems like genuinely good people,” I said.

“And? Good people get fucked over all the time, bro. Why her?”

I sighed. “Maybe I’m tired of good people getting fucked over without consequences. Maybe if I can do something about it this time, I should.”

“Why?”

“I mean, what if it were Lucia, or Mariposa?” I asked, rolling their names with their proper Cuban accent as I always did when I spoke of them.

Atlas sputtered, “Pssht! Don’t lie to yourself, bro. That woman is nowhere near your daughters’ ages—”

“No, she’s not, but it still stands.”

“Don’t move too fast,” he said with a grunt, and I rolled my eyes – apparently I was where Lucia got it from. I told him honestly, “I don’t plan on moving on her at all, bro. I mean, what’s the point? She lives in Texas, has a life there. My life’s here. It’s dead before it could even get a chance to begin.”

“So, you have thought this through,” he said with a wolfish grin, and I pushed him off balance.

“Fucker,” I snarled. “In passing,only. I mean, look at her. She’s gorgeous.”

“Oh, trust me,” he said. “I’ve been looking.” He eyed her back appreciatively.

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