Page 20 of Shy Girl
“They’ll be your new best friends,” I said.
To that, she had no reply. Instead, she held up her hands, which were clasped with each pointer finger pressed together and lifted as one.
“I-I have three c-conditions. F-first, I-I have s-something I need to d-do while I’m there a-a-and I don’t want to a-answer any questions about it. Y-you have to l-let me go and d-do it.”
I frowned. “Will you be safe?”
She nodded.
Although I didn’t know why I hesitated, I did. Something in her expression gave me pause. After years working in law enforcement, I’d learned that my gut knew more than I did and I listened to it all the time. Tonight, it told me something was up. But there was no getting to the bottom of it tonight. The ferocity in her expression wouldn’t go away soon. As a dealbreaker, it was an easy request to grant.
Still, I didn’t like it.
“Okay,” I said.
She nodded and let out a long breath. “S-second: you can p-pay for my ticket b-but I won’t l-let you p-p-pay for everything else. I-I can pay for things too.”
Shock almost rendered me speechless. She had to be kidding. She wanted to grant me the biggest most trusting favor in the world, then pay for herself? Oh, no. That’s not how the Hernandez family worked.
“I appreciate that.” I shook my head. “But this one is all on me.” Before she could argue, I held up a hand. “Dealbreaker. You’re giving me a huge gift, so I get to pay your way.”
Her nostrils flared, but she finally gave up with a roll of her eyes.
“F-fine.”
“The third condition?”
Her gaze slammed right into mine. “N-no lies. I’ll g-go as your f-friend, but not as a f-f-fake girlfriend. It’s not how I r-r-roll.”
A hundred thoughts slammed into me all at once, then knotted into a tangle of emotions I shoved aside. Amongst it, however, was a sense of gentle chastisement I couldn’t help but feel to my bones. Without meaning to do it intentionally, Dagny had just put me in my place.
Oh, yes.
The boys were going to love her.
“Deal,” I said.
Dagny blinked, as if she’d expected resistance, and then nodded. I stepped back. “I’m buying the tickets as soon as I get home. I’ll text you the details. While we’re on the plane, we’ll lay out the information and decide . . . everything. We leave Thursday. Can you get the time off?”
“Sh-should be fine.”
I grabbed the doorknob behind me and said with all the sincerity possible in my body, “Thank you, Dagny. This is . . . it means a lot.”
A fleeting expression passed through her gaze before she nodded, a hesitant smile on her face.
Without another word, I turned and headed down the stairs to finish up the pallets.
7
Dagny
Clouds littered the sky beneath the airplane where I sat, dotting a green earth with white puffs. In disbelief, I swallowed hard, then turned to stare at the back of the seat in front of me. For the first time in my life, I was in thesky.
My first airplane ride.
With Jayson Hernandez.
To a tropical island.
