Page 3 of Smooth Moves
Heidi walked by, muttering about the unwise decision to stage things on the lawn. He agreed.
“So Heidi,” Cash asked as he picked up a heavy box to load into the truck. “Did you see what Latoya did to Michele last night? Shoved her nearly off the catwalk.” A love of reality television had bonded them. That, and a love for the Marine Corps, since Heidi had done her time in both the Navy and the USMC.
Heidi grew animated. He could tell because she actually said more than two words at one go. “Yes. I watched that and the aftershow,” the tall blond said with enthusiasm, her German accent thick. “I can’t believe Roger lets her get away with that nonsense.”
Hector watched them with a grimace.
“What?”
“How do you watch that crap?” he asked Cash. “And more, why do you admit it?”
Cash shrugged. “I’m not embarrassed to watch only the most amazing show on television.”
Hector smirked. “The Real Housewives of Seattle?”
Heidi frowned. “There is such a show? Because Cash is talking about—”
“What, are they arguing the merits of organic over GMO quinoa?” Hector was on a roll. “Next Level Burger over Mickey D’s?”
From what Cash knew, the vegan “burgers” were pretty damn tasty. Not real meat, but they’d fooled Reid a few times. “Well, actually, I like—”
“Did you see a fistfight over a line at Whole Foods? Oh, wait. I know. Had to be a brutal disagreement between a Starbucks lover and some indie coffee shop junkie. Oh, the drama.” He started laughing but quickly moved out of the way as Jordan returned.
She handed Cash a box. “This is full of jewelry, so put this with the other things Judy’s taking home in her car tonight.”
They’d sectioned off a corner of the garage for those kinds of items.
Cash gave her a salute since she just loved bossing him around.
Jordan smirked at him. “Nice to see you can take orders.” He waited for it. “For a Marine.”
Heidi snorted. “For a man, you mean.” She left the garage as thunder rumbled, signaling the coming rain.
“Aren’t you two hilarious?” Cash could deal with less trash talk about his Corps, but Jordan had already turned to leave. And he sure did like watching her walk away.
“No, Cash.” Hector shook his head. “Just…no.”
He’d been hearing that from Reid for a while too. Cash shrugged. “What? I’m not doing anything. Just looking, man. Just looking.” He and Hector started walking the heavier items into the truck. Thank God for that ramp. “So do you want to hear about Charlene and Tara or not?”
Hector shook his head, saw that they were alone, and leaned in to murmur, “Okay, tell me. I don’t really care though. I’m just humoring you.”
Cash smirked. “Sure you are.”
* * *
Jordan left Cash and Hector, wondering how the pair had managed to keep their cool for as long as they had. Judy Miller was a nice enough woman, and Jordan felt for her, dealing with the passing of both her parents in the span of a few months. But the woman’s six-year-olds were terrible. They didn’t listen, backtalked, and had nearly injured themselves several times. Only by sheer luck had they managed to avoid broken bones.
Jordan had tried, unsuccessfully, to get Judy to take her boys home or to her sister’s house. But Judy remained adamant they stay with her to say goodbye to Nana.
Jordan found Judy sobbing in her mother’s bedroom.
“Oh, Judy, it will be oka—”
Alex—or was that Jacob?—smacked Jordan in the back of the leg with a sword. The twins had fashioned a weapon out of their grandfather’s bamboo cane. She swallowed a snarl because ithurtand yanked the cane out of his hands. As close as she’d come to thumping both boys on the behind, she’d refrained. Judy didn’t need more drama on top of her grief. Then there was the fact that Jordan could do without an assault charge for disciplining someone else’s kids.
“Come on, guys,” Jordan tried. “Why don’t you go get Buster and play outside and get messy? I think it’s going to rain.”
Their eyes lit up. “Okay,” one of them said and ran away, followed closely by his twin.
