Page 70 of Stay With Me
If she knew how ungentlemanly I want to be with her right now, she might not say that. “Only the best for my girls. Jess, tell us all the cool things you learned today.”
As we start to make our burritos, Jess launches into everything she did and learned today. I don’t know if she’s been this excited before, and I know, right at this moment, that if I have to build her a home aquaponic set, I will.
THIRTY-ONE
Noah
ExhaustionhitsmeasI climb into my truck after my shift. It wasn’t a bad day, but we’ve been oddly busy lately.
The farmers’ market has brought in people from all over, and they tend to stay for long weekends. It’s good for the town, but days like today are rough.
On top of that, we received two reports stating squatters were seen in town at two separate run-down barns. We went to investigate both locations, but they weren’t there, and the barns were trashed. Broken windows, doors, and some things have gone missing.
Afterward, we had our monthly conference call with the other two cities in our area that make up our little corner of New Mexico, just touching base. Because of this, I’m running late, and Farmer Joe had to bring Luna and Jess back to the house. I hate that I feel like I let her down since I couldn’t pick them up.
She’s been doing a lot at work lately since the bed-and-breakfast is just as busy as I’ve been. Between Jess coming to town and us building our relationship, I feel like she hasn’t had alot of time with the girls, and I know how important it is for her to make time for that as well.
Maybe the guys will want to hang out with Jess and me.
Running with my idea, I press the call button on the steering wheel and tell my phone to call Luke.
He picks up by the third ring. “Sup, dude? You aren’t sick of me after the two calls we had for car accidents today?”
“Were you guys just as busy as us today? I swear, traffic has picked up with the expansion of the market and more people coming into town early for it.”
“Yeah, but I’m not mad because my girl is super successful.”
“Oh, I’m not mad either. It’s good for the town. I just wish the idiots stayed home.”
“Preach. What’s this about squatters that I heard you got calls about?”
I tell him the little information I have.
“Do you think it was some punk kids just partying? I grew up in the city, so we didn’t have that, but I imagine kids from here wouldn’t think twice about it.”
“Yeah, we used to do it all the time in high school, but we didn’t steal or break anything.”
“Can’t be too careful,” he says, and I know he’s thinking about what happened late last year with Am.
“Anyway, I didn’t call to talk about work,” I tell him as I turn onto my street.
“What’s up?”
“Want to do a guys’ night this weekend? I’ll have Jess, but I’m hoping to convince Luna to talk the girls into going out. She’s been working hard and stressing about the cult and Jess. She needs it.”
“Funny, Am was just talking about getting the girls together. I’ll have Am reach out, and I’ll talk to Sam about it, but I’m sure he’ll be down.”
“Perfect, I’ll call Carter and invite him too.”
“Cool, I’ll text Sam now. Oh, before we get off the phone. Have you heard from the FBI agent guy?”
I sigh because that’s what I need to talk to Luna about. “Yeah, he sent me a text that he’ll be down here within the next week. He had some delays but gave me their flight information.”
“Let us know if you need anything. You guys don’t have to deal with it alone.”
As I pull into my driveway, I take a deep breath. “I know, man. Thanks.”
“No problem. Now go see your girls, and I’ll coordinate the guys’ night with the others in the group chat. Have a good night.”
