Page 60 of High Side
“She’s smokin’ hot too.”
Her mom laughed, startling Sadie with the hoot. “I’m glad you think so. She’s an attractive girl.”
“She is. She’s taking me to meet her folks in a couple of weeks. Can you believe it? She told them about me.”
“I can believe it. She’s really got it bad for you, baby. That’s the best thing as far as I’m concerned.” Her mom sipped her coffee. “I like that she’s willing to work at it, from some of the things you’ve told me.”
“She is. We had a long talk about discussing things like adults instead of festering or hiding things out of worry, and I think it’s so cool. I don’t have to keep things buried.” Hell, with anyone else, she’d just moved on as soon as things got to where she had to choose between telling them stuff and just dealing.
“Wow. That’s incredibly mature. I’m not sure I could manage it, to be honest.” Mom shrugged and shook her head. “I am the queen of immature moves.”
“And Dad is the king.” She didn’t see her dad much, but she knew he and Mom had been known to tie it up over silly stuff.
“Yeah. Yeah, crown and all, baby. Complete with tin foil.”
She giggled. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“I want to take you and Kylie to that German place. With the biscuits you keep telling me about.”
“Oh, totally. It’s nice, but not fancy.” Which were the best kinds of places, as far as she was concerned.
“See? I knew it would be a good choice.”
“I’ll get Kylie up.”
“Oh, come sit with me just a few more minutes. This is so damn nice, just to relax.”
“Sure.” Her mom did run her feet off, so Brittany got it. She wanted to tourist on her last day, but she was also here to just visit as well. “I have the whole day off to hang with you, and so does Kylie.”
“I love that.” Her mom sat back and wiggled her toes. “I’m so proud of you, honey.”
“Yeah?” It was good to hear. Mom wasn’t stingy with her praise, but Brit still loved to hear it.
“Yep. You really have a bead on what you want. When I was your age I was still smoking a lot of weed and dreaming of someone leaving me a lottery ticket as a tip.” Her mom’s smile went wry. “That only happens in movies.”
“Hey, you taught me everything I know about working for what I want.” She covered her mom’s hand with hers. “You’re a star.”
“I’m a mom, and I love you. I think Kylie is good for you. She’s obviously in love.”
“So am I, mom. So am I.” And she was totally willing to see where this went, and just idealist enough to hope that it was real and forever.
* * *
Kylie got to work to find Liz pacing, snarling at someone on the phone.
“I don’t give a shit. Someone needs to get out here and install those cameras outside the bunkhouse today. Now. Got it? Look, I won’t have my people in danger, dammit.”
Kylie stowed her gear, motioning for Sadie to sit. She and Brittany had started bringing her in to be a living alarm system in case they needed her. Brit was already down at the shed, doing prechecks.
“Thank you. Sorry. I’m just damn tired of cleaning up this asshole’s messes. Got it. Okay. See you soon.” Liz hung up. “Hey. I’m going to need you to take the security guys to the bunks when they get here. Someone put a bunch of firecrackers in the trash cans last night. Made a stinking mess.”
“Crap. What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know. Someone we pissed off, someone that knows the ins and outs of how we work.” Liz tossed her hands in the air. “Lupe is freaking out. We need this shit to stop. It’s costing us.”
“Okay, there’s got to be something we can do. There has to be. No one saw anything?” How could no one see anything?
“No. Everyone was asleep. It was like, three a.m.” Liz blew out a breath. “It’s been long enough that no one was standing guard anymore. That’s why I want more cameras. I hate it, though, because I want everyone to have their privacy.”
