Page 58 of Broken Trails
I step closer to the fire, with my hands shoved deep into my pockets. “Stayed back late to help the boys with our last customer. I didn’t have much time. What’s your excuse for looking like… that?” He looks down at his Hawaiian-themed shirt.
“This is hardcore dad mode. Don’t be jealous.”
“I’m embarrassed on your behalf.”
“Listen, Callie insisted I wear it tonight. Can’t let my little girl down, can I?” He grins, then nods toward the other side of the fire. “Isla invited her. I’m surprised she came.”
“You and I both. I didn’t even know Isla spoke to her.”
He shrugs. “You gonna talk to her?”
I cut him a look, but before I can answer, Bradley strolls over, giving his usual single nod—no extra words, no fuss. “What’s the topic?”
“Zoe,” Xavier jumps in, way too fast. “Michael’s mystery woman.”
“Oh, fuck off.” The words are out before I can rein them in. “She’s not my… anything. We’re just friends.” Yeah. A friend I can’t stop looking at. A friend I’m fucking attracted to.
Xavier hums, unconvinced. “Yeah, that sounded real convincing.”
I click my tongue, shifting my weight, eyes skimming the field for any sign of food prep. “Anyway, when’s the food ready?” Deflection. Classic me. But they’re not that easily thrown.
“Don’t change the subject, Michael.” Xavier grins, jabbing his elbow into my side.
I know I’ll have to talk to her tonight. Eventually. I want to. I’m just not sure how to do it without making shit even more awkward than it already is. She hasn’t said a word about what happened, except that one brush-off. Not yet, Michael. And I get it. I’m not about to force it out of her. But that doesn’t mean I’m not curious as hell. Doesn’t mean it hasn’t been lodged in my chest since it happened.
Bradley’s brow ticks up. “I only just met her tonight. Amelia introduced us. She seems… reserved.”
Xavier smirks. “You’d know all about that, bro.”
Brad shoots him a look, enough to shut him up if he’s smart. Brad’s always been the silent type. The calm in the storm. Which makes it all the more entertaining that Amelia—the kindest, most soft-spoken person on the planet—was the one to crack him open. Xavier, on the other hand, has never met a silence he couldn’t bulldoze through. But somehow, it works.
Bradley and I? We click without effort. He understands the value of just being. And maybe that’s why this thing with Zoe’s been eating at me. She’s quiet, too. Doesn’t offer much unless you dig for it, and even then, she’ll dodge half the question.Lately, the more I see it, the more I start wondering if we’ve got more in common than I thought.
“So, what’s her deal?” Bradley asks. “Mills said the girls haven’t been able to get much out of her.”
Something twists low in my chest. “She doesn’t really open up. To anyone. Not even me.” I pin Xavier with a look. “So just drop it.”
He eases back a step, palms raised in mock surrender. “Relax, man. We’re just as curious as you are.”
I shift, my gaze drifting back to the fire, to where her silhouette barely shows in the glow from this distance. “Yeah, well, I know about as much as you do. She’s a closed book, if I’m honest.”
Turning to Brad, a thought clicks. “She’s an only child, right? Parents are Lorelai and Hank De Luca?”
I only ask because he was the one who gave me their address. Back when I first got Sprinkles and needed to track Zoe down. He’d been reluctant but eventually handed it over. Should’ve seen the look he gave me. “This is borderline stalker-ish, you know?” Coming from a cop, that was rich. I told him not to judge me. Like he hasn’t done worse trying to impress Amelia back when they were just “friends”. I’d bet good money he’s pulled something just as bad.
Bradley’s brow furrows. “De Luca? You mean Parkinson?”
I look over at him. “Uh… no. Her licence said De Luca.”
That name’s been lodged in my head since the first day she walked into the shop—all attitude and fire, tearing strips off me before I could even offer her a seat. Zoe De Luca. Don’t ask me why it stuck. It just did.
“Her parents’ surname is Parkinson,” Bradley says.
“You sure?”
“Pretty sure, bud.”
My heart starts to thud loudly in my chest. So, if her family name is Parkinson… then where the fuck did De Luca come from?
