Page 6 of Take a Hike
“Yep, I saw his green Jeep with the crooked license plate. Barely a glimpse though, so just a minor slip-up.”
“Ugh.” Fifi gave a full-body shudder. “Jeeps.”
Charlie tilted her head, eyeing her sister as Bennett wrapped an arm around Fifi, as if he was going to protect her from her hatred of a random car brand. “You know that’s a really strange aversion to have, right?”
Fifi just shuddered again as she waved off Charlie’s comment. “Rhys will bear watching.”
“On it,” chorused everyone in the coffee shop except for Fifi.
With a laugh, Charlie moved the now-full drink carriers to the counter. Giving up looking for the treasure hunters, Lou grabbed a couple and headed for the door. Without discussing it, Daisy, Fifi, and Bennett all picked up two each and followed Lou out to the parking lot.
Charlie frowned when she saw all the drinks were gone before grabbing a handful of napkins. If there wasn’t an actual reason for her to go out to Kieran’s car, she’d make one up. Sliding over the counter, she charged through the door after the others. She wasn’t about to give up the opportunity to poke at Kieran as he scowled at her. Just the thought made her grin as she stepped out into the fall sunshine.
Kieran was already backing his truck out of the parking spot, and Charlie hurled herself toward the passenger window, managing to wedge her upper body inside before he could escape. He slammed on the brakes and—she waited for it, almost trembling with anticipation—scowled.
“There it is!” Laughing triumphantly, she tucked her handful of excuse-napkins between a few of the drinks.
“Get. Off. My. Truck.” It sounded as if each word was forcedbetween gritted teeth.
“Answer a question for me first.”
“No.”
Charlie gave him her best innocent puppy-dog eyes, a look she’d learned from Cara but that Fifi had helped her perfect. “Please? Just one?”
He turned his frown up to the ferocious setting, but it just made her smile wider. When she didn’t move, they stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. His black-fringed eyes were as light and cold as ice, and she wanted to stare at him forever. The thought jolted her, and she ducked her head, dropping his gaze. Kicking herself for losing their stare-down, she was about to remove herself from his truck when he spoke—well, more like snarled. “Fine.”
Her gaze shot back to his, surprised hope flaring inside her. “Really?”
When he growled, she beamed at him.
“Which one of these coffee orders is yours?” She gestured at the sea of cups covering almost every surface in his truck.
He actually looked surprised at her choice of question, but then his scowl returned. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning pale, and Charlie had a feeling he was about to drive away with her hanging halfway in and halfway out the window. Instead, he grumbled, “Mocha, extra whip. Now get off.”
“Good chat. Let’s do it again soon.” A deal was a deal, so she jumped down, despite wishing she could go on staring at that hewn-from-rock face of his. “See you around!”
She was pretty sure he muttered, “Not if I see you first. Back up.”
Charlie glanced down at herself, noting that she was already well clear of his truck. He wasn’t moving, though, so she shrugged and took a giant step back. His scowl didn’t lighten, but he gave a tiny, tight nod before his truck’s engine roared and he shot backward, shifted into drive, and then peeled out onto the road.
He immediately braked hard again, stopping abruptly in the middle of the road. Charlie craned her neck to see why he’d stopped so suddenly and saw a red squirrel scurry into the road, pausing right in front of Kieran’s truck to flick its tail before continuing across. Kieran waited until the squirrel had reached the safety of a scrubby evergreen before the truck rolled forward again.
“Oh, he’s fun,” Charlie said, beaming as she watched the back of the pickup grow smaller.And sweet, her brain added, touched by how careful he’d been not to hit the squirrel. He’d been cautious with her too, making sure she wasn’t anywhere near his truck before he’d backed out of his parking space. Apparently, Kieran liked her almost as much as he liked a random squirrel. The thought wasn’t as lowering as she would’ve expected.
Fifi snorted. “And you say I’m weird.”
“I’ve never said you’re weird.” Charlie faced her sister once Kieran turned the corner and disappeared from sight. “I said your random hatred of a certain vehicle is weird. Otherwise, you’re almost disturbingly normal.” She saw a flicker of movement in her periphery and glanced over her shoulder. “Hey, Dave! How’s the treasure-hunting business going?”
“Good?” a sheepish voice came from behind the coffee shop’s dumpster.
“Glad to hear it.” Turning back to Fifi and Bennett, she asked, “Ready to go check into our honeymoon suite?”
“Murder club meeting at seven tonight,” Lou called over her shoulder as she opened the coffee shop door.
“At the gym?” Fifi asked.
“Nope, here.” Lou gestured at the building as if it were a game-show prize. “I told the owner my civic improvement group needed a place to meet, and she said we could use it.”
