Page 15 of Break Away
Levi set the dog dish to where Zoey directedhim. “Sorry, Luce, I’m out of Slim Jims. I’ll pick up some later.Until then, it’s carrots for you.”
He heard a muffled laugh over the sound ofwater running into a basin. “You willnotpick her up SlimJims. I want Lucy to live a good long life, not one hampered bypreventable heart disease or diabetes.”
“You’re pretty strict, Miz Hardesty,” Levidrawled.
“With you around, I have to be.”
Lucy pulled herself to a sitting position,the wet patch on the rug at her feet growing. Her eyes were fixedon the bowl of food, but she didn’t make a move toward it. “Yourdog wants it but she’s not eating.”
Zoey glanced over. “Crickets.”
Lucy surged forward, burying her face in thebowl.
“She doesn’t eat unless you say‘crickets’?”
“That’s the theory. Apparently her trainingdoesn’t stand up against potato chips or Slim Jims. We’re going towork on that.” She glanced at him. “What questions do you have,Levi?”
He thought for a minute, then shook his head.“Where’s a clean dish towel to dry with?”
“You’re going to help me with thedishes?”
“Yeah, I’ll help. I ate but didn’t contributeanything, so it’s the least I can do. We’ll get to the questionsafter.”
He liked the way her smile lit the gold inher eyes before turning up the corners of her mouth. He wasstarting to think that there were quite a few things he liked aboutZoey Hardesty, and maybe she was getting past being constantlypissed at him.
She bumped her hip in the direction of adrawer. “Towels are in there.”
Towel in hand, he dried, stacking dishes andutensils on the counter for her to put away. Since he liked thesound of her voice and wanted to hear more of it, he decided to aska non-investigation-related question. “What’s your brother doingthese days?”
“College. He’s going to Cal State Fresno andmajoring in computer science. Computers are Charlie’s thing. He’sinterested in going into cyber security.”
Levi had a vague recollection of an awkward,skinny kid with round Harry Potter glasses that made him look likean owl. Exactly the type of kid to be picked on in high school andhazed in college. “He doing okay there?”
“His first year was rough. Making friends ishard for him, but he managed to find a couple. He’s in his secondyear now and seems to be doing better. He made the giant step ofjoining what he calls a geek club and found other kids interestedin computers and gaming, and now he’s got a group to hang outwith.”
“Hey, that’s great.”
“Yes, it is. It’s made all the difference. Ifinally feel like he’s going to be okay.”
“And your mom?”
“She got her degree and is working as aspecial ed teacher. She learned a lot being Charlie’s mom.”
They worked side by side until Levi wiped thelast dish and added it to the stack. He wondered if having abrother who needed so much attention had meant her needs were toooften pushed aside. It was something to ask her, maybe when she wasa little easier with him.
Once everything was put away and Zoey hadhung the damp towel to dry on the handle of the stove, he motionedto the front room. “Can we sit?”
She nodded, moved into the living room andsat in a cushioned chair angled toward the fireplace. She wasputting on the bracelets, and the beads were making little soundsas they clicked together. He followed her and took a seat in a sofacovered by a flowered slipcover.
“You don’t have a TV.”
“I’d intended to get one, but never gotaround to it. I found I didn’t watch enough TV to bother. I use myiPad if there’s a movie I want to watch, which isn’t often.”
“I’m guessing you’re not a sports fan;otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to forego the TV. Little screensdon’t work for a ball game.”
“True, I don’t watch sports.”
“That’s just sad.”
