Page 132 of Guarding Grace

“Now where’s that wine?” Serena asked.

I looked back inside the fridge. Terry had two choices. “Pinot grigio or Chardonnay?”

“Either.”

“Life is about making choices.” I reminded her of her own words.

She giggled. “The pinot.”

I brought over the bottle and glasses and flopped down.

“You look tired.”

I twisted the corkscrew in. “I had a hangover this morning, but it cleared up quickly. I think it was all the adrenaline from the shooting, and now that it’s worn off, it’s catching up with me.” With a pop, the cork came out, I poured for both of us. I’d thrown myself into work all afternoon as an escape from thinking about it, and somebody had to lead by example.

Serena took her glass and sipped. “Watching you this afternoon, I was surprised at how little this morning seemed to affect you. If they’d been shooting at me, I would’ve wet myself and hidden in a closet for the rest of the day.”

I rolled my eyes. “Give me a break. You’re the strongest woman I know. You survived a car bomb.”

She nodded slowly. “That was a bad day.”

“I was at work today. For my people, I have to be the adult. I can’t show fear. When we lost the Archer Brothers account last year, I had to be the one to tell them it was no big deal and shelter them from the truth thatit cost us almost two hundred thousand in custom materials. I almost didn’t make payroll the next month.” I sipped from my glass. It went down cold.

“You don’t have to take all the responsibility on yourself.”

I stared into my glass for a second, looking for an answer other than the one I knew. None appeared. “Yes, I do. They depend on me. Their families need the paychecks I write.”

“They’re adults. You should tell them what’s happening. Be honest with them. They could be a support to you as well.”

“But I don’t know what the truth is. I don’t know when this is going to end.”

“Terry and the guys will find your cousin and this Rudi character and put an end to this madness,” she assured me.

“Hey, ladies,” Duke said as he arrived with Terry just behind him. “Solving the world’s problems?”

Serena lifted her glass. “Just waiting for our men to stop playing.”

He came up behind her and leaned over to nuzzle her ear. “Playing? This is serious stuff—camera angles, encrypted connections, and shit.”

She turned and rose up to give the big guy a seriously wet kiss. “I bet two teenagers from Best Buy could have finished it quicker.”

He pulled back with a smirk, but didn’t break contact with her, keeping a hand on her hip. “No way. It’s technical as hell the way Jordy links this stuff together.”

I noticed that crinkle at the edge of Serena’s eye. She was toying with him.

He looked around the kitchen, sliding his hand up her side and pulling her close. “We put you in charge of cooking dinner, and I don’t see much progress.”

“We outsourced,” she told him. “Pizza will be here any minute.”

I looked away. Their dynamic was cute as hell. Would Terry and I be this comfortable around each other soon?

“Did I hear pizza?” Jordy said, rounding the corner. “Hey, get a room.”

An hour later,most of the pizza had been devoured.

Serena and I were cleaning up while Jordy, Duke, Terry, Constance, and Zane all worked on laptops.

Jordy had parceled out territories to each of them to comb through CCTV footage that had been triggered by the search for Rudi Sanchez. Hesaid there were so many hits to check because they didn’t have a clean photo of him for facial recognition to work with.