Page 20 of Thick as Thieves

“I’ll need that number before I can give you an estimate.” He closed the knife and pushed it back into his pocket. He flipped all the light switches on the wall plate, matching them to the fixtures they controlled. “What took priority?”

“Pardon me?”

“You said you quit music lessons because other things had to be given priority. Like what?”

“Like food and shelter.”

Her curt reply brought him around to look at her. “When your dad skipped out, nobody stepped up and took you in? A relative? Foster parents?”

“No.”

“Weren’t you too young to fare for yourself?”

“I was ten, but my sister was already in her second year of college. She’d been commuting to and from Commerce, but had to drop out when she became my legal guardian.”

“Tall order for a college coed.”

“Yes.”

“She must be one tough cookie.”

Arden laughed lightly. “To say

the least.”

“Always an overachiever, I guess.”

That comment took her by surprise. “You knew Lisa?”

“She was several classes ahead of me, and I was far beneath her notice, but I knew who she was. Everybody did. Hard not to know the homecoming queen.”

Arden smiled. “That was her senior year. I think everybody in town went to the parade.”

“Not me.”

“Oh?”

“No, I wasn’t into all that.”

“What about the football game when she was crowned?”

“Missed that, too.” He opened the door to the storage area beneath the stairs and poked his head inside.

“You weren’t into football, either?”

He backed out of the closet. When he went to shut the door, he tested the squealing hinges. “Love football. Playing and watching.”

“They why did you skip the homecoming game?” She shot him a teasing grin. “Couldn’t get a date?”

“Couldn’t get out of juvenile detention.”

He stopped fanning the door and turned to face her. She gaped at him and waited for a punch line that never came. “You were in jail?”

Appearing rather blasé, he raised a shoulder.

“What did you do?”

“Got caught smoking weed. Back then, it was a big no-no.”