Chapter Ten #2
“That’s it. I barely know him.” Barely was subjective after a night and morning of oversharing family and personal secrets.
They both turned in the direction of the back door and walked toward it.
“How many days are you staying?” Luna asked.
“Trying to get rid of me already?”
Luna nudged her shoulder against his. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
“A few days. More if something goes down.”
They walked into the house together.
Miley huddled over her first cup of coffee, and Nate was in the process of putting dishes in the dishwasher.
Ash started laughing the second he saw Miley. “Suzie Sunshine just rolled out of bed?” he teased.
Miley flipped him the bird and a half smile. “Good to see you, too,” she said.
Skipping Miley, Ash moved straight to Nate, setting his pack and shotgun down in the process. “You must be Nate.” Ash stuck out his hand.
Nate wiped his hand on a kitchen towel and the two of them shook. “A pleasure.”
“I appreciate you sticking around last night.”
“It wouldn’t have felt right to leave,” Nate said.
They stopped shaking hands, Ash took a step back. “I take it nothing happened.”
“Not a thing,” Luna replied.
“Good. I’m going to try and keep it that way,” Ash said.
“What does that mean?” Miley asked.
“First, I’m leaving this here.” Ash set his hand on the shotgun. “And I’m taking you both to the range, so you know what it feels like to shoot it.”
“Ash!” Luna started to protest.
“It’s not up for debate. I should have insisted on this years ago.”
“Leaving it here doesn’t mean it will get used,” she told him.
“Hopefully you’ll never have a need to pull it out. But if you do, you’ll be happy it’s here. And if something happened and I didn’t insist, I’d never be able to live with myself.”
“So, this is for you.” Miley wasn’t asking a question.
“Sure,” Ash said.
Luna narrowed her brow. “What’s the second thing?”
Her brother smirked and said nothing.
“You said, first was the gun . . . What’s the second thing?”
It was never good when Ash paused before answering a direct question.
“I’m putting in an alarm system.”
“Good idea,” Nate said from the side.
“Thanks,” Ash said.
“An alarm system?” Luna asked.
“Yup.”
“You mean, door alarms, windows . . . motion detectors?”
“All the above. We can hit the hardware stores and get all the things we need.”
“We?” Luna asked. “I have to deal with this stolen car thing.”
“Fine, me.” Ash wasn’t fazed. “It’s a wireless system so it’s just a matter of getting everything mounted and programmed in.”
“It’s a big house. That’s going to cost a fortune.”
“You’re worth it,” Ash said with a grin.
“Are there cameras in this system you’re suggesting?” Miley asked.
“Yup. One for the doorbell, two more for the side and back doors.”
“A motion one for someone coming up the drive,” Nate suggested.
“Good point. With automatic lights when they’re tripped at night,” Ash said.
“Glass breakage detectors.”
Luna looked at Miley while Nate and Ash went on about securing the fort.
“Voice controlled. We need to set up some lights that the system can access inside the house,” Ash said. “I should write all this down.”
As he moved around Luna to dig into the junk drawer, she protested. “Who sees what’s on the cameras?”
“Those of us who have access to the system.”
“So, you?” Miley asked.
“Yeah. And both of you. It’s probably a good idea to give Harper access.”
Luna shook her head. “Why? So she can be annoyed every time the wind blows and the trees set off the alarms?”
“She can put it on silent.”
“But that means you can see anyone who is coming and going from the house,” Luna said.
“Essentially.”
Miley tisked. “Have you heard of privacy?”
“This isn’t about spying on you,” Ash directed his statement to Miley. “It’s about being aware when something shitty goes down. It’s about knowing if someone broke into your house before you walk into a crime in progress.”
“No cameras inside,” Luna said.
“There should be—”
“None. Outside cameras, front doorbell . . . that makes sense. But no spying on the inside.”
“It’s not spying,” Ash protested.
“And if I walk down here in my underwear, do you want to accidentally see that?”
Ash cringed. “Fine. Outside cameras only.”
Luna knew her brother. This was a protective bone she wasn’t going to shake loose. She knew she needed to compromise on a few things. “This all sounds really expensive. Need I remind you that I’m out a car and if it’s not found and I have to buy a new one—”
“I’m not asking for you to pay for anything,” Ash said.
“But—”
“I got this, Luna. You take care of everything else around here. It’s the least I can do.”
That wasn’t how she saw it.
“Need a hand setting it all up?” Nate asked.
All eyes turned to him.
“That would be great,” Ash said.
“You’ve already done too much,” Luna said. “I’m sure you have better things to do.”
Nate waved a couple of fingers in her direction. “I did have a meeting I was going to today, but that was canceled.”
“Smart-ass.”
“I take it that meeting was with you,” Ash said, catching on.
Nate nodded. “I just need to go home, shower, change my clothes. It’s probably a lot easier to transport all of this in a car instead of a police motorcycle.”
Ash looked Nate up and down. “Are those my clothes?”
“Yeah, hope it’s okay.”
“No problem.”
“Ah . . . hello?” Luna waved a hand in front of both men. “I hate to break up this ‘bro’ moment, but we can’t ask Nate to do any more than he already has,” she said to her brother.
Ash lifted a hand, palm up, in Nate’s direction. “We didn’t ask, he volunteered.”
“I set up sting operations before we brought down the perps. I might know a thing or two about camera placement,” Nate told her.
“See. How do you put a price tag on that kind of experience?” Ash asked.
“Price tag? We’re not paying him.” Luna turned to Nate. “I’m not paying you.”
Nate pointed at Ash. “He said something about pay. I’ll work for pizza and a beer.”
She wasn’t buying it. “This from the gourmet cook.”
“You’re a gourmet cook?” Ash turned to Nate and asked.
Nate lifted a hand, gave it a tilt back and forth. “Maybe a little.”
“They aren’t listening to you, Luna,” Miley pointed out. “Not that your brother ever listens once he sets his mind on something.”
“That’s not true,” Ash defended himself.
“High school prom,” Miley challenged.
Ash conceded if ever so slightly. “That guy was a dick.”
“I haven’t heard the ‘dick from high school’ story,” Nate teased.
Ash opened his mouth.
Luna shushed him with a hand in his face. “No.” She turned to Nate. “You don’t have to do this.”
“The sooner things around here normalize, the sooner you get back to work . . . the sooner I can get back to work. Think of this as a selfish act.”
She kept staring. What could Nate possibly be getting out of this?
“Give it up, Luna.” Miley dragged herself out of the chair. “I’m gonna shower. I’ll be ready to take you to the rental place after that.”
Luna hated to depend on anyone, yet here she was looking at all the people she needed to get though the next twenty-four hours. She lifted both hands in the air. “Fine. I’ll call my insurance company and Officer Kempski. You guys do whatever”—she waved between them—“you need to do.”
Ash acted as if he were going to pat her on the back.
She stopped him with one dirty look. “Don’t even think about it.”
Ash stifled a smile and stopped his hand midair.