Chapter 14
Garnet threw back her head, laughter spilling out at Ansley’s statement.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever connected this way with another woman.
With all her other friends, they’d bonded over technology.
With Ansley, there wasn’t any talk about computers or programs. There didn’t need to be because the connection felt natural.
“So there I was, standing in the middle of the park with some kid’s sandwich, waiting for him to come back and get it.”
“The mom didn’t come over?” Garnet asked.
Ansley shook her head. “No. I guess the kid saw me doing yoga and thought I was the person to give his food to. I didn’t even see where he’d gone on the playground. And they all looked alike. It wasn’t like I’d been paying attention to him.”
“What did you do?” Garnet asked.
“I wasn’t going to eat it. I couldn’t imagine the germs. I picked up my yoga mat and walked over to the nearest bench and set the sandwich on it.
I have no idea if the kid came back for the food or if he was done, but I was done.
And the weirdest part was, I went back to the park at the end of the week, and the same kid was there. He asked me where I put his sandwich.”
“You’re kidding me,” Garnet said.
She shook her head. “No. The kid wanted his sandwich.”
“That’s odd. Then again, I was a strange little kid.”
“Oh really?” Ansley asked. “I tried so hard to be normal.”
“I finished college when I was fifteen. By the time I was eighteen, I had a doctorate, and then I had a job.”
“Wow. I’m impressed.”
Garnet shrugged. “It was easy. Besides, math was my safe space, and computer programming fit right in with math.”
Ansley laughed. “I can do math, but I feel like it’s a dangerous place for both me and math when we’re together.”
Garnet chuckled. “I understand. I feel like me and makeup is a dangerous combination.”
The patio door opened, and the guys stepped in. Link moved to Ansley and kissed her cheek. “You two look happy.”
“We were just chatting about that kid at the park.”
Link rolled his eyes. “What bugs me is that the parents never came over and talked to you. They just let him give food to a stranger.”
“I doubt they even noticed he’d given me the sandwich,” Ansley said.
Garnet shook her head. “If I ever have kids, which I don’t really think I will, I’d never let them hand their food off to a stranger. I’ve watched too many crime documentaries.”
Ansley leaned in. “Oh, you watch crime shows.”
Link clicked his tongue. “I tell you not to watch that stuff. It gives you nightmares.”
“Yeah, but at least I know what to watch for.”
Link rolled his eyes. “It’s totally unrealistic that crime happens that much.”
Brady burst out laughing, and Link turned to him and frowned.
“What are you laughing at?” Link asked.
“Unrealistic with the shit we see on our job. Those shows are totally realistic. I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often,” Brady said.
“It probably does, and we just don’t know it. I have this theory that more people are murdered than we think,” Garnet said.
Ansley nodded. “I agree. I think a lot more people are violent and aggressive in a bad way than we even know.”
Link sighed. “You’re probably right. I just want to think better of people.”
The timer rang, and Ansley turned toward the oven, but Link moved in fast, putting on the oven gloves. “I’ve got it,” he said.
They dished up food and sat around the table, chatting about the neighborhood and the weather. The subject of Garnet living there came up, and Ansley asked her if she liked yoga.
“I’ve never really done yoga.”
“I have an extra mat. We could do it here in the house. I understand you’re trying to stay out of the public eye for a while,” Ansley said.
She nodded. “I’m not sure how long, but it’s better safe than sorry.”
“Totally. When my ex’s brother came after me, it was scary.”
“Brady told me that story,” Garnet said.
Ansley laughed. “Sorry, I’m not used to anyone calling him Brady.”
“Do you call Scott by his nickname?”
Ansley nodded. “I do. That’s how I met him. So it stuck.” Ansley pushed her food around on the plate. “Is it hard for you to think of them by their nicknames?”
Garnet shook her head. “Not really. It’s just another name on the list that is in my mind.”
“It’s impressive that you remember names and faces so easily.”
She shrugged. “It’s what I’m used to. I don’t know any difference.”
She liked Ansley. None of the weirdness she felt with other women seemed to hang between them. Ansley was nice and non-judgmental. Now they were arranging a time for Ansley to come over so they could do yoga after she returned from DC. It was weird, but nice to have a friend.
Living here with Brady would be weird, but also cool. She liked his friends, and she liked him. But was that enough for him to want her to stay? She needed to stop thinking about this as a long-term thing. He’d opened his house to her just to be nice, nothing more.
“I think that went well,” Bean said after Link and Ansley left.
“You were right. Ansley was nice. She didn’t freak out when I mentioned something about the way starches change after being cooled, then reheated.”
“I didn’t know about that.”
“If food has fat in it, like cheese, it tastes better after reheating.”
“I’ve noticed that. Like pasta always tastes better the next day.”
Garnet nodded. “I’ve found that talking about information is usually annoying to most people. They don’t like it.”
“Well, that’s their problem.”
Garnet yawned and stretched her hands over her head. Bean glanced away, so he didn’t stare at her and embarrass himself.
“When are we headed to DC?” Garnet asked.
“We’re leaving the house at five in the morning. We’ll be in DC fairly early. We’ll get to your place and pick up what you need. Then we’ll head back to the base. That way, if anyone is following you, they won’t be able to follow you into the base.”
“That makes me feel better.”
“Good. How about we get some sleep?”
“Yes. I need some sleep.”
He tried to keep his eyes off her as she stretched again, but he couldn’t ignore the curve of her rear. The woman was hot, but she also wasn’t his, and hitting on her the first night in his house would be weird.
No way would he hit on Garnet tonight. That would be incredibly rude. He wanted her to feel comfortable here, not threatened.