Chapter 9
9
I did not expect Luis Mendez to be the kind of man he is. When my neighbor popped around with some veggies, he could have turned out to be anything. The personality spectrum of the Mendez family is vast. He was more Santi than Enzo and was immediately comfortable to be around. Our budding friendship is falling into place naturally, like I’ve known him forever.
The veggies, the horses, I expected. I did not expect him to read spicy romance books and enjoy them so much that he wanted to start a club. But hey, if that’s a hobby available to me here in Echo Valley, I’m in. Little by little, it feels safe to let my hair down .
When I left college, I truly felt I covered my tracks, and the longer I’m here, the more I believe I’ve done it. Wouldn’t Father already know where I am if he’d been able to follow me? Or Anton? No contact for a week.
I find myself busy and hardly thinking about being caught anymore, not to mention I live inside gated walls with multiple burly men and ripped bodyguards.
Maybe I was due some good luck. Maybe, that yin is actually balancing all the shitty yang in my life. Or the other way around. In any case, thoughts of getting caught are coming in waves rather than a constant tsunami, and today I decided if anything bad is going to happen, I should at least enjoy myself when it’s not. I have today. And today is beautiful.
I find myself feeling comfortable and protected in the presence of these men, especially Enzo.
I know he’s trying to figure me out. I just hope I get to stick around long enough to show him I’m actually good. Maybe then, I’ll see him smile. Enzo the broody, serious boss is gorgeous. Enzo smiling and finally knowing I’m on his side? I bet that would be breathtaking. I want to be here to see that.
While I’m getting out and enjoying this freedom, I won’t do anything stupid, but I need to keep breath moving in and out of me. Because if I stop, Enzo will never be able to steal it.
Trailblazer Tack and Feed isn’t at all the place I thought we’d go to a meeting the Mendez brothers were holding. I’m blown away by how amazing these men are. It’s yet another way I find Enzo admirable. He gives back. He cares about his community, and I’ve lived such an isolated life… I want to do the same. Maybe I can help someone. Maybe I can paint the storefront or even fix an awning. Not that I’m handy.
When we arrive in the large open space above the tack shop, it’s set up with a bunch of tables and chairs and a table along the side already laid out with some refreshments. Santi is downstairs still because he said he needs a few new lead ropes and food for the barn cat, so Luis and I trail Enzo through the room and toward an older woman with white hair slicked back into a bun in the corner. She strains to lift a giant water jug onto an empty dispenser.
Enzo rushes to her side. “Julia…” He wraps his arms around the jug and takes it from her, placing it onto the dispenser with a bubbly glug. “I told you not to do these anymore.”
She puts her hands on her hips and twists, clearly stretching her lower back. “Oh, you don’t have to fuss about me.”
“Where’s Brandon?” Enzo glances around as if said Brandon should be here. “We said we’d have people come over to sort the heavy lifting. If he couldn’t come, he could have sent someone else.”
She flicks her hand in the air between them, batting away his fuss, and then catches sight of me and Luis. Her face lights up on Papa Mendez. “Ah… you must be Luis!” She throws her arms around him. “So happy to finally meet you!”
Luis’ cheeks change hue. To be fair, Julia is damn beautiful, and he must have heard as many good things about her, as I have .
He smacks his hands down on his jeans. “Officially moved a couple weeks ago.”
“How are you finding the Valley so far?”
“Too hot.”
“It’ll get better.”
I nudge Luis with my elbow and think about his book club.
“Or even hotter.” I wink.
My comment draws Julia’s gaze to mine.
“And who do we have here?” Her cheeks round with a warm smile, and the corners of her eyes invite me into her world, where clearly many years of happiness reside in crow’s feet. “Don’t tell me you actually made a friend, Enzo?”
“This is Ava. She works with us now.”
With. Not for . I try not to let it mean something, but it does anyway.
“Ranch or GhostEye?” Julia asks me.
Enzo answers for me. “GhostEye. She’s living on the complex for the time being as well.”
She wanders closer and extends her hand. “Julia. Pleasure to meet you.”
She shakes my hand and gazes into my eyes as if trying to figure me out. She’s welcoming but discerning, and I have to say that’s how I think of myself, and apart from hoping she doesn’t have telepathy, I don’t mind a person being curious.
Thankfully, she ends her assessment with a warm smile.
“Well, you two are in for a treat tonight. I hope you’re open-minded.” She leans over and says to Enzo, “Arthur is on the schedule for a presentation.”
Julia threads her arm through Enzo’s, and he seems surprisingly comfortable despite all the stiffness I’ve witnessed.
“Who’s Arthur?” Luis asks.
She squints one eye, concentrating as if trying to figure out a way to put it. “Let’s just say he’s Echo Valley’s most infamous artist.” She leans in on me again. “What do you do at GhostEye, hon?”
“I…” I glance to Enzo for an answer because I sure as hell don’t want to define myself as a PowerPoint creator. And hacker isn’t the best title either.
Enzo comes to the rescue. “Ava is in cybersecurity.”
Julia makes an ah-ha face and peers at me down her nose like she knows exactly what he’s getting at. I get the impression there’s no pulling a fast one on her but also see Enzo wasn’t trying to, just make it easier for me, which I appreciate.
Julia moves on to a typical line of questioning. “Where is home then, Ava?”
“Oregon.” I scrunch my nose. “But I hated it there.”
I know it’s natural to ask people where they’re from and get a little backstory but it wasn’t easy in the car. Thinking about my past. My mom. Anton… And how to explain how I speak Spanish? Loads of my teachers over the years were from Mexico and Columbia, so computer programming wasn’t the only language I needed to master. But how the hell could I explain that? I hope I did a good job keeping heat off me. I’m pretty sure it will take ages to pass Enzo’s sniff test as it is.
Thankfully, a tap on the shoulder saves me from coming up with more answers. Or lies.
“Hey there, pretty lady…”
I turn to see my new friend from the grocery store, Penelope, with a very tall, handsome man next to her with piercing blue eyes that could make a woman weep. Guess she has a boyfriend…
She wraps her arms around me with a hug then pulls back, hands still on my arms. “There’s the official welcome to Echo Valley.”
Funny, Enzo didn’t give me one of those when I arrived.
“Glad you made it. And this,” she gestures to Blue Eyes, “is Callum. My best friend. And the youngest ever chief of police in Echo Valley.”
He gives a humble smile and a salute, and I return the gesture. Behind me, Julia and Enzo have gone off to prepare the tables with pastries and other nibbles. I struggle to keep my eyes off him with Julia. He was doting. Caring. Genuinely concerned about her lifting that massive jug. Damn, I wish I could have seen him take it from her with his shirt off. He’s filling out that polo like it’s two sizes too small.
Now I’m with Pen and Callum, Luis is on his own, so I haul him to my side.
“This is Luis Mendez. My neighbor. Also new to the town like me.”
He waves to them both.
Penelope bats her eyelashes at Luis. “Oooh. Another Mendez boy in town? Lucky us. Also, call me Pen. A four-syllable name is just extra.”
For the second time in five minutes, Luis hides a bashful smile, and I love it. I’m hopeful about my fresh start here in Echo Valley. I hope he can be, too.
The four of us get to talking about how Penelope and Callum became friends listening for police signals with their ham radios but how they can’t anymore because most police signals are encrypted. I’m tempted to level up my friendship status by having a go at decrypting them, but I decide laying low is a better idea. Plus, Callum is the chief of police after all. I know lots of them are corrupt, but there’s something about him that tells me he’s not. And he might even report me.
Anyway, I’m here to be a normal girl doing an abnormal job. The job I’m given at GhostEye. I need to keep my nose clean if I’m to get Enzo to keep me on after three months. Three months is all I’ve got, so I can’t get caught finding out what kind of boxers Callum wears or where that car chase is headed. Thankfully, between UFO talk and Luis’ new book club that Penelope offered to host at the bookstore, there will be no shortage of conversation.
More people pour in filling the space with laughter and humming conversation. Luis and I stuff our faces with nibbles, and I gorge on the artisanal cheese brought here from the Cheese and Wine Shop. Anton never had much cheese around, and this stuff is off-the-charts good.
After some time mingling, Santi is back. I notice Rio has arrived on the scene as well. My God. An exact replica of Enzo in the same place and the same time must have the girls’ mouths all dry. Though these two are identical, including the strong chiseled jaws and scowls. I can’t explain why Enzo is still ten times for attractive to me. Is it the glasses?
The brothers chat for a few minutes then ring a cowbell which clearly indicates we’re supposed to sit at the tables and face the front, where it appears to be Enzo’s job to chair the meeting, because the other brothers sit at a table near him with Julia, and Enzo stands at the front with a whiteboard marker in hand.
“Let’s get Town Hall meeting number one hundred and fifteen started. Welcome to old and new.”
His gaze lands on me, and for some reason his acknowledgment unleashes a net full of butterflies in my belly. He’s not really made eye contact with me much, and even if I’m just an anonymous part of his speech, it’s nice to think he’s sort of introducing me to his neighbors. And family. He’s single-handedly in charge of my destiny here. Maybe that’s why it feels good to even get a simple gaze.
My boss continues, “We only have a couple items on the agenda tonight. One town item and one proposition.”
Enzo describes how there have been pesticides found in a local well and that a new water supply needs to be sorted for those using it. Town folk chime in. Various people talk about how they can help and develop a strategy for sorting the issue. I love what I see around me. Cooperation. People taking an interest in protecting this place they call home. Rio takes the floor for a moment. He’s commanding, a booming presence not just for his rich, deep voice but also in that he just knows his shit.
I can’t believe I might get to stay in a place like this. I have to stay here. I love it already.
It takes about an hour to fully discuss the problem with the well and put together action steps that will keep people safe and also track down the source. About six people take on roles together as a sort of action committee, with Rio and Santi assigned at the helm.
“Let’s follow up on this item at the next Town Hall,” Enzo concludes. “We also have a proposition tonight by Arthur Ernst.”
Enzo takes a seat at his table. He glances over to me again. He doesn’t smile but he holds my gaze long enough for me to imagine he’s checking on me. My heart stops and lands with a thud somewhere between my legs.
How on earth he has this impact on me is unreal. I suppose being attracted to someone you admire is normal, I excuse myself. Half this room probably has the same reaction to him. Look at him, for God’s sake. Perfect skin. I stare at his throat, never before realizing how sexy an Adam’s apple could be. There’s a small amount of shadowy stubble and I wonder how it would feel rasping over my skin if he ravaged my neck…
Penelope leans over; I nearly jump as she drags me out of my fantasy.
She wags her chin toward Arthur who has gone to the front of the room with several rolled-up parchment papers and speaks quietly. “Anyone can bring a proposition. It’s kind of like a chance to ask for help. Like when James, my boss, wanted to get the bookstore started, he came to ask for investment. The Mendezes helped with funding, some people helped do the site work and renovations… we make things come alive together to make the town better.”
I smile from the inside out. Maybe in this town, people give before they take. But by the sound of it, I’m guessing a lot give without taking at all. This isn’t just a town. It’s a community.
Arthur drops a few of his parchments on his way to the front. He’s a frazzled sort of character with hair to match his energy. I guess he’s in his fifties, but he has a deeply tanned skin and sun-squinty wrinkles that make him appear a bit older. It takes him some time to set up, and Penelope tells me more.
“Arthur is, a little…” She hesitates, perhaps not to sway my opinion. “Eccentric.” She takes out her cell and swipes.
Arthur seems ready to present and claps his hands together. “Well, after the success of my last series, fallacy…”
Pen leans over again and says, “You heard fallacy with an F, but it’s Phallasea…” She tips her phone screen toward me so I can see a painting of a squid that looks like a penis.
I swallow a giggle. “Oh. I see. ”
She lifts her eyebrows. “He’s very creative. And he always sells out.”
Arthur unfurls his first roll. On it, is a red cat with one paw stretched out, but it has one middle finger and it’s flipping the bird. On the top, there is a title in script— Funky Pussy .
“My new series!” Arthur beams.
There’s an agreeable and supportive murmur in the room.
“The proposition is that I’d like to take this all online somewhere to sell it. But that’s not really my forte. Maybe this time I could do some prints, too?”
It sure must be hard to make a living from a few parchments and five canvases.
The crowd is as spirited as they were about the well. One person offers to take it up to their college in San Francisco and see if they can get prints for him.
Callum raises his hand and offers up one of his officers who is just learning how to set up eCommerce shops. The local coffee house owner offers his walls as “gallery” space. And Arthur glows, receiving this love from the town.
The whole experience of Town Hall makes me all the more desperate to stay in Echo Valley. My gaze wanders back to Enzo. He taps a pen on his boyish lips.
I will stay here. And I will stay at GhostEye.
I feel a long night coming on; one where I take that cloned employee account and find something earth-shattering— something that will make my controlled, grumpy boss jump right out of the form-fitting polo of his.