I could read from that I had been correct in my earlier thoughts.

Perhaps Minnie (and Lorie and Pinky) had to put up with a man calling the shots.

But it would seem Buck was not like that.

So…

Yes.

Pure Buck.

After some significant bad, he gave good answers, reminding me about all there was to Buck, how much of it there was, and the fact that most of it was pretty awesome.

Hmm.

Fortunately, these answers were good enough, at least by the time we got to Mrs. Jimenez’s and picked her up, I wasn’t in a dither.

I could do the introductions and even laugh when she stared at Buck when she first saw him like she didn’t know if she wanted to flee or throw herself into his arms and lament time, wishing she was thirty again and she could make a play for him.

It was cute.

What wasn’t cute was the look she gave me after.

Filled with such relief, such warmth, such happiness all that was West Hardy was at my side, I nearly cried.

Mercifully, I got a handle on it and didn’t.

And now, I could bury my thoughts in Buck’s enchiladas, Gear’s winning personality and Mrs. Jimenez’s love.

So at least, I figured, I’d be able to get through the night.

“Aiy,” Mrs. Jimenez said from the backseat, “you have a beautiful home, West.”

I twisted in my seat to see she had her eyes glued to Buck’s house.

So I looked at his house on the short ridge, nestled in the trees, above the pretty, twinkling-in-the-waning-rays-of-sunlight creek flowing in front of it. A house with all its windows, gleaming wood, fantastic deck, the red rock foothills rising steep from beyond the valley.

She was right. I’d thought it before. It was a cool house in a beautiful location.

But it was far out of town. Hard on the gas budget, which was hard on the environment. And living there meant, if you needed anything outside groceries, or had a desire for food outside what you could get at the Valley Inn or the single Italian place that also delivered pizza, you had a long slog to get there, that same slog back.

As such, it weirdly defined Buck.

That house was awesome, the locale amazing, you had everything you needed there and then some.

But it came with drawbacks.

They didn’t seem significant.

But over time, they could wear on you.

“Wait until you see the view from the inside,” I told her, trying to sound excited and thinking I’d failed when I felt Buck’s eyes on me.

I looked to the windshield to avoid his gaze only to see four things.

One was Gear standing outside looking strangely troubled.

Another was Gear’s sweet ride, as ever, shiny clean and clearly taken care of.

The third was another sweet ride, this one an interesting shade of blue/green and definitely awesome.

The last was a hugely smiling Tatiana who was bouncing on her toes and not looking troubled, angry, pouty, blank or any way she normally looked while around me.

The last made me stare.

“Shit,” Buck muttered under his breath, and I turned my stare to him to see his gaze locked on his daughter.

Buck stopped the SUV, but before he’d done it, Tatiana launched herself toward us and she was in Buck’s door nearly before he got it fully open.

“Daddy! A Charger! I knew it!” And she threw her arms around him when he jumped down.

“Babe,” he murmured as I got out, closed my door and went to help Mrs. Jimenez.

“A 1969 Dodge Charger. Turquoise!” she screeched.

I looked her way as I helped Mrs. Jimenez get out and saw Tatiana was jumping up and down.

“It’s perfect!” she declared. “It’s better than the last one! It’s even cooler than Gear’s ride! It’s the bomb.”

“Tatie,” Buck said as I closed Mrs. Jimenez’s door and we moved to the hood of the truck, all this while Tatiana ran toward the turquoise car, which she was right, was quite something.

“I knew you didn’t mean what you said!” Tatiana yelled, still jumping up and down, but every once in a while, stopping to touch the car reverently with both hands. “I knew you wouldn’t make me wait.”

We all moved toward her, Buck stopping a few feet away, Gear, for some reason, keeping his distance.

I took Gear’s distance as a warning and stopped Mrs. Jimenez at a safe location not close to the exuberant Tatiana.

“Gear says it’s just somethin’ you’re workin’ on. But I know. I know!” she continued.

“Tatie, honey, what’d I say?” Buck asked gently, and she grinned at him.

“Yeah, you said that, but this isn’t here just to be here.” She threw her arm out to the vehicle. “I know what this is.” Then she launched herself at her father, jumping up, throwing her arms around his shoulders and giving him a big hug. “I soooooo knew you wouldn’t make me wait!” she shouted and then giggled.

She was cute when she was excited, smiling and giggling. Although I had a feeling this wasn’t what it seemed to be, not for Tatiana, I thought vaguely she should be that way more often.

Buck set her away from him and repeated, again gently, “Tatiana, what’d I say?”

Her head tilted to the side, and it took a minute, but slowly the smile faded away.

Buck went on, “You smashed up the ride I gave you for your birthday within three days, and since, you got two tickets joyridin’ in Gear’s.”

Really?

He hadn’t shared any of this with me.

“I told you,” Buck continued. “You weren’t gettin’ another car until you could control your shit. And, honey,” he put his hand on the side of her neck, “sorry, but I meant it.” His voice gentled even further when he shared, “That ride’s Clara’s.”

Uh-oh.

Gear’s eyes came to me.

I felt Mrs. Jimenez’s eyes on me.

Buck’s eyes stayed on his daughter.

But Tatiana’s eyes also turned to me.

“Clara’s?” she whispered.

Oh dear.

She jumped back a step, her arms curled up, tight at her sides, her hands clenched into fists under her shoulders. She leaned into her father, face going red, and screeched, “Clara’s?”

“Tatie,” Buck said softly.

“Fuck you!” she shrieked.

Buck’s body went solid, and Gear was on the move toward his sister.

“Aiy, Dios mio,” Mrs. Jimenez whispered.

“Tat, stay cool,” Gear urged, putting a hand on her arm.

But she shook it free and jumped back again, her eyes coming to me.

“And fuck you! Fuck you, Clara! Fuck you, fuck you, fuck…you!”

Then she raced into the house, Buck and Gear following her.

I licked my lips, pulled them between my teeth and bit them.

I then looked down at Mrs. Jimenez, who still had a hand on my arm, and let my lips go to say, “As you know, Tatiana isn’t my biggest fan yet.”

Yes, I’d shared about Tatie.

We talked every day, but also, I did it to prepare her for what she might face if Tatiana wasn’t in the mood to be cool that night.

“This I can see,” Mrs. Jimenez muttered, her eyes going to the house in time to see Tatiana racing out again.

“Tat! Jesus!” Gear raced after her. “Give me my fuckin’ keys!”