Two of a Kind (Fool's Gold #11)(55)

Unlikely, she thought. She was sure such men existed, but they had no reason to be interested in her. Not if they knew the truth about her.

“How’s it going with Carter?” she asked.

Felicia smiled. “Good. Even if I’m scared I’m doing everything wrong and Gideon spends his time with one foot out the door. This isn’t anything he’d planned on.”

“No one expects a kid to show up. Women have an advantage with that one. We always know if we have offspring.”

“You have brothers,” Felicia said. “What did they like to do?”

“Get in trouble. How old is Carter?”

“Thirteen.”

Consuelo shrugged. “I’m not the person to ask about this. By the time they were thirteen, each of my brothers had already been arrested.”

They’d taken the easy path—joining a gang. She wanted to blame them, but knew she hadn’t had to make their choices. As a girl, she’d been able to avoid a lot of trouble. Her interest in getting out of their urban neighborhood had been concealed behind study and reading. Sure, the neighbor kids had thought she was weird, but because she was female, they’d left her alone. Her brothers had been forced to make a choice early. Join a gang or spend every day getting harassed. Sometimes worse. Sometimes kids who didn’t fit in got dead.

“Has he made any friends?” she asked.

“He’s been up at the summer camp for the past three days. They assigned him a buddy. Reese Hendrix. His grandmother was the one with the booth.”

“I remember,” Consuelo said. Reese’s father had been the handsome man with the kind eyes.

Felicia sipped her water. “Are you still thinking about offering a self-defense class for people in town? What if you had a class for kids his age? I’m sure it would be popular, and then he could meet his fellow students before the school year begins. That would help a lot. I know how difficult it is not to fit in.”

Consuelo groaned. “That’s a lot of guilt in only a couple of sentences.”

“Did I make you feel guilty?” Felicia asked, sounding delighted. “I wasn’t trying.”

“That makes it worse. You were stating the truth as you know it. Come on. Let’s go look.”

They walked out of the break room and into the largest office. There were several desks pushed together, along with a big dry erase calendar on the wall.

“Yes,” she said, crossing to it. “We’re doing this the old-fashioned way.”

Felicia winced as she stared at it. “Why isn’t this on the computer? There are several excellent scheduling programs that could—”

“Spare me,” Consuelo told her. “I don’t do office and I don’t want to hear about it. If you find this painful, talk to the boss.”

She pointed to the column with her name. “I’m free on Tuesday evenings. Let’s schedule it then. Get the word out and let me know when to be here. I’ll teach them all how to kill each other.”

Felicia wrinkled her nose. “That was humor, wasn’t it? You wouldn’t actually teach thirteen-year-olds how to kill each other.”

“Only if they get on my nerves.”

* * *

CARTER SAT AT the picnic table, his lunch unwrapped in front of him. Reese Hendrix was across from him. They’d already exchanged sandwiches and discussed getting ice cream when they were back in Fool’s Gold.

“Have you always lived here?” Carter asked his new friend.

“Nah. We moved here a couple of years ago. After my mom split, my dad wanted to be closer to family. Mostly for me, I think. I have a bunch of aunts and an uncle.” He grinned. “Two uncles, now that Ford’s home.”

“Your mom left?”

Reese nodded, then took a bite of his sandwich. “One day she was gone. My dad was pretty broken up about it. He didn’t date or anything for a long time. He was waiting for her to come back.”

Carter had also grown up without a parent, but he’d never expected his father to return.

“You don’t see her on weekends and stuff?”

Reese put down his sandwich. “Never. She doesn’t remember my birthday or anything. My dad tries to say she still loves me, but I know the truth. She bailed and it’s done.”

“I’m sorry.”

Reese shrugged. “Whatever. I’m over it.”

Carter thought his friend was probably lying, but wasn’t going to call him on it.

“I didn’t know who my dad was for a long time,” he said. “When my mom got sick, she gave me his name so I could find him if something happened to her. She’d made arrangements for me to live with some friends, but they weren’t adopting me.” He thought about how they’d divorced and he’d been put into the foster system.

“You found him by yourself?” Reese asked. “Wicked.”

“It wasn’t that hard. With his name and knowing he was in the military, it was a pretty easy search.” He gave a halfhearted grin. “It was harder to find Fool’s Gold on a map.”

“Yeah, the town is pretty small, but it’s okay here. There’s lots to do and we can go out by ourselves. I’ve only seen your dad a couple of times at festivals and stuff. He seems cool.”