Until We Touch (Fool's Gold #15)(24)

“Yeah, but you’re the one with the open heart. Don’t discount that. Heart trumps just about everything.”

Larissa wished that were true. She leaned back in the booth and chewed on her chip. Food probably was a good idea, she thought. After all, this was her second margarita.

“I talked to my mother today,” she said when she’d swallowed. “She still wants me to come back to L.A.”

Jack’s expression was carefully neutral. “What did you tell her?”

“I said she’d been wrong to tell you what she did.” She wrinkled her nose. “She promised to never do that again.”

“Do you believe her?”

“Yes. But in return I had to promise to think about what she said.” She turned to him. “Do I hide behind my causes?”

Jack cleared his throat. “Why no, Larissa. I’m shocked you’d ask.”

She managed another small smile. “Very funny. I’m being serious.”

“I am, too. You’ve always had your causes. They’re a part of who you are.”

Maybe, but there was a difference if she was truly using various charities to avoid her personal life. Something to consider when she wasn’t feeling the buzz that only tequila could bring.

He put his hand over hers. “You make me a better person and it’s not wrong to want to save the world.”

“Thank you. Now enough about me. Please distract me with an unexpected football fact.”

He gave her a quick smile. “You know that committee Mayor Marsha wants me on? To find Cal U Fool’s Gold a new football coach?”

“Uh-huh.”

“They don’t have a team.”

“What? They don’t play football?”

“Not officially. They’re in the Western Athletic Conference, which is a nonfootball conference.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

The smile returned. “There are other sports.”

“I find that so hard to believe. So why did she want you to find them a football coach?”

“From the research I’ve done, they’re thinking of building a team.”

“Can they do that?”

“I guess. You start with a group of kids and grow from there. It’ll take a while and it’s a big commitment for the university. They’re going to have to sink a lot of money into the program.”

“That’s probably more than you’d planned to take on.”

“A circumstance I deal with frequently.” He leaned toward her. “Want to hear what I think about the Stallions’ chances on opening day?”

“There’s nothing I would like more.”

* * *

JACK DROVE THROUGH the quiet streets of Fool’s Gold. The days were noticeably shorter than they had been just a few weeks before. Summer was nearly over and fall would be here soon. He couldn’t begin to imagine what the festival-loving town would be like through the holidays, but he was looking forward to finding out.

Larissa sat next to him. Despite her claims of not being hungry, she’d polished off the entire taco platter without help and now looked out the passenger’s window. She was quiet—no doubt thinking about Mary. But at least she wasn’t crying. He hated to see her cry.

“Pull over!”

He hit the brakes. “What?”

She pointed to the side of the road. “Pull over.”

He’d barely reached the curb when she jumped out of the car and bolted across the street and into the park. Jack leaned back in his seat and sighed. There was no point in speculating, he reminded himself. Larissa had obviously seen some kind of creature in need of aid. As it could be anything from an endangered leaf to a three-legged moose in need of antler care, he would simply wait it out. When the time came, he would figure out how to lessen the impact on his life.

She was back in less than five minutes, dragging a lanky dark-haired teenaged boy behind her. The kid was tall and skinny, with a medium-dark complexion and a wary expression.

Jack sighed heavily and got out of his Mercedes. He could feel the beginnings of a headache starting around his temples.

“Larissa,” he began, his voice warning.

She cut him off with a cheerful smile. “Jack, this is Percy.”

Jack nodded at the kid.

“Percy’s from Los Angeles and he turned eighteen a couple of weeks ago. He spent the summer at End Zone for Kids. That’s Raoul Moreno’s summer camp.”

“I know what it is,” he told her. He turned to the teen. “You miss the bus, son?”

Percy shook his head.

Larissa put her hand on Jack’s chest. “He aged out of foster care, Jack. Percy doesn’t have any family and he didn’t finish high school. He has nowhere to go, so he made his way back here. He thought Fool’s Gold would be a good place to spend the winter.”

Obviously the kid had never taken geography, Jack thought grimly. Winters in L.A. barely dipped into the fifties. Fool’s Gold got snow. This was not a well-conceived plan. But he wasn’t even surprised.

“You were gone three minutes,” he said to Larissa. “How did you get all that information?”

She smiled up at him. “I have my ways.” Her blue eyes locked on his. “Jack,” she said slowly.