Into the Storm (Signal Bend #3)(49)
Gia woke up as they were finishing desert. Her angry wails filled the house; they had audio monitors in every room and video monitors in the kitchen, living room, and their bedroom. They’d eaten in the kitchen, and Show stood up. “I got her, Mama. Finish your tiny apple pie thing.”
He went up to Gia’s room on the second floor. She’d rolled to her tummy and was lifting up on her hands, yelling furiously. “Hey, little diva. Come to Uncle Show.” She quieted as soon as he put his hand on her back. Damn, he loved this little thing. It was dumb, he knew, but he felt Daisy around her.
He turned her onto her back and grabbed a diaper from the changing table. He hated changing tables; they didn’t seem secure to him, and the thought of putting a belt around a baby you were trying to change was just stupid. So he changed her in her crib, cooing and talking nonsense at her while he did. She stared seriously at him, her green eyes focused sharply. When he had her clean and snapped back into her little fleece footie pajamas, he tossed the diaper and picked her up.
She immediately grabbed a fistful of his beard and tried to pull it to her mouth. When that didn’t work, she brought her mouth to her fist, sucking avidly. He unwound her hand, and she grabbed his hair instead.
He laughed and gave up.
When he walked back into the kitchen, Shannon was staring at him oddly. It gave him some pause—she looked angry, or scared, or he didn’t know what, and he wasn’t sure what could have happened in the ten minutes he was gone. But then Lilli stood and started to clear the table, and Shannon got up to help her, and that strange moment was gone.
He and Isaac sat in the living room and talked about the Hollywood thing. The writers and photographer were finally gone, and they were back in a holding pattern, waiting to see what kind of script came out of that ordeal. Isaac had concerns, concerns Show shared, about how the town would come off. They didn’t want to be country bumpkins, like something out of a sitcom, but they didn’t want their meth dealings featuring too prominently, either. They knew the story they wanted told.
They’d gotten a stunning reprieve from law, in large part because public sentiment was so strongly in their favor after they’d (mostly inadvertently) taken down a drug kingpin and two big St. Louis gangs—and in even larger part because Lilli featured prominently in the true events, and she had been involved in deep cover government work, unrelated to the events but still extremely sensitive. There’d been a great deal of pressure from very high up the food chain to let the MC and the town off the hook for their own illicit dealings. But there was no sense waving that reprieve around like a red flag.
“They turn this thing into some kind of melodramatic bullshit, and I’m gonna want those *s back here as loose parts.”
“We got approval on the script, boss. They’re *s, especially the guys, but I think they know what they risk, pissing us off. Let ‘em do their thing, and we’ll see what we see.”
“I just don’t want ‘em going rogue. They talked to a lot of people. They get more curious than they should, they can cause us trouble.”
Gia had been sucking on a teether; now she threw it to the floor. Show bent and picked it up, setting it on the table in front of him. She screamed and stretched for it. “Sorry, missy. It hit the floor. You’re outta luck.” Isaac reached into a basket and tossed him another. He caught it midair and handed it to the baby.
“These were the risks we knew, Isaac. We gotta be ready. If they forget their place, we can remind them.
Too late not to see this through.”
“I know, I know. Hey—since we’re talking shop, let me show you the papers for the market. Mac has a buyer, and the mayor wants our input on it before he takes it to the council.”
Shannon came into the room. “You guys need another round?”
Show shook his head. “Not me, but”—he stood and walked to her—“you want to take Gia for me?
We’re taking a few minutes for shop talk.” He held Gia out, expecting Shannon to take her, but she reacted as if he were handing her toxic waste, or an angry alligator. She literally jumped back, her hands coming up in the universal signal for oh shit, absolutely not.
He barked a surprised laugh. “What’s the matter, hon? Never held a baby? I promise she won’t bite. Not hard, anyway—no teeth yet.” He held Gia out again, and Shannon took another step back.
“No. No. I’ll—uh—I’ll get Lilli.”
Show settled Gia back on his shoulder. “No. S’okay. I’ll take her with me.” He eyed Shannon carefully.
She looked distraught, upset far beyond the measure of the moment. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Fine.” She turned and went back into the kitchen.
When Show turned around, he came face to face with Isaac, whose expression was as confused and surprised as Show felt.
“What was that about?”
Show shook his head. “I got no idea.”
He’d told her he wouldn’t ask about her secrets, and he wasn’t a man who went back on his word. But she had some, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious.
But he could be patient. If his life had taught him nothing else, it had taught him that.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Shannon looked out the side window at the passing scenery. Even at night the landscape was breathtaking, with a clear sky and a bright moon. Although it had been two days since the storm, and the roads were mostly clear, the snow covering fields and forests was still pristine, and the moonlight and starshine glittered over the surface and on the winter-bare trees still coated with ice. Living in a city, snow was grimy and downtrodden within hours of the last fallen flake. Shannon had forgotten how truly beautiful snow was.