A Perfect Day, With Explosions, page 8
AJ knew she hadn’t seen quite a lot, especially some sub-basements, but now wasn’t the time to mention that. “Right, no pub crawl food tour tonight. We’ll order pizza in. Do you like pizza? Prefer a noodle joint delivery? I have to warn you, if it’s pizza, you’ll have to get Twitch his own pizza, because he likes to put pancetta and pineapple together.”
That got a laugh. “Hey, that’s not bad. Not my favorite, but not inedible.” She patted a pocket, then frowned. “I’d look up what’s open right now, but they took my handbrain, and dammit, never gave it back.”
“To keep you from being tracked.” AJ replied, and she turned wide eyes on him. “Tomorrow you’ll get a secured version. I’ll handle the food delivery. Trust me?”
She gave him a smile and said, “I trust you.”
Such a simple statement shouldn’t make him feel so happy all the way down to his bones, but it did. He smiled back at her, and then concentrated on driving, notifying Twitch, and ordering food. She didn’t even complain when he accelerated to avoid getting boxed in, and switched lanes underneath the overpass. He knew civilians found that upsetting, by all the bitching he’d heard. So when the sigh came, he was thrown off not by the tone, but the content.
“Why can’t I go home and get decent clothes for tomorrow, instead of these ugly borrowed uniform things?” He looked over, but she was leaning back with her eyes closed. “What does ‘not secure’ actually mean?”
“It means Christy set you up to be killed yesterday, when she ditched you at the mall.” He couldn’t find a softer way to say it.
Jenna didn’t open her eyes, but her voice got soft and thoughtful. “She knew? That… that explains something she said last night, about not getting my dresses after all. That bitch.”
“We don’t want her getting another shot at you, or opening the door for anyone else to grab you.” AJ’s grip tightened on the steering wheel until the leather creaked.
“Grab me? I’m a welder, not one of the social set. I don’t even know…” She finally opened her eyes, looking at him in confusion.
AJ shook his head. “You’re the one who found the truck bombs.”
“Wait, what? You’re going to have to explain that!”
“The shoes you found this morning, the ones you said were oddly constructed.” He waited for her nod. “The person wearing them was brought to HQ for medical treatment, but he died a few hours before you got there. Since he died in a secured section of the facility, the deadman switch couldn’t call out to activate the bombs. Once we knew they existed, we were able to find and neutralize the threats. They’d parked them at the triage and rescue staging areas.” Which meant they knew the plans, not that those were that difficult to access.
He watched her go pale, as she worked through the implications. She was absolutely adorable when she cussed. They were in the winding suburb streets before she spoke again. “All I did was find the shoes. I’m not the right person for this.”
“You’re not.” He agreed, and she gave him a startled look. “But you’re the one with the expertise the rest of us don’t have. Sometimes, you’re just the one who’s there, and you’ve got to do what needs doing whether you’re the right one for the job or not. I’m not the right person to guard you; executive protection is not my specialty. But I’m trying, because you’re important, and you need it.” He pulled into Twitch’s driveway, and put the truck in park before he risked looking at her again.
She had a soft smile on her face, and put her hand on top of his right hand where it rested on the shifter, twining her fingers with his. She had a strong grip for an unaugmented female, he noted distantly as she said, “Wouldn’t trade you for anyone else. Thank you.”
He looked at her, trying to desperately figure out what the response was, because no dry-run scenario for dealing with civilians had prepared him for this. She apparently knew, because she hit the release on her seat harness, and leaned forward. He figured out she was kissing him about a half second after her lips met his, and that was too late to stop her pulling away. All the careful lists of responses dissolved in a great roaring static, and his brain short-circuited as his hormones tried to seize control. “Jenna…”
“No, you don’t get to take me home instead tonight.” She smiled, and opened the door. “So, this is where Lizzes lives?”
Not tonight did not mean never. Unexpected hope was sweet and addictive, and full of dreams and desire. With great difficulty, AJ managed to haul his mind back on track, to follow her conversation. “…Yes.” And wouldn’t Twitch give him hell, about this? He double-checked that the truck was parked, and off, and released his own seat harness. “This way.”
13
Patio Dining
Twitch met them at the security door into a tiny foyer with a hug for her that left Jenna feeling a little awkwardly mashed into his chest, and one for AJ that clearly conveyed the man was loved, even before Twitch held him by the arms and frowned. “You look like shit. Boosters and adaptation? Get your ass in the shower.”
“I’m headed home after I get her taken care of.” AJ replied, and Twitch cut him off with a head shake.
“Like hell you are. Get your ass in the shower, and I’ll save your plain boring pizza for you.” Twitch shook AJ, and said roughly, “You have help. Use it.”
After watching AJ limp up the stairs, Twitch turned to her with an easy smile. “Lizzes will be back shortly with some girly stuff for you, so let me give you the two-penny tour before food gets here.”
She followed him up the stairs toward another heavy front door, and said, “Wait. How did you even know we were coming?”
“Comnet. AJ called ahead.” He tapped his temple, and she blinked.
“Right. Most people talk out loud.”
“Hah. I’d normally say AJ has a budget of three point seven words a day, whether he chooses to spend it or not, but he likes you. He’s been trying really hard to talk to you.” Twitch locked the door behind her, and waved a hand at the apartment. “Living room. Kitchen’s through here. What do you want to drink? Lizzes can grab anything you want, if we don’t have it.”
“Water’s fine.” She replied, looking around curiously. Despite the incredibly expensive augments he had, and the way they didn’t worry about money, the place was about the same size as her apartment, and everything looked well-worn in. She’d been expecting some spacious modern house with furnishings to impress, and instead got an apartment with overstuffed comfy couches and chairs, worn throw rugs on the hardwood floor, and random interesting rocks and books piled here and there she wanted to stop and look at.
The kitchen was small, but meticulously organized and full of the layered smells that meant it was well-used, no matter how clean the countertops and floor were. As she looked around, she heard Twitch make an annoyed huff… but it wasn’t at her. The reason was a mug with a spoon on the counter near the sink. He stopped and dumped whatever was in it, then started scrubbing the dishes down. “Glasses are in the cupboard to your left, above the coffeepot.”
Jenna opened the door, and smiled at the profusion of mismatched mugs and cups. By the time she had one down, he’d finished scrubbing the mug and spoon, and started to rinse both off. “Thank you.”
“One moment, and I’ll run the water cold for you.” He placed the mug and spoon on the drying rack and sighed. “She always thinks she’ll get back to the cup. Maybe. Eventually. When hell freezes over.”
“That gets worse with baby brain.” Jenna replied. “Compared to my sisters? At least she gets the cups back to the kitchen and you don’t have to go hunting them down before they start growing fuzzies.”
“I am warned.” Twitch paused, and nodded, clearly filing that away before resuming the tour. “Back porch is through there, and stairs down to the backyard. AJ’s in the shower, so we’ll skip that… ah, damn, should have thought to ask if you needed the bathroom first. If you do, we’ll borrow Gunny’s.”
She waved the offer off, but had to ask. “Gunny?”
“Our landlord and friend. Great guy, but don’t tell him I said that. Very quiet.” He grinned, and opened the chiller, fishing inside and coming up with a beer. “Sure you don’t want one?” At her head shake, he popped the cap off, and leaned back against the counter, settling in. “Something you’ll need to know. One of the downsides of the level of inskin we run is extremely good hearing, whether we want to, or not. Privacy is extremely hard to come by.”
Jenna felt her face burn, and looked away. “I’m sorry to intrude. It wasn’t my idea to come here. I just…” She shuddered, and her voice grew strangled at the memory. “I couldn’t stay in that building. Not locked in, not with those dead bodies.”
“Waiting for the air to cut off again?” Twitch’s voice was surprisingly gentle, and she looked at him, startled. “You have one go off next to you when you’re not expecting it, perfectly normal to spend the next few days jumpy and irritable, snatching bits of sleep while waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
She took a drink of water, feeling the rough lumpiness of a hand-thrown mug. The doctors would have thrown a fit about such a surface in the ward, but it suited this place, and the slightly rough-edged man in front of her. “You’re not irritable. Or AJ. I’ve never met anyone so calm in my life!”
Twitch laughed softly and saluted her with his beer before taking a long pull. “That, my dear, is because we’re always expecting it. So it’s not a surprise when things go pear-shaped.”
Jenna frowned into her drink. “I don’t. Well, I do, but only on normal things. The train’s going to be late, the last shift fell behind and we’re going to have to do their work before we can even start on our quota. If the project is outside, it’s going to be raining. If it’s not raining yet, it has been, and I’ll still be kneeling in mud while trying to patch a section of pipeline. If it’s indoors, somebody didn’t ventilate the tank, and the breather hoses are going to kink…” She swallowed and shut up, knowing she’d said too much.
“Ah.” From the expression on Twitch’s face, he’d caught the last one. Instead of rubbing her face in it like her coworkers would, he just watched her steadily over his beer. “Not so different, after all. Malice, incompetence, entropy, and lethal stupidity abound in so many professions.” As she stared back at him, he gave her a quirky grin. “Sometimes even from our enemies!”
“Hah!” She shook her head. “Thank God I don’t have enemies. Between some of my coworkers and whoever wrote the specs in the contracts, that’s enough right there!”
Twitch’s grin got distinctly lopsided for a moment. “Yes, well, quite. And then there’s the worst, plain old miscommunication.”
The look he was giving her… she knew she was missing something. And that it was about to bite her. But how to ask? “That… yeah. You wouldn’t think there are so many ways to misinterpret the pull orders and the specs, but there are. And people are even harder.”
Twitch made an agreeable noise. “And we’re not your normal sort of people.”
That one was a trap as plain as a cat on its back and wriggling a soft belly like it wanted petted. “I don’t… I don’t really have a normal sort of people. I mean, I love my family, but…” She ran out of words and gave an awkward shrug.
He was still giving her that completely neutral, pleasantly blank look. “AJ mentioned you had roommates?”
Jenna winced. “Yeah. I pulled them off a listing when I moved out of my parents. There’s a cafe just off the docks, that’s on the back of a beauty school…”
Twitch cut her off, grinning. “Starfall’s Landing, yeah. Peach ginger wasabi ice cream, when the owner feels like making it. Seriously? You picked up hairdressing school students for roommates? Do you like living in your own personal soap opera?”
Her groan made him laugh. “No, but it’s cheap and welding certs are expensive. And it provides a lot of examples of… how to human.”
That was what her siblings had always teasingly called it, when she’d been trying. And from the look on Twitch’s face, she had the sinking feeling she’d just picked up another expert in sibling teasing. Even if he wasn’t her brother. “You do it better than AJ. Maybe he should…”
“Stars above, no!” She cut him off. “That’s just cruel! Not to mention he met them this morning. He’d shoot you if you tried to get him to move in with them!”
Twitch was definitely laughing at her. “No, he’d shoot them. But that’s not what I was going to say. I was going to suggest you move in with him, so he can study you.”
Jenna was aware, suddenly, of the way his eyes were disturbingly intent, for all his easy grin, and the way he watched her freeze at the idea. She took another sip of water to buy time, and said carefully, “I don’t think that’s the studying he has in mind.”
Twitch’s grin cranked up another notch, but she wasn’t fooled anymore. “And what do you plan to do about it?”
She really wanted to tell him it was none of his business. On the other hand, if AJ was comfortable enough to shower here, he had to have spare clothes here too. Which meant they were close enough friends it was absolutely Twitch’s business. So she said roughly, badly, “I don’t know.”
The grin was gone like it never existed, and Twitch watched her for a long moment. “I’m hearing a failure to assess the situation and make a plan.”
Jenna flushed and opened her mouth, only to be saved by a low chime. Twitch shoved off the counter, and pointed the open end of his beer at her. “Stay here.” She nodded, and he loped out of the room to deal with dinner arriving.
Lizzes arrived on the heels of the pizza delivery guy leaving, shopping bags loading down her left arm as she applied hugs all around and scolded her husband when he peeked at the bags. “No, you don’t get to see. It’s girly stuff! Have you shown her where she’ll be staying yet? No? This way!”
And with that, Jenna was swept up in a whirlwind of Lizzes. When it settled, she found herself out on the back porch clutching a bowl of salad and a plate with a couple slices of a random pizza. She was still trying to figure out where she could put one down when Twitch stepped out the door and dragged a table over between her and Lizzes’s chairs, then plunked two glasses down. “Your drinks, ladies. One pinot, and one mocktail.”
Lizzes growled at him. “Overprotective, bossy…”
“Cranberry juice, sparkling something, cocktail bitters, and yes, love, I did add a splash of wine. Remember, if you kill me, our child won’t have a father.” Twitch was trying to look contrite and humble and failing badly at both.
“Go away. We’re having girl time. Shoo!”
“Yes, love.” He slipped back inside and shut the door with a definite click.
Jenna savored the silence, and the breather from feeling she was failing to measure up to something. It was easier to eat out on the back porch, in the late afternoon fading heat and faint breeze smelling of warm wood and the flowers running riot in the backyard below. The questions in her head finally drove her to ask, “What’s girl time?”
“It’s when we discuss things taboo for men’s ears. Like baseball scores.” Lizzes grinned, and Jenna had to put down the glass she’d just picked up before she spilled it. “Or babysitting, budgets, and who’s bitchy ass is going to be outmaneuvered at the next neighborhood association meeting.”
“Feeeeelings.” Jenna drawled the word out.
“Exactly! And geology for me, and welding for you, because it’s nice to geek out without it turning into a testosterone fest.” Lizzes sighed. “I don’t get to talk to other girls much. Which I don’t mind, but…”
“But sometimes you want to bitch about books and life, and not worry you’ll hurt their egos?” Jenna was nodding.
“Their terribly, terribly fragile egos. And ask dumb questions, like how in the world did you get your hair to be that precise shade of platinum blonde? Because I’d have sworn only wigs look that good.”
“I cheated.” Jenna confessed, dropping her voice and leaning toward the only person in this place she understood. “I had to have regen a few years ago, and they let me pick my hair color.”
That got a thoughtful look. “A few years? At least six by your hair length. And a full DNA-level regen? Shards, no wonder AJ said you’re pinching pence.”
“Yeah. I just got it paid off two years ago, and have been able to start buying myself nice things. I know I should save it all, but…” She shrugged, and held her hands out. “I used to go into the shops and study the fashion rags just to dream, you know? And now I can finally sometimes have it, so even if I have nowhere to go and nothing to do, I still get the outfit just for me.”
“Sometimes you have to reward yourself. If only to celebrate still being alive.” Lizzes agreed, and a knot of tension between Jenna’s shoulder blades eased off.
“Exactly.” She picked up the glass of wine, twirling the stem between her fingers, looking at the legs as she’d been taught and taking a sniff. It smelled better than she was used to. Not as harsh, and almost like berries. Still, she hadn’t seen it poured, so she put it aside on the table. “When I was in the hospital, waiting for regen, I wanted to be beautiful, and strong, and to be able to get dirty. And here I am. I don’t know what to do, now that I am what I wanted to be when I grew up.”
Lizzes’s laugh had as much pain as humor. “Oh, I feel that. You’ll find new goals. I never counted on meeting Twitch, but now I have him, and, I guess everything’s about to change. Again.” She looked down at her belly. “Still doesn’t feel real, yet.”
“My oldest sister said it really felt real when she saw the ultrasound. But Evie, she said the morning sickness worked just fine, and she didn’t have to wait for the pictures.” Jenna shrugged.
“Yeah. Feelings or no, it is real.” Lizzes shook her head, and drank her mocktail.
Eying the drink, Jenna asked, “Why did you yell at him for making that?”
