She grimaced. “Okay, I’m a little nervous.”
He walked her over to his car and opened the passenger door for her. He detected a bit of an eye roll, but she slid into her seat without any comment. He hurried around to his side and hopped in.
“Really, try not to stress too bad. I’m not going to lie; my sisters will probably pester the shit out of you, and I’m expecting a full interrogation.”
“Well, that sounds lovely.”
Rick laughed. “I’ve told them all that we are friends and I’m helping you out with a little situation you’ve got that required my expertise.”
She snorted at that. “What expertise? Sitting around on your ass, eating snacks, and staring at nothing all night?”
“Hey. Don’t knock it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d rather be sitting around watching a game or a movie than a stationary truck that no one has looked twice at the whole time we’ve been watching. But you know, your thing is fun, too.”
“Well, I keep trying to tell you, you don’t need to babysit me. If I’m cramping your solitary lifestyle too much, you are more than welcome to go back to it any time you want.”
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little solitude every now and then. If you’d grown up in my house, you’d be begging for some alone time, too.”
“That bad, huh?”
Rick laughed. “Four younger sisters. Who all decided as soon as they could walk and talk that the one mother I had wasn’t near enough. Try living in a house with five mother hens constantly breathing down your neck.”
“I don’t know. I think it’s nice that you’ve got so many people who care about you.” Gina brushed imaginary lint off her skirt and looked back out her window at the scenery going by.
“Do you have siblings?” he asked.
“No.”
Rick’s eyebrows rose at that firm, flat word. No emotion behind it. No anything. Just…no.
“Parents?” he asked. He knew he was prying. She hadn’t volunteered any extra information and didn’t seem to be welcoming any conversation in that direction, but he knew almost nothing about her.
“I have parents,” she said, with that eye roll tone of voice he was starting to love so much. “But my dad left when I was little. It was just me and my mom. She’s great. Worked her ass off to keep a roof over our heads, keep me fed and happy. And I have Nat. She’s the closest thing I have to a sister.”
“I’d like to meet her sometime. You know, when I’m not in the middle of arresting you.”
Gina smiled at him, and his heart warmed. “She owns the bakery with her husband. I’m sure you’ve seen her around.”
“Well, yeah, but seeing her around is different from meeting her. If she puts up with you on a regular basis, she must be something special.”
“Oh, ha ha.”
“How did you guys meet, anyway?”
Gina looked back out the window, all hint of amusement gone from her face. Apparently that question wasn’t as innocent as he’d thought. She was quiet for long enough that he didn’t think she would answer.
Finally, she said, “Her parents took me in as a foster kid for a few weeks when we were younger.”
“You were in foster care?” His stomach dropped thinking of what she must have gone through to land in the system.
“Yeah. So?” she snapped. Then she took a deep breath. “Sorry. Kind of a sensitive subject. It was only for a few weeks.”
“My fault. I didn’t mean to bring it up.”
“You didn’t. It’s okay.” She sighed again. “I came home from school one day and no one was home. I usually had a sitter until my mom got home at five. But the sitter had gotten in a fender bender and wasn’t able to come over. She didn’t get a hold of my mom until after I’d already gotten home. My mom called to make sure I was okay. Her boss wouldn’t let her off early. But it was only for a couple hours. I was ten. I said I’d be okay. She called every fifteen minutes or so to make sure I was okay. I wasn’t scared. But I wanted to do something nice and have dinner made for her when she got home. She always worked so hard…”
Her words choked off, each one ripping a tiny hole in Rick’s heart. Gina stopped to clear the emotion from her throat before she continued. “I made macaroni and cheese.” She gave him a sad smile. “I was good at mac and cheese. But I spilled a bit of the cheese powder on the burner and it set off the smoke alarm. My neighbor investigated, found me home alone in a smoky kitchen, and called the cops.”
Rick’s stomach bottomed out. He knew what was coming.