Topanga Canyon

Los Angeles, California

 

“There’s my baby girl!”

Gray had only just parked the car behind the line of cars in front of her parents’ house, smoothing her skirt over her legs as she unfolded herself from behind the wheel. Her father came toward her, his arms outstretched. She couldn’t help the smile that filled her expression as he approached, a goofy smile of his own greeting her. He lifted her in a bear hug, his bulky body as comforting as a familiar old teddy bear. She buried her face against his shoulder and sighed.

“Hey, Daddy.”

“You’re late!”

“I know. Alyssa’s mother was supposed to take her for the weekend, but she backed out, so I had to watch her this morning.”

“It’s always something with those people,” her father said, displeasure clear on his face, the emphasis on ‘those people’ touching an unpleasant chord in her chest.

“Daddy…”

He sighed, but he didn’t say anything more. Instead, he took her hand and led the way to the veranda where the party was already in full swing. Twenty or thirty people stood around, most with drinks in their hands. Gray’s four brothers—Peter, Robert, James, and Russ—were there, mingling with coworkers and neighbors, their wives following along beside them. Russ, the oldest, had two kids dancing around between everyone’s legs. And Robert’s wife was big with their first baby. It was only a month or so before the baby was due. Mom was perched in a chair beside the long, wooden table her father had built himself years ago, laughing at something someone had said, her face bright with amusement. When she spotted them, she came down to greet them, the light in her eyes only growing as she set eyes on her only daughter.

“Gray,” she said with a sigh, taking her daughter’s face between both hands. “You look tired, love.”

“Alyssa keeps me on my toes.”

“I bet.” Her mother leaned close and kissed the tip of her nose. “But it’s a good sort of stress, isn’t it?”

Gray smiled widely, always grateful to have her mother on her side.

Her father slipped his arm around his wife’s waist and tugged her close, kissing the side of her head. “Why can’t you ever be on my side in these things?”

Mom looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

He gave her a look that she could clearly read. The light dulled in her eyes just slightly, but then she looked at Gray, and it came right back. “She’s doing what’s right for her. If it makes her happy, then I’m happy.”

Her father made a face, but dropped a kiss on his wife’s head before taking Gray’s hand and tugging her toward the crowd. “Come on, I want you to meet some people.”

Her father dragged her away, the sympathetic look on her mother’s face almost comical. He introduced her to a new foreman at his construction company, a young gay couple who’d just moved in across the street, a half-dozen men and women whose names she would never remember, and Matt.

Matt was a tall, athletic guy with dark hair and heavily fringed brown eyes. He was clean-shaven—an unusual sight among the men who worked for her father—a plus in her book. There was something to be said for scruff, but she preferred the baby soft jaw of a clean-shaven man.

So far, so good.

“This is a little unnerving,” Matt said to her as they walked away from the crowd to find a moment of silence. “I can feel them watching us.”

She glanced over her shoulder and nodded. Her brothers were, indeed, watching them, as were most of the guys from her father’s construction company, her sisters-in-law, and her father. Only her mother had enough respect to attempt to hide the fact that she was watching as well. It was embarrassing.

“Ignore them. They think they know what’s best for me, but they don’t always stop to wonder what I might want.”

“Must be difficult, having four older brothers.”

“What’s difficult is their determination to run my life for me.”

“I have three older sisters. I understand.”

She smiled. “I suppose you would.”

They continued to walk to the edge of the property, putting as much distance between them and her nosy family as possible.

“You like working for my father?”

Matt shrugged. “If I said no, I’d be pretty stupid, wouldn’t I?”

“If you said yes but were lying, and this worked out, you might be stuck there for the rest of your life.”

“I’m not sure what would be worse.”

“Working a job you hate would be pretty bad.”

“Annoying my future father-in-law could be worse.”

She laughed. He had a point.

“I heard you work as a live-in nanny.” Curiosity burned in his eyes. “What’s that like? Living with a family you don’t belong to must be weird.”

“It’s just the dad and his daughter.” Gray reached up and brushed her fingers over her cheek as she thought of Andres and Alyssa. “She’s just short of her second birthday and so much fun! I adore her.”

“And the father?”

She shrugged, turning her head slightly even as she became aware of the blush burning on her cheeks. “He’s kind of intense, but he’s a good man. So gentle with his daughter.”

“He ever hit on you?”

“Never.” She turned completely away, disappointment creeping into her voice. “He’s a good man.”

“I’m sure he is, or else you wouldn’t be working for him.”

Gray blushed again as she stole a glance at Matt. “You barely know me.”

“But everything I’ve been told about you, and everything you’ve shown me in these few minutes, tells me that you’re a good person.” He touched her chin lightly. “Your father wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She giggled. “You’re right about that.”

“Come on.” He took her hand and tugged her back toward the party. “Let’s go have some fun!”

 

***

 

Everyone had their fair share of beer along with the burgers and hotdogs her father served up proudly from his grill, and the potato salad her mother had slaved over the night before. The gooey chocolate cake was just the cherry on top of a beautiful sundae, so rich it could have been a whole meal all on its own.

Gray was grateful for the loose waist on her dress as she sat in a quiet corner, waiting for her meal to move a little from the lump in her overtaxed belly. Her mother was sitting beside her, the two of them sipping from bottles of beer, sitting in quiet companionship, just watching the rest of the guests laugh and talk and simply enjoy themselves on this lovely southern California afternoon.

And then Robert wandered over, a dark expression in his grey eyes that were so similar to Gray’s.

“How’s work treating you?” Robert asked, perching on a chair near hers.

“Alyssa’s decided Moana is her favorite movie, making me watch it over and over and over again.”

Mom laughed. “It was Beauty and the Beast with you.”

“I’m so sorry!” Gray said, reaching over to pat her mother’s knee as they both giggled.

Robert cleared his throat, leaning forward a little, his beer bottle dangling between his knees. “What about her dad? He around much?”

Gray sat up a little straighter, the laughter dying. She knew where this was going. Robert was a cop, working with the gang taskforce that tried—often in vain—to keep the growing violence on the streets related to the gangs under control. The moment he learned she was planning to work for Andres Maldonado, he’d run a background check and discovered that Andres had been arrested as a juvenile in connection with one of the most notorious street gangs in Los Angeles. Even though Andres had elected to go into the military and cleaned himself up enough to be a narcotics cop at the time she was hired, Robert could focus only on his gang activity as a teen. Once a gang member, always a gang member, according to Robert. But he didn’t know Andres the way she knew him.

“What are you asking, Robert?”

He shrugged, lifting his beer to his lips. His eyes shifted briefly to Mom, who was watching him with as much caution as Gray. Then he glanced over his shoulder, clearly looking for his wife, but she was nowhere to be found. She’d probably waddled off to the bathroom again. She made late pregnancy look absolutely miserable.

“You do know that that guy’s going to get you hurt someday, right?”

Gray sighed. “So you’ve told me over and over again.”

“He got a cop shot.”

Gray glanced at her mother, barely biting back another sigh. She’d heard this story before. “You’re beating a dead horse, Robert.”

“He let that cop into a crack house without following procedures, without making sure it had been cleared.”

Gray rolled her eyes. “Every cop knows the dangers of their job. Just because Andres was in charge—”

“He let that man go in unprotected! That makes him responsible.”

Gray sat back, lifting her beer to her mouth for an angry swallow of the numbing liquid. Robert had preached this particular argument before, too.

“He was forced into the military by a judge who felt sorry for him because his mother was murdered in front of him. He joined the police department because he didn’t know what else to do with himself when he left the service,” Robert sneered. “That doesn’t make him a good cop. That makes him a danger to everyone around him.”

“He’s not a cop anymore.”

“Yeah, now he’s running with his old street gang!”

Gray shook her head, unable to believe how far her brother was willing to go in his arguments against Andres. “You’re full of crap, you know?” She leaned forward slightly in her chair. “He went to work for a private security firm a month ago. You know that.”

“Do I?” Robert tilted his head slightly. “Then why did my partner bring me pictures of Andres on a street corner where the Varrio Nuevo Estrada street gang is known to operate? Why did I go down there myself and see him getting into a car with a known member of that same gang?”

“Robert, that’s enough,” Mom said in a low undertone, but Gray had already had enough. She stood up, dropping her beer on the table, the liquid bubbling up and spilling against the weathered wood. “I’m not listening to this anymore. You guys have been telling me old news about Andres since the day I went to work for him. It’s bullshit! You don’t have to agree with my life choices, but you have to let me live my life the way I want to live it!”

Her raised voice drew the attention of others near them. Her father, concern written on his face, came charging over. “What’s going on?”

Mom had gotten up and had her hand wrapped around Gray’s wrist. “Don’t leave on a sour note.”

“They’ve been doing this since the day I decided to quit school and go to work. They can’t run my life for me!”

“I know.” Mom glanced at Robert. “Is it true, what you said?”

Robert had also stood, his jaw tight with tension. “I wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t.”

“What?” their father asked.

Mom shook her head, her eyes filled with concern.

“Robert misunderstood whatever it is he thinks he saw. Andres would never get involved with people who could hurt Alyssa!” Gray was growing more and more angry the more she thought about what Robert was implying. “You just don’t understand!”

“I’m trying to protect you,” Robert said.

“You can’t protect me from everything! I’m a grown woman. I have a right to make my own mistakes!”

Robert turned to Mom and Father, as though he thought he’d have a better chance of making his case to them. “Varrio Nuevo Estrada is one of the most dangerous gangs active on the streets right now. We’ve arrested dozens of people associated with them, confiscated millions of dollars of cocaine and heroin from them, but they keep going, keep multiplying, keep bringing violence and destruction to the streets of Los Angeles. These people—this Isaac Perez who runs the gang—are some of the most dangerous, frightening people I’ve ever come across!”

“You are a cop, Robert!” Gray announced.“All you ever see is the worst of human nature! But you don’t know Andres, you don’t see him with his daughter, you don’t know what kind of man he is when he’s not out there, dealing with the same darkness that you chase every single day!”

“I don’t need to see him with his daughter. I’ve seen enough of him on the streets.” Robert moved close to Gray, the scent of beer on his breath rushing over her. “He’s a ticking time bomb, and he’s going to get you hurt if you don’t get out now!”

She shook her head. “You’re wrong about him, Robert. You’ve listened so closely to rumors and gossip that you can’t see the truth right in front of your nose.”

“Gray, maybe you should listen to Robert,” Mom said.

Disappointed that even her mother was taking Robert’s side, Gray moved around Robert, intent on leaving. “All of you need to accept that I’m a grown woman, and I have a right to make my own mistakes just like all of you were allowed to do at my age. I don’t need you watching over me like I’m a child that doesn’t know any better.”

“Then maybe you should start acting like a grown woman,” Robert said. “Open your eyes and see that man for what he really is!”

There was no point in arguing any more because they were never going to hear her. They’d all made up their minds about Andres, and no amount of arguing on her part was going to change their minds.

She never should have come here.

She rushed around the side of the house, so angry that her hands were shaking and her knees were knocking. She leaned against her car and screamed, slamming her fists against the innocent side panels in a painful attempt to rid herself of some of the frustration that threatened to blow up inside of her.

“That was intense. Do you always fight with your brother on first dates?”

She spun around and found Matt watching her, a cocky grin transforming his face into something that was slightly beyond handsome. She shook her head, leaning back against the sun-heated metal of her car.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Does it happen often?”

“All the time, unfortunately. My brothers and my father think that my working for Andres Maldonado is a mistake for reasons I can’t even say because they make me so angry!”

“That’s who you work for?”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “He worked narcotics, like my brother, but he quit a month ago because of a raid that went badly, and…it’s complicated. My brother and his buddies convicted Andres the moment word got around that that cop was shot, and he hasn’t let me forget it since.”

“Does this Andres know about all this?”

“No. He doesn’t need to know. He has enough going on in his world, what with his job change and his daughter and his baby’s mother…he doesn’t need to worry about me and my little family problems.”

Matt came over and slipped up beside her, with a softness about his eyes that Gray found appealing. He touched her jaw with the backs of two fingers.

“You are a kind woman.” He tilted his head slightly as he studied her face. “And clearly very intelligent. Your family doesn’t give you enough credit.”

“They’re just upset with me for dropping out of college a couple of years ago. But I’m back, and I know what I want, I just…I needed time to figure it out, you know?”

“I know. I think we all struggle with that sort of thing at least once in our lives.”

“Thank you,” she said softly. “You’re the first person to say that to me.”

He studied her face for a moment, moving closer to her. “I’d really like to kiss you,” he said, his tone deep and rich. “Do you think…maybe…?”

She nodded. He touched her jaw, raising her chin with a gentleness that made her heart pound in her chest. When his lips brushed hers, it was soft and sexy and…nice. It was nice.

“I should go,” she said when he pulled back, her thoughts already back with Andres. “If they realize I’m still here, they might want to continue that little discussion.”

“Of course.” Matt stepped back and pulled open her car door, gesturing widely for her to climb inside. He stood there until she was buckled, then shut the door securely for her. A real gentleman.

“Can I call you later in the week?”

“I didn’t give you my number.”

“Your father did.”

She shook her head. “Why am I not surprised?” But then she smiled. “Please do. You might as well use it if you already have it.”

He smiled, too, stepping back as she started the engine. “This has got to be the most unusual first date in the history of dating.”

“Welcome to the Simpson family.”