Page 48 of York

“Enough,” she scoffed. “Is that like when ultra-rich people claim they are ‘comfortable’?”

“Well, I can’t claim to be ultra-rich, but I have no overhead at the clubhouse. So nearly everything I’ve earned since I joined the club has just been sitting in my bank account. Well, that’s not true. A friend of the club talked me into investing some of it. And that has been doing pretty well too. So, yeah, I’m comfortable.”

“Well, good. I like that for Denali. She deserves that.”

I just barely held myself back from telling her that she did too.

“I’m happy to give you guys anything you could need. After this, I’m going to drop in on a buddy of the club.”

“For what?”

“He’s a hacker. I’m going to have him do some looking around at organizations in Philly. See if anyone has any chatter about you. That kind of thing.”

“Oh, good.”

“And the Cider brothers are already on their way up to Georgia.”

“The Cider brothers?”

“Cayman and Dixon.”

“Wait,” she said, her smile spreading slowly.

“Yep. You heard that right. Crazy-ass parents.”

“And here I was, a little worried that Denny’s name was a bit too out there.”

“I like her name. Has she ever been?”

“To Denali? No. I haven’t actually taken her to any national parks. I’ve been a little too cognizant of how easily people can be killed in places like that and have it look like a complete accident.”

“Yeah, I never considered that. But you want to one day?”

“I want her to see them all. And more. Travel was such an important part of my life. I’d like it to be a part of hers too. Though, I don’t think my sweet little princess-dress-clad daughter is going to want to rough it in a tent somewhere.”

“Hey, you never know. She’s so young.”

“True. She’s been talking all about the jungle after watching that movie. She is very interested in petting a snake all of a sudden.”

“I can make that happen.”

“I don’t know if I can transition from her wanting to get a cute, fluffy kitten to having to thaw rats from the freezer for her to feed to her giant snake.”

“Or having to keep actual roaches in the house to feed to a lizard.”

Runa did a full-body shiver. “I rented an apartment once, sight unseen, and, yeah. Roaches. We slept in the car, and I demanded a refund. So gross. I do thorough bug checks everywhere now.”

“I once stayed in a motel while on a job and got bit to shit by bed bugs. I threw away everything I brought with me.”

“Mama, can we picnic?”

Runa winced. “I didn’t pack a picnic, munchkin.”

“We can get something take-out and have a picnic,” I suggested.

That got a cheer out of Denali and a smirk from Runa.

“What?” I asked.