Page 35 of Daddy’s Fortitude

“Some asshole drinking at the bar touched her ass without permission. I taught him a lesson—and his friends, too.”

Aimee nodded, feeling vindicated. Now Kirsten would understand why it wasn’t good that he was hanging around her.

But Kirsten just grinned. “Oh, yeah. I really like you.” She slipped her arm into Aimee’s and squeezed it. “This guy here, he’s a good one.”

“Because he started a bar fight?”

“Because he defended you. Because he kept you safe. You shouldn’t be working for Danny. He’s an ass. He’s never going to look after you. How long until one of those guys took it too far, huh? Until they followed you home? It’s not like Kevin could come to your rescue.”

“Maybe I could come to my own rescue,” Aimee muttered.

Both of them gave her stares of disbelief.

“I did trip Randy up with a bat!”

“You did?” Kirsten held up her hand for a high five, and Aimee gave her one with a small smile.

“Yeah, but now I’ve lost that job, and I did really need it.”

Kirsten sighed and nodded. “It will work out, babe. In the meantime, maybe you should go home and have a rest day.”

Aimee shook her head. “Nah, I’m here now. I want to work, just maybe not on the forklift.” She grimaced as she stared over at Ammo’s truck. “I really will pay to have that fixed.”

“You really won’t,” he said. “Now, I need some equipment.”

“Maybe I should come home and help you.” She couldn’t just let him do it by himself, could she?

“You can come home with me,” Ammo said. “But you ain’t helping.”

Jeez, he was bossy.

“Tell me what you want, and I’ll go get it ready,” Kirsten said.

He rattled off a list of things. It was going to cost a fortune to hire or buy all of that.

Kirsten nodded. “Right, I’ll take care of it. No charge.”

“You can’t do that,” Aimee protested. “All of that stuff costs a lot of money.”

Kirsten raised her eyebrows. “Hush, you. I’ve been asking to help you for ages, and you wouldn’t accept it. So this is how I’m going to help. And you’re not going to tell me no.” She turned to Ammo. “Yeah, I like the way you do things.”

Ammo just nodded back slowly.

Dear Lord, was everyone ganging up on her now?

Kirsten headed off to arrange for all of the stuff that Ammo needed, and Aimee turned back to him. “You really don’t have to do this.”

“Do I seem like the type of guy who does anything he doesn’t want to do?”

He really didn’t.

“No, I just feel bad that you’re going to be working on my yard. Maybe you could wait till tomorrow. I’m not working tomorrow. Oh. Wait, I might be working in the morning now that my job at Danny’s bar is no more. Perhaps we could do it tomorrow afternoon. Or Sunday.”

“Sunday?” he asked. “The day of Charlie’s funeral?”

“Yeah, that’s a good point.” Her shoulders slumped.

“I want to do this. I’m going to do it, and I’m not going to listen to anything you have to say about it. Even if you come home to help, I’m not going to let you.”