Page 84 of Sunny Undone

“Perhaps too smart.” I shrug. “She lives an hour away, if there’s traffic. Can’t be an assistant professor in Gator Flats. We don’t even have a high school, let alone a college. And I felt like such an idiot in her lab. Maybe we’re just oil and water, you know. Not really supposed to mix.”

Ridge thinks about it, for a second. “Motorcycles need both.”

I look over at him. “What?”

“Oil and water. More specifically, coolant. Same fucking principle. A bike needs both. They don’t have to mix. Actually, you don’t want them to mix. That’s usually a sign something has gone catastrophically wrong.”

I huff a laugh. “You’re shit at giving pep talks.”

“I’m not finished.” He mutters the word cunt under his breath. “My point is, a bike’s got a shit ton of parts that have no business being the same thing. Metal and rubber. Fuel and sparks. Oil and coolants. Some parts spin; some parts never move. Some parts get hot; some parts are there specifically to stop things from getting hot.”

Ridge’s forehead creases, and I wait for a while.

“And somehow that’s marriage?” I ask.

He scratches his head. “Yeah. There was definitely a marriage point when I started speaking.”

I take a gulp of my beer. “Keep going. I think you’re close.”

He throws a hand up. “Fuck knows what I’m trying to say. Something about needing to be different to make it work. Like, pay attention when it starts making a weird noise. Don’t ignore warning lights. Keep the fluids where they are supposed to be.”

I grin. “And ride it regularly.”

Ridge almost chokes on his beer. “Yeah. That too. I fucking hate you.”

But I get what he’s trying to say. Maybe the point isn’t to find the person who is cut from the same cloth you are. Maybe it’s about finding the person whose differences make your whole damn life run better.

Perhaps I should just admit what I know for sure if I don’t think too hard about it. I’ve fallen for Della. Doesn’t matter if it’s too soon or I don’t know what I’m doing, or I worry I’m not smart enough.

Maybe I should just admit that, if only to myself.

I’ve fallen for her. And I’m missing her.

Knox chooses that moment to come back to the bar from his office.

“Well, that didn’t take long,” Knox says, putting the laptop down on the table. “Congratulations.”

I walk around Knox’s side of the table and pull up a chair. On the screen, I see Jackal, who used to fish with me and Ridge when he was here, and Wren, with their black hair with green ends, sitting side by side.

“What are we congratulating?” I ask.

“Jackal just told me that his and Shade’s old lady, Isla, is pregnant,” Knox says.

“Congratulations,” I say, raising my pint. There are questions I know better than to ask, and I hope no one else asks if they know which of them the father is. It’s none of our business. And I can’t help but feel a little sad that Jackal and Shade never felt like they could be who they are in this clubhouse. But I kind of get it. Some of the older members can be assholes.

“Lucky man,” Ridge says. “Men.”

Jackal smiles. “Yeah. Although, Shade has gone off the rails, in terms of security. I rolled over in bed last night and he practically snarled at me for almost waking Isla up. Might start slipping some chill pills in his coffee.”

Wren laughs at that. “You know you won’t. You love it when he gets protective. So, what else can we do for you guys?”

“Things continue to be messed up and vague, here,” Knox begins. “We got a lead on irregular use of insecticide. We’ve been asking questions, and a wholesaler of it had a theft. Reported it to the sheriff. Wondered if you could get a copy of that report somehow?”

“Fucking sheriffs,” Jackal says. “Don’t give a shit about the protection of the land. Bet they’ve done nothing to find who stole it.”

Wren simply nods. “I can wrestle a lot of this down for you. Getting the police record will be easy. I managed to get a handle on Bennett, the broker. I’m gonna send an email to phish him, see what I can learn. Don’t suppose he gave you any clues to shit he likes? Helps me send something tailored to him that he’s likely to open.”

Knox shrugs. “Not much.”