Carr was the last to arrive at Belle's, Kashi having sat at a booth ten minutes ago with Sierra thirty-seconds behind. They'd been arguing about Emma's new perm when Carr lumbered in, plopping himself down beside Kashi at the table.
"It's awful late to be eating cake you know." He said by way of greeting. Kashi and Sierra were both halfway into their pieces.
Sierra took a long sip of her water before pointing at Carr with her fork. "Don't knock it till you try it. Belle could charge forty dollars for a piece and I'd still get it."
He raised his hands in mock surrender, Kashi smirking a little at his bemused expression.
"You smell like hay and horses." Kashi said, scooting away from him a few inches. "Didn't you think to shower before you came?"
"What and miss the chance to gross you out?" He pushed himself against Kashi who let out a too-loud squeak before squishing herself against the wood panelled wall.
Kashi took the baseball cap from his head and tossed it, the hat flying over the table and landing on a high chair near the door.
"Hey now that's my favorite hat." Carr teased. But he eased himself from the bench to retrieve it.
Sierra sent Kashi a sly smile. Kashi scowled in return.
After ordering a slice of cake for Carr and one more for Kashi and Sierra to split, Kashi told the two what she'd heard in the barn, playing the recording for them when she finished.
"Eavesdropping from the storage closet? Shameful." Carr chided, grinning stupidly.
"I'm serious." Kashi whacked his arm with the back of her hand. "I think my uncle is involved in something illegal. My dad really needs some extra funds to keep his ranch going for much longer. What could this business be for him to refuse?"
Sierra's face was pensive, her eyebrows cinched together. Her black curly hair was frizzy from the unusually humid day, sticking to her forehead in the lasting heat. "There's absolutely nothing around here for miles. Whatever it is, I'm guessing it has more to do with investments than an actual hands-on type of experience." She conjectured, poking at the remainder of her cake with the fork in her hand.
"Then why call dad if his finances were so low? He couldn't invest much." Kashi wondered out loud. "We're getting more information about this but I don't see how it pieces together. It only gets to be more seemingly shady. I don't like to think that my dad once participated in something nefarious and that my uncle is now."
"Hughes himself said your Uncle Hudson made quite a profit in only the little time he'd spent with him." Carr offered. "But he was hesitant to continue. Maybe Hughes is slowly pulling your uncle into something shady and nothing bad has happened yet."
"Hughes owns an LLC. There's nothing illegal about that. He deals with the legal system all the time." Sierra said, her mouth full.
"So he really knows his way around the law…" Kashi mused. "Sierra, did you look up his degree from college?"
After a moment of tapping at her phone, Sierra read, "...Graduating with a Masters of Legal Studies."
That would do it. "So Hughes definitely knows what he's doing if he is doing something illegal." Kashi nodded. "We need a plan to figure all of this out. Sierra, pull up a note on your phone, let's write down what we need to find out.
By eleven they had compiled a list of things they knew, needed to find and strategies to find them. Sierra was nearly asleep on the booth across from Kashi and Carr.
"Is there anything else at the barn you can think of?" Carr pressed Kashi when she too yawned and suggested that they may be done for the night.
"Nothing besides Matthias scaring the living daylights out of me a moment later." Kashi chuckled, shaking her head.
"Who?" Carr asked, tilting his head.
"Oh just some ranch hand my uncle recently hired. He's a nice guy. I showed him around the ranch today and taught him how to do a few tasks." Kashi picked at a spot of dirt beneath the nail of her middle finger. "He's actually a really sweet guy. Kind of funny."
"I see." Carr said, standing up. "Well you said we should get going."
Kashi frowned at his changed demeanor, but poked Sierra awake and shouted her thanks to Belle who simply waved from behind the counter.
"Can I give you a ride back to your place?" Kashi asked. "I doubt Jefferson will want to come pick you up at this time of night."
"Sure." Carr answered. "The mechanic said he needs a new piece for my truck so it won't be ready for a few days."
Kashi nodded as they headed for her truck, waving goodbyes to Sierra.
Inside, Carr cleared his throat. "So, about the other night." That night where he kissed her soundly, then again, and again, his hands holding her in just the right places...
Kashi felt as if her heart stopped for a moment, but she kept her features neutral, passive. "What about it?"
"Well I want to know what it was. What you thought it was." He stumbled over the words a bit, looking out the windshield rather than looking at her. "We kind of left things at a strange moment."
"Well your clumsiness didn't help." Kashi said, her attempt at humor falling flat. She could see his face illuminated under the occasional flash of a streetlight but she couldn't read the expression he made. Her heart was beating a little faster than normal. Should she say she was interested in more than just casual kisses? She watched his chest fall as he loosed a breath.
"I mean if you just got caught up in the moment, that's fine. It could have just been the place…" He said, shifting. "With the sunset and the moon and the smell of the hay and scent of the summer."
"Well, I mean you are pretty good at kissing, especially good at placing those hands, so it isn't like I lost too much either way." Kashi looked away from Carr. She couldn't tell how he felt. It was making her nervous.
"Not so bad yourself." He chuckled somewhat mirthlessly, still fidgeting. His hands were now fiddling with the multitool from his pocket, the screwdriver clicking as he moved it up and down. "Well if you ever feel like you need a reprieve or just a damn good kisser you know where to find me." He didn't meet her eyes.
Oh. Something in Kashi's heart sank a little at those words. Kashi bit her lip to keep her feelings from being written on her face. She wasn't sure if she was going to admit that she was interested in him, but if that's how he felt… If he only wanted an occasional reprieve as he said it. "Alright," she tried to swing a little cheerfulness into her tone. "I'll let you know when I need it then. I could definitely go for another one sometime." She was pretty sure the words were convincing.
Carr nodded, his gaze boring a hole into her side window. "Nice."
The remainder of the drive was spent in a dead silence. Carr kept glancing over to her, but Kashi was focused on the road ahead. At least that's what she told herself. No, she was really trying to keep herself calm. She couldn't tell if she wanted to yell at Carr and kick him out of the truck or start to cry. She knew she was angry. She gripped the steering wheel, taking a sharp fast turn onto the driveway of the complex where Carr lived.
She knew this neighborhood, Many of the ranch hands stayed here. It was a collection of squat white and red buildings that needed a new paint job. They were each three floors, a staircase in the middle of each building leading to the different floors.
"Which one is yours?" It sounded more like a demand than a question. She winced at the bite in her tone.
"Kashi, look—"
"Carr seriously, just tell me the building." She pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache beginning to build. She was stupid for having thought he might be interested in anything more than heated kisses and pretty touches… She sighed, remembering that evening. She had put too much hope in Carr. Of course he didn't want anything else.
When Carr got out of the truck without a goodbye, Kashi could only hold her tears at bay until he slammed the door behind him.