Page 43 of Sparrow

It was a terrible match.

Barrett Hawke has never met a rule he didn’t want to break, and honestly I don’t know how it took him this long to get kicked out of the military. I also don’t know what Gunner was thinking trying to make him a fucking cop.

It ended as badly as we all expected, but now he’s working in Gunner’s furniture business and I’ve never seen him happier.

Or smiling.

I stand back and look at him, a grin covering my face. “I don’t know the last time I saw you looking so happy, Bear.”

He laughs, the joy practically dripping out of his pores. “Never,” he says simply. “I’ve never been this happy. But I guess the universe finally decided I’d paid my dues.”

“Speaking of, where are your dues?” I ask, looking past him. “I haven’t had to save Sammy in weeks.”

Sammy, Bear’s stepdaughter, is infamous for getting into trouble, and even more infamous for requiring a hero. Her own dad has been out of the picture since before she was born, and I somehow became the de facto father figure. She hasn’t called on me since Bear got home, though, and though I hate to admit it, I sort of miss the girl.

Bear gestures vaguely. “She and Cameron have some sort of art installation they’re doing. Honestly I’m trying not to get involved.”

I shout with laughter at that, and go my way. Bear, Sammy, and Cameron have built a family dynamic I never thought any of them would have, though it seems Bear is still establishing himself as the one who puts in the least possible effort.

I stop to let a group of children pass in front of me, then spot Arden in the distance. She’s helping to hang a banner and it’s crooked as can be, but she’s laughing so hard she can barely stand up, and I don’t know if I have the heart to tell her there’s an easier way to hang it. She’s got Penny on one side and Bruce on the other, the three of them looking like the Three Stooges as they try to get the thing hung up. Arden’s on the ladder and it starts to wobble under her laughter, though, and I break into a run.

Before I can get there, a broad-shoulder guy steps in and steadies the thing, a smaller blond girl next to him, and I recognize Gabe and Taryn. Gabe is laughing at the fact that Arden has set the ladder up on a hill, and Taryn’s laughing with him.

Then she looks up at Arden and her face goes slack with shock.

“Arden?” she whispers.

Arden freezes, her hands still on the banner, and then turns slowly, her eyes dropping down to Taryn. She stares at her for several long seconds, the thoughts racing across her face, and then shrieks and jumps off the ladder.

She somehow lands right on Taryn and the two girls go rolling down the hill, laughing and shrieking in equal measure, their names exploding out of their mouths and excitement streaking the air like fireworks.

When they hit the bottom of the hill and come to a stop, they spring apart, then spring back together in a hug, and the words start. They’re shouting questions and statements at each other, shrieking in excitement and jumping up and down, and then talking more, and somewhere in the midst of it all I realize that Taryn and Arden are evidently friends.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Gabe asks, taking the question right out of my mouth.

Arden has her arms wrapped so tightly around Taryn that the other girl can barely move, but she shoots Gabe a grin that shows every tooth in her mouth. “Arden is my best friend! She and I were having dinner together, or rather...”

“Not dinner,” Arden giggles. “More like midnight French fries.”

“And milkshakes!” Taryn adds.

“In a cafe near the college.”

“In the middle of the night.”

“Because we were scheming.”

The girls are finishing each other’s sentences now and my eyes bounce back and forth between them, trying to keep up. They were eating French fries in the middle of the night? Why?’

“Scheming about what?” I ask.

Arden’s face goes completely serious. “The jewelry heist. Obviously.”

Gabe and I both stare at them like they’ve lost their minds, and Taryn and Arden start laughing again, their giggles ringing through the silence as they start talking again. Gabe turns to me, his eyebrows lifted, and shakes his head as if to ask whether I can believe these two.

I can’t.

But I also can’t get over how happy Arden looks.