Oranges & Roses

Skyfall

“You’re right. I was brought in when your brother rolled over.”

“Both you and Houston. He’s the only other new one.”

I don’t think he was expecting me to say that. People say I don’t pay attention but I notice things. Rey cocked his head to the side. “You’re very observant.”

“Generally where there’s one of you, there’s another. All someone has to do is look close enough to see the cracks. So what else is there to plan out? Don’t you people usually have everything mapped out before you start an assignment?”

“Everything was planned out, still is really. Everyone’s exit plans are in place. However, what happens to you is still up in the air.”

My mouth made an “O” but no sound came out. I didn’t know exactly what they needed to plan. If my brother stayed, I stayed. If he went, so would I. What else was there to plan? Wasn’t that always the plan?

“What’s the general consensus right now?”

“Depends on how this all ends. Since you recanted the deal you were presented with, the DA might decide to file the charges. However, you’ve kept silent about my actual identity, the Captain of the local police force is pleading leniency. Not to mention he knows his nephew proposed to you before he was murdered so that might also be influencing his opinion. If there’s one good thing I can say about that family it’s that they are incredibly loyal to one another and the badge.”

“Wait, the Chief knows…”

“You were in the will. It’s not hard to piece together the details, not to mention Houston’s put in his input plus the eulogy. To anyone who knows anything, Houston was definitely not talking about the waitress.”

I couldn’t help but sigh. “He never said anything.”

“Maybe it’s because you never gave him the chance.  He wasn’t paired with Jorge for long but everything he said that day of the funeral was true. Now, I’m tired of talking about this particular shitty subject so let’s move on to something else.” He reached in the backseat and grabbed my sleeping bag, chucking it at me before opening the door and shedding some light into the cab.

“Way to blind a girl.” I shielded my eyes with my hand but I caught the uplift of his eyebrow as he looked at me. “And way to be gentle with the bag.”

“We carry our own weight around here, Oranges. You’re lucky I’m not making you carry the apples and water too.”

“You are so charming.”

“I try.”

So when I said a field…I meant a valley or canyon or something else that was grand and massive. It was rolling, sloping, grassy knolls and wide open space. This is where he’d taken me. A grassland. With a barn. Can’t forget the barn as that was the only shelter besides the trees and the locked car that was nearby. Oh and the fence.

A fence we had to hop over after we tossed everything to the other side first. Rey was actually a gentleman about it and helped me over when I got stuck at the top. The fence wasn’t that high, just tall enough to ensure the livestock couldn’t get over it. But I made the mistake of straddling the fence instead of sitting at the top and jumping or climbing down.

“So where are we exactly?”

“You keep asking me that. Someone else would think you didn’t trust me.” Rey stopped at a well used fire pit, something I almost stepped in because I wasn’t watching where I was going. “A buddy of mine owns this place,” he added, even though I wasn’t listening. My sights were truly captivated by the sky that I wouldn’t have stopped walking unless Rey grabbed my arm to prevent me from stepping into the darkened patch of ground and ash. Not that I would’ve cared much because there were at least a million stars twinkling down at me. “Watch where you step.”