“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Nick asked, a bit shocked.
“I have to take care of my sister … did you forget? I can’t just leave her alone for an unknown amount of time. I’ve never been away from her for that long.”
Pilar was trying to keep her usual calm demeanor, but there was a hint of panic in her blood. She’d been only sixteen when she was left alone to care for Lydia. There was a part of her that still felt like she couldn’t let go. As if taking her eyes off her sister for longer than a few hours would cause something horrible to happen.
“I know,” Nick said. “But …”
“Puh-lease,” Lydia cut in, finally putting her phone down. “I can hear you, you know. Both of you. Pilly, I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t call me that,” Pilar growled.
“Silly, Pilly,” Lydia laughed.
“This is doing nothing to prove to me how mature and responsible you are,” Pilar said, her tone getting heated. Lydia jiggled her feet off the edge of the chair, showing her annoyance.
“I never said I was mature or responsible. I said I can take care of myself.”
“Lydia …”
“Should I call back or …” Nick uttered through the phone.
“I’m thinking!” Pilar snapped, wishing for the dull boredom that had settled on her after she’d woken from her nap. Now her brain was too full of conflict.
“Don’t call back, Nick,” Lydia said loudly. “She’s taking the job.”
“I am?” Pilar asked sarcastically.
“She is?” Nick asked, confused. “I need to know because this is an urgent request, like, now. We need someone tough who is also very perceptive and thorough. I don’t think anyone else can do it, Pilar.”
“She’s your gal,” Lydia said, going back to her phone screen.
Pilar sighed, letting the air hiss through her teeth. She still wasn’t sure. Her stomach was doing nervous flips. She wanted to get out there and do some work, but she couldn’t just walk out and leave Lydia alone.
“Sis!” Lydia snapped. Pilar looked at her, frowning. “I can look after myself,” Lydia said, her tone changing. Her eyes widened, and deep inside them, Pilar saw their shared sorrow. Lydia knew exactly why Pilar didn’t want to leave her.
“You have to let me look after myself some time,” Lydia said, her voice low and serious. “I’m nineteen. Seriously, I’ll be fine.”
There wasn’t a hint of sass in her gaze or a drop of sarcasm in her tone. Pilar frowned, knowing that her sister’s common sense had reached her where a bitchy argument would have just dug her heels in.
“Okay, Nick. I accept the job.”
“Excellent. I’ll text the details.” Nick hung up without saying goodbye, but Pilar wasn’t insulted. She ended calls the same way.
She got up and headed to her room to put on clothes after her lioness nap. Lydia came to the door while Pilar was putting on her tight pants, fitted T-shirt, and jacket.
“Oh, I love it when you go all commando,” Lydia said, leaning on the wall and somehow carrying on a conversation while jabbing the phone screen.
“To some people, commando doesn’t mean army gear,” Pilar said, putting on a vest she had, in fact, gotten at an army supply store. “It means going out with no underwear.”
Lydia snorted with laughter, still typing. “Yeah. I know you. You probably aren’t wearing underwear.”
Pilar grinned and decided to leave that part a mystery. Shifters tore through so many clothes that underwear was not always that much of a priority. As she tossed things into her duffle bag, she kept one eye on her sister, finally going to stand in front of her. Pilar whistled sharply, snapping her fingers until Lydia looked up.
“I want you to check in every day,” Pilar said very seriously. Even though Lydia rolled her eyes like an ordinary teenager, Pilar knew she was listening.
“There’s no need to worry, sis,” Lydia said, reaching out to touch Pilar’s shoulder. “I know you’re always a bit overprotective, and I’m used to that, but I really am grown up now, you know? Don’t you trust me?”
Pilar felt like that cut her right in the heart. She looked at her sister. Lydia’s big, blue eyes and golden hair were so much like her own, like their mother’s. They couldn’t look at each other without remembering their mother.