“Wouldn’t have gotten laid.”
His lightning-fast response, combined with his evasions, topped it off. With a furious growl, she threw the towel at him. “You asshole!”
She stomped two more furious steps forward, her face a mask of hurt and anger. “I’m terrified you were planning on hurting yourself, and you’re mocking me for it?”
Dark eyes rose to hers and held, the intensity enough to stop her heart from beating. “Time for you to go.”
Startled, she frowned at him. “Are you kidding me?”
“Haven’t learned the lesson of walking away, have you?”
“Fuck you, Mac.”
“You did that beautifully, sweetheart. Thank you.”
Hurt, the fury swept over her. She whirled and headed toward the door. She paused to grab one of his chairs and hurl it back in his direction. She was only marginally satisfied by his quick move to dodge her aim, but he didn’t look intimidated. His expression was one of admiration, but she had to have imagined that.
Smacking her hand against the screen door, she stormed through. “Fred!”
It wasn’t until late the following day she remembered he’d said something to her in Spanish. She didn’t speak Spanish and didn’t know anyone who did. Then she remembered Grady. Grady spoke Spanish.
Scrolling through her contacts, she called him, biting a fingernail as she did so. The line rang and rang until finally it picked up, and his voice came through with a pleased and surprised, “Hey. Cassie?”
Cassidy smiled, even though he couldn’t see her. “Hi, Grady.”
“Wow, hi, what’s up? How are you doing? You good?” There was genuine happiness in his voice as well as confusion, like maybe she’d called the wrong person, and she was afraid to admit it.
“I’m good. Um, I have a question for you.”
“Me?”
She let out a little laugh. “Yes, it’s more of a translation issue.”
“Oh.” He sounded more comfortable; the call to him was intentional after all. “Sure! I can help with that. What do you need translated?”
“Something I heard.” Cassidy bit her nail again and made a face. “I’m not sure I remember it well enough to use an app, and I can’t spell it.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. What’d it sound like?”
Self-consciously, she answered, “Like a lot of foreign words.”
He laughed. “And fast.”
“That, too. But I’ll try.” She tried for the next ten minutes to sound it out, repeatedly apologizing for butchering his language.
“Eres mía. Caminaría a través del fuego por ti,” Grady said at one point, his voice becoming soft.
“Yes! Wow! I think so… You’re a genius!” She praised him. “What does it mean?”
Grady hesitated before asking, “Where did you hear it?”
Cassidy paused. “Um…”
“Because I don’t remember a lot of Latinos around your lake. I know one…?” He let the question hang.
Cassidy closed her eyes. “Mac. I heard Mac say it.”
“Was he talking to you?”