Daniel shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked around the front fender of the bright green Kia Soul Quentin had just led him to.

“What do you think of this one?” Quentin asked.

“Umm…I don’t know. It seems a bit…loud.”

“You’ve never met my Ava.” Quentin laughed. “This car is the embodiment of her. Now that Corolla.” He pointed to a tan hatchback three spots down. “That’s more my Emma’s speed. I’m just not sure about buying one an SUV while the other only gets a small sedan. I can already hear the arguments.”

He hunched his shoulders. “I don’t know what to tell you, man. This is uncharted territory for me.”

Daniel had asked Quentin to come over to the apartment so that he could get his thoughts on a few irregularities he’d come across while looking into the background of a Trendsetters employee who’d left the company under suspicious circumstances last year. When Quentin asked if he could wait until he was done shopping for presents for his twin daughters for their upcoming fifteenth birthdays, Daniel had offered to meet up with him.

When he arrived at this used car dealership in Kyle, just south of Austin, Daniel thought he’d punched the wrong address into his phone’s GPS. But Quentin had greeted him and told him this wouldn’t take long.

That was two hours ago. He was certain they’d looked at every single car on this lot.

“Do your girls know how lucky they are?” Daniel asked as he peered into the Kia’s passenger-side window. “I had to buy my own first car, which is why I rode the bus or subway until I was almost twenty.”

“Hey, I’m the one getting off lucky,” Quentin said. “Do you have any idea how much a quinceañera costs these days? More than my wedding and my first car combined. Just the damn party favors they wanted to give out would have cost me a couple of grand. At least they’ll have the cars throughout college.”

“What about this one?” Daniel asked, pointing to another Kia Soul in a nice, sedate cream.

Quentin shook his head. “I know my girls. They won’t want to drive the same model. I need to find something that’s different but comparable. And it has to be perfect. I don’t want to get this wrong and disappoint them.”

The guy was in knots. Granted, he’d known Quentin only a couple of months, but Daniel could have never imagined he’d see the formidable, no-nonsense DHS agent in such a state. Was this the kind of thing he was in store for, twisting himself into a tangle of nerves trying to please his future children?

Future children?