Harper was right. No one paid them any attention as they sat down in a booth. She felt safe enough here, she supposed. Harper must have felt comfortable enough too, because they decided to eat their food there instead of taking it with them. Harper had a view of their car out in the lot as well as the front door.

“The ribs are excellent,” she admitted as she bit into her second one. “Different from what I grew up on so I wasn’t sure I’d like them. My uncle’s ribs were generally drowning in sauce.”

“Coming from Tucson, I’m not an expert on pork ribs. From what Reid has taught me, these have a dry rub and a mop sauce.”

“Do you go out to eat with him much?”

“When we’re working, riding together, yeah. After hours? Not so much.”

“You keep to yourself.” It was a statement, not a question and Harper nodded.

“We put in long hours as it is. I think we’re sick of each other’s company by the end of the day.”

Dani knew it was an excuse as much as anything. It had been over three years since Jan—her lover—had been killed. Just how deep was Harper’s guilt? Like this morning in the car, she wondered if perhaps that guilt was starting to slip away and Harper had to remind herself of it sometimes. What was it she’d said? Making sure her guilt was still intact?

Dani knew nothing of that kind of guilt, but she still harbored her own, didn’t she? There were many different facets of it, she knew. Mainly, it was the fact that she’d let her relationship with her family deteriorate to where it was. If she’d been honest with them all these years—if she hadn’t pretended to be someone she wasn’t—would it be different?

Probably not. Her father was rather set in his ways. Old-fashioned. He still lived by the rules he’d been taught as a child…rules he’d passed on to her. Rules that he thought she’d broken many times over. And she had. She’d broken those rules and more. He would be devastated to find out just how many she’d broken.

Well, once this was over with, once she had her life sorted out, she was going to go back home. She would talk to them. She would tell them the truth about herself, let them know the real her. Then, she supposed, it would be up to them to decide if they wanted her in their life or not. Same with her sister.

“You okay?”

Dani looked up, realizing she had stopped eating. She smiled quickly. “Yes. Lost in thought.”

Harper just nodded, saying nothing else. Dani nodded too as she picked up another rib.

Chapter Twenty-Nine