“Get used to it,” she said without sympathy, looking over the menu. “Besides, if we’re mates and we’re going to be together for the rest of our lives, all of my money is your money, anyway.”
“Then it shouldn’t matter if I pay.”
“Then it shouldn’t matter if I pay.” Dark eyes locked with his, and Ty found himself not even wanting to win, not really.
“All right,” he sighed. “Since apparently I’m going to be out of a job soon, anyway. I’ll have to become your kept man.”
Misty snorted. “There’s an idea I can’t quite get my head around. Have you ever had a lazy day in your life?”
Ty tried to remember. “Maybe when I was a kid. Although if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.”
Misty opened a hand, acknowledging the fair point. “Fine, so we’re both workaholics. What’s your new workaholicism going to look like, up here?” She frowned. “We don’t have as many social workers as we need, but I think that’s more of a funding thing than anything else.”
“I was talking to Carlos about this today,” Ty said comfortably. “He’s not just paying for the community center out of his private bank account—he’s setting up a community fund, to which anyone can contribute. That fund will provide for the center’s activities, equipment, and staff. I’m going to be one of the staff.”
Misty’s mouth opened in understanding. “So you can be attached to it permanently! That’s wonderful.”
Ty nodded. “And I can make my own hours, work with Carlos and Pauline to lay out what a good set of responsibilities would be—it’ll be ideal, really.” He grinned. “Carlos asked if it was weird that he was going to be my boss.”
“What’d you say?”
“That he wasn’t my boss, the local community was my boss, and if he ever tried to pretend otherwise, he’d learn pretty fast that he was wrong. He liked that answer.”
“Good.”
“There’s going to be a set of people to oversee the fund distribution and so on—Carlos really knows what he’s doing with the finances, which is great because I don’t think anyone else does.”
“I sure don’t,” Misty said. “An excess of money hasn’t been the biggest problem around here.”
“Things seem to be turning around,” Ty said thoughtfully. “I see some little businesses around. There was a sign advertising a local shopping district—I heard this one tourist woman talking about how cute everything was.”
Misty smiled. “That’s partially thanks to Mavis, Colonel Hanes’ mate. She used to be a financial advisor to small businesses in the city, and when she moved here to be with her daughter, Nina, she
shifted her focuses to helping out the local community. She’s really started to turn the place around.”
Ty had to smile to himself. “Looks like I got lucky. My sister’s going to be jealous of me, moving out of the big city to somewhere as gorgeous and up-and-coming as this.”
Misty shook her head, the smile lingering on her lips. “No, we’re the ones who got lucky, to have you here with us.”
Ty had to reach across the table and take her hand, and they smiled at each other like dumb teenagers in love until the waitress arrived. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.
***
Misty
Ty mentioning his sister reminded Misty of something that she’d been meaning to ask him.
“I hardly know anything about your family,” she said as they were eating their appetizers. “What’s your sister’s name? Where did you two grow up?”
Ty blinked, looking surprised. “I suppose I haven’t talked about her much, have I. Too focused on what’s been happening in front of me.” He gave her another warm look.
Misty blushed—she’d blushed more in the last two days than she had in the last ten years—but wasn’t about to be distracted. “Tell me about her,” she pressed.
“Iris,” Ty said. “Her name’s Iris, and she’s my older sister by five years. She got married before I left for the Marines, real young—she and Steve are mates, they dated through high school, real sweet story. When I left she had Acacia, and Leo on the way, and then by the time I got back there were two more, and she ended up with six overall.”
Misty tried to imagine that. Six children. There were women around here who had that many, and it had always seemed like an impossible task to Misty, who’d never had anything more than a houseplant to care for.
Well, a houseplant and a town full of lawbreakers. The houseplants usually lost that battle—she wondered suddenly, and guiltily, if there were any desiccated husks hanging around her house right now. Ty was probably going to see the inside of the place at some point, and she didn’t want him to think—