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One thing at a time. Be grateful for what has been done. Don’t worry so much about what needs to be done.

Ammo walked out of the house with a bottle of water in his hand. He just stared at her.

Oh, shoot. She should have told him to help himself to whatever. She was glad to see that he’d at least gotten a drink.

“I hope you grabbed some lunch as well,” she said. “You’d need it after doing all of this. It looks amazing.”

“Your door was open,” he said.

“Oh, yeah. It’s fine that you went inside. I don’t care.”

She waved her hand. “Help yourself to anything you find.”

His scowl deepened. “Anyone could have walked in. Could have robbed the place.”

Aimee snorted. “If they choose this place to rob then they need to go and have their eyesight checked. It’s quite obvious that there’s nothing worth stealing. Well, other than Kevin. But he’s usually with me during the day. Kirsten has a cage for him in her office. And I always lock up at night.”

Right now, Kevin was in her hair.

“Oh, well, I’m relieved you lock up at night.”

“Your words sound right, but your tone sounds sarcastic,” she informed him.

“Good. That was the tone I was going for.”

She pointed at him. “That’s just rude.”

“It’s unsafe to leave your house unlocked. Don’t do it again.”

So bossy.

“It’s really not. Hardly anyone locks their house around here. Plus, Yvonne is watching the neighborhood like a hawk. Pretty sure that she doesn’t go anywhere, she just sits in her front window and stares out with binoculars. Nobody is going to commit a crime when she’s around.”

“Lock your house when you leave.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re like a broken record?” she asked.

“No.” He drank the rest of the water. “You look tired.”

She was beyond tired. She was completely and utterly exhausted. And it wasn’t just her body. It was her mind.

Aimee was at capacity and she wasn’t certain how much more she could take.

“Me? No, I’m fine.” She walked past him and into the house to grab her own glass of water. He followed her in and she turned to him. “Thank you so much again. I think it would have taken me ages to do what you did in one day.”

He just shrugged as if it was nothing, but it meant a lot to her. And she knew she had to find some way to say thank you.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?” she asked.

Ammo eyed her for a long minute, and she was certain he was going to say no. Then he nodded. “But you’re not cooking.”

“Oh, hell no, I’m not cooking. I’ve got all these frozen meals ready to just go in the oven. It’s the one good thing about Charlie dying, all the food people have brought me. And I’ve just realized how terrible that sounded. It’s not like I’m glad he’s dead or anything. I’m just trying to see the positive side, and that still sounds terrible, doesn’t it? Oh jeez⁠—”

Suddenly, his hand landed over her mouth, stopping her from talking.

Oh thank God. She could have just rambled on and on for hours.

“You can feel or think how you want to think or feel. And you might not be able to say it to everyone, but you can say it to me. I’m good at keeping secrets.”