“I’m going to head over there.” Sam tipped his head in the general direction of the heavy equipment ready to gouge the earth.
Clay raised his eyebrows. “You do that. I’m gonna practice my speech.”
“We should probably take our seats.” Nash cupped Karen’s elbow and she nodded in Sam’s direction.
Sam wended his way through the crowd of people, his step picking up when he saw Jolene helping Granny Viv into a seat. Granny Viv could be his excuse, not that he didn’t want to see the old lady anyway. He’d been a favorite of hers—until he’d broken her granddaughter’s heart.
He licked his lips as he walked up to the women, his tongue sweeping up grains of sand.
He squeezed Granny Viv’s shoulder. “Finally, I get to see my favorite person in Paradiso.”
Granny Viv cranked her head to the side. “You sound like Wade now. Nothing stopping you from dropping in at the rez for a visit.”
“Been busy with work.” Sam gave the old woman a hug. “You don’t look a day older since I left.”
“You are just like Wade.” She wagged a gnarled finger at him. “Are you just going to ignore him, Jolene?”
“Gran, sit.” She patted the back of the chair where she’d placed a cushion for her grandmother. “Hello, Sam. How are you?”
Oh, they were playing it like that—like they hadn’t run into each other in the middle of the night at this very place the night before last. Two could play that game.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. Her soft body yielded to his for a second before she stiffened in his arms.
“Good to see you, Jolene. I was glad I didn’t spy you out front with the protestors—for safety’s sake.”
She reared back from him until he dropped his arms. “Protest is futile. Clay giving a speech up there?”
That hug had affected him more than it had her, and his tight throat made it hard to speak. “Something about the Yaqui on the other side of the border.”
Granny Viv patted the chair next to her. “Sit here for the festivities.”
Jolene gripped the back of the chair. “I thought I was sitting next to you, Gran?”
“I see you all the time. Let Sam sit here, and you can sit on the other side of him.”
Sam plopped down in the seat to claim it before Jolene could, as if playing a game of musical chairs. “No place else I’d rather be.”
With no other choice, Jolene sat next to him, crossing one long leg over the other, her eyebrows creating a V over her nose.
Mayor Zamora stepped up to the mic and tapped it. “Everyone enjoying the food and the dancers?”
He paused for the scattered applause and launched into his speech about the importance of the Yaqui tribe to the area and its cultural contributions.
The mayor’s words flowed over Sam, one running into the other. Sam’s attention was fully focused on Jolene’s leg kicking back and forth. She usually favored jeans and boots, but today a light skirt rippled around her calves and each time she kicked out her foot, the slit in the skirt parted to reveal the smooth skin of her thigh.
Her elbow jabbed his shoulder. “Are you even paying attention?”
“What? Yeah, cultural contributions.” He adjusted his sunglasses and peered at the stage where the flags had started flapping.
“I said, I wasn’t sure how a gambling casino was a Yaqui cultural asset. They’ll probably decorate it with our icons—ugh.” Her full lips flattened into a snarl.
“Shh.” Granny Viv reached across Sam and poked Jolene’s arm. “Your cousin’s up next.”
Wade took the mayor’s place at the mic and gave a loud whoop. The crowd went nuts and answered him in kind.
Jolene rolled her eyes and pointed at the darkening sky. “Looks like it’s going to rain on their parade.”
The wind had picked up and the once-pathetic flags snapped in the breeze, clapping along with the audience. Wade knew how to work a crowd, for sure. Little eddies of sand swirled on the desert floor, a sure sign of the oncoming monsoon.
He tilted his head toward hers. “Maybe they’ll get through all the pomp and circumstance, and the mayor and Wade can toss a shovelful of sand over their shoulders before the big machines get to work.”
“Will the excavators still work in the rain?” She folded her hands over her knee, twisting her fingers.
“Sure. After all this, they’ll want to get started on the big dig.”
Her restless hands moved to her skirt where she pleated the material, released it and pleated it again.
Jolene might’ve been happier out there with the protestors, but after the death of Jolene’s father, Wade took the reins of the Nighthawk family and the family members had always been part of the Yaqui governing board. Bad optics for one Nighthawk cousin to be in here cheerleading the casino and the other out there carrying signs.
Clay did his part up there, and then the speeches ended. Both Mayor Zamora and Wade raised their ceremonial shovels and stepped from the stage. Someone came forward with wire cutters and snipped the wires between the posts, creating an opening for the two dignitaries.
They both plunged their shovels into the sand at the same time, as a cheer rose from the crowd and the cameras came out.
Jolene sat stiffly beside him, barely taking a breath.
Sam touched her shoulder. “Did you get anything to eat? Do you want something from one of the food trucks?”
She flashed a smile at him that nearly knocked him off his chair. “Yeah, that would be great.”
He hadn’t expected that response. He figured she’d want to hightail it out of here as fast as she could. He asked Granny Viv if she wanted something to eat and she sent him and Jolene off in quest of some chili.
As they sauntered toward the food trucks, Jolene took a deep breath. “That rain is coming, but I think they’ll be able
