“From the tire tracks, it must be an SUV. We won’t know more than that until the owner gets back and finds it missing.”
“I’m sorry. That must have been frustrating.”
“Yeah.” He pointed to the mop with a jerk of his head. “What’s this about? Is Old Man coming for a visit?”
Grandfather was almost ninety, but he still got around. He liked to drop in on them once in a while to see how his two youngest grandchildren were doing.
Winona went back to scrubbing the sink. “Naomi had a displaced fracture and had to have surgery on her leg. The doctor says she can’t put weight on it for six weeks, and that means no driving. She doesn’t know how to get home and doesn’t have any family to help her. She’s really not in any shape to figure it all out right now. I told her she could stay here with us in the meantime.”
“Naomi is going to be staying here—with us?”
“Mr. Listens Well—that’s my brother. Yes, with us. She asked about a hotel, but that didn’t seem right.”
No, that wasn’t right, not when they were here to help her. So, why was Win avoiding his gaze?
Chaska knew his sister. “What’s really going on here?”
She rinsed the sink, turned her sponge on the tub, squirting a homemade mix of vinegar and dish soap on the porcelain and getting onto her knees to scrub. “Do you remember what you said right before Shota ran off, right before we found her?”
He thought back. “I said I wasn’t going to ask Nicole out.”
“No.” Winona glared at him over her shoulder. “You said you were going to wait until the right woman came along. Then you said, ‘Creator can feel free to put her in my path anytime.’ Remember?”
Aiii.
So that’s what this was about.
Chaska crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re matchmaking again.”
“Naomi needs help, and we need to see where this goes. You were led to her.”
“Yeah, by Shota’s sense of smell.”
It had been a long time since Chaska had believed in anything that couldn’t be proven by science. He still smudged and made a spirit plate at every meal, but that was just tradition for him, a way of staying connected to his roots as a Lakota. That didn’t mean he held any spiritual beliefs. Yet, even as he rejected the idea that Shota’s finding Naomi was anything but completely random, he found himself remembering Naomi’s bruised and beautiful face—and her courage.
Winona went back to scrubbing. “All I know is that the moment you said what you said, Shota took off. Old Man doesn’t believe in coincidences.”
No, he didn’t.
Grandfather saw the world through different eyes than Chaska or Winona or even most Lakota these days. He was a traditional, what old-timers would call a true Lakota. For him, what had happened today would seem full of spiritual significance. And now Winona thought perhaps Creator had sent Chaska his half-side. If Old Man heard about this and how it had all happened, he’d probably start planning a wedding.
He would also be angry with Chaska for invokingWakan Tanka—the Great Mystery—the way he had.
Chaska tried not to take the frustration he’d been carrying all afternoon out on Win. “It’s the right thing to help her, but don’t try to turn this into something it isn’t. I doubt Naomi needs anyone meddling in her private life right now. Besides, we know nothing about her. She might prefer women.”
“I won’t meddle.”
“Right.” Chaska grabbed the mop. His father would never have done housework, but Chaska couldn’t leave it all to Winona. She had a job, too, and worked every bit as hard as he did. “Where do you want me to start?”
So much for working off his temper at the rock gym.
“They didn’t stealmy Honda?” Relief washed through Naomi.
“They slashed the tires, and they tried to hotwire it but didn’t know how. Unfortunately, your steering column and the electrical wiring is a stripped mess. You might be able to find someone local to repair it for you.”
Yes, but how much would that cost?
Then she remembered. “What about the tools in back? Were they still there?”