Girl, Forgotten (Andrea Oliver 2)

“Vargas?” Laura had visibly recoiled at the sight of Mike. He was her handler in Witness Security, and she trusted him about as much as she trusted anybody who worked for the government. “Is that another alias or are you finally telling the truth?”

Andrea shot her mother a look. “The truth about what?”

“Agent Vargas, nice to meet you.” Gordon shook Mike’s hand, pretending they had never met before because that was how WitSec worked. Even Andrea’s instructors had no idea that she had grown up in the program. She doubted the director himself was aware.

“Ms. Oliver.” Mike knew that Laura wasn’t going to shake his hand. “Congratulations. I can see you’re beaming with pride.”

“I need a drink.” Laura left to find a bar at a federal training center at 10:30 in the morning. She had always bristled at authority, but Andrea joining the very people who had policed her every action for over thirty years had turned Laura into a porcupine with a bazooka.

Mike waited until she was out of earshot. “Nobody tell her that the Marshals helped enforce Prohibition.”

Gordon squeezed Andrea’s shoulder again before making his own exit.

Mike watched him go, telling Andrea, “At least your mom showed up, right? That’s something.”

She kept her mouth shut as she tried to find some semblance of composure. Andrea was disgusting and sweaty from the run but the heat rushing through her body was all Mike. They had dated for four very intense months before she had ghosted him. The decision had been as excruciating as it was necessary. Mike was part of Andrea’s old life back when, as her beloved mother had just pointed out, Andrea had never met a cliff she couldn’t tumble over. She didn’t need a man with a savior complex swooping in to break her fall. She had to learn how to save herself.

So maybe that was why she had joined the Marshals.

It was as good an explanation as any.

“What do you think of the sexy new look?” Mike scratched his beard, which was lush and dark and full. “You like it?”

She fucking loved it, but she shrugged.

“Let’s take a stroll.” Mike bumped her shoulder to get her going, but not before glancing back at Laura and Gordon, who were clearly involved in a heated discussion. “Are they seeing each other again?”

They were, but Andrea wasn’t going to feed her mother’s handler any information.

Mike tried again. “I’m glad Gordon is supporting your decision to join the good guys.”

Gordon was a black man with an Ivy League law school degree who broke out into a sweat every time he saw a police officer in his rearview mirror.

She said, “My father has always supported me.”

“So has your mother.” Mike grinned at her skeptical look. The fact that he was taking up for Laura when she’d nearly cost him his job a few years ago was either a testament to his resilience or a sign of traumatic amnesia. “You should cut her some slack. This can be a risky job. Laura knows that better than anybody. She’s scared you’re going to get hurt.”

Andrea steered the conversation away from her private life. “I bet your mom threw a huge party when you graduated.”

“She did,” Mike said. “And then I found her bawling her eyes out in the pantry because she was terrified something bad would happen to me.”

Andrea felt a tinge of remorse. She had been so hell-bent on completing her Marshal training that she hadn’t stopped to think that Laura might have more reasons to hate this recent life choice than the obvious one. Her mother was a lot of things, but Laura Oliver was not a stupid woman.

“Tell me something.” Mike nudged her toward the administrative building. “Are we pretending like you’re not eaten up with regret for bailing on me a year and a half ago?”

More like Andrea was pretending like he hadn’t edged her so hard that she didn’t know whether to scream his name or burst into tears.

If memory served, they had each done a little of both.

“Hey.” He playfully bumped her shoulder again. “I think that question deserves an answer.”

She came up with one. “I thought we were keeping it casual.”

“Were we?” Mike reached ahead to hold open the glass door. “Casual doesn’t usually include me driving over to West Jesus Alabama so you can meet my mother.”

His mother had been the exact opposite of Laura, like June Cleaver wrapped up in Rita Moreno with a side of Lorelai Gilmore.

Still, Andrea said, “Casual encompasses many things.”