Serena woke early on the next day, feeling very excited. It was Independence Day and John was giving everyone the day off. She and the regulators would be going to Lincoln for the day to enjoy the festivities that were being put on by the town fathers. Since the event was considered semi-formal, Serena crossed to her closet to fetch the one and only dress she owned. It was a sleeveless dress made of an airy light-blue material patterened with glittering silver stars. The dress reached just past her knees, the skirt ruffling slightly at the bottom.
Serena stepped into a pair of flip-flops that exactly matched her dress's shade of blue. She stepped in front of her mirror, wondering what to do with her hair. She tried to pin it into an up-do, but gave up when she remembered she hadn't the faintest idea what one was supposed to look like. Pigtails were ridiculous, and a ponytail didn't look right either. Maybe Chavez would braid it for her; that always looked nice.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a scorching smell that was coming from downstairs. It was off the races to salvage breakfast.
As Serena walked downstairs, the mens' jaws dropped. Steve's went down so far that he lost the wad of tobacco that had been in his mouth. None of them had ever seen Serena in anything other than jeans and boots. To them, it was the equivalent of the ugly duckling turning into a swan.
"Miss, you look absolutely lovely," said John with a smile.
"Will you take a look-see at Little Miss Thang?" said Billy. "Shake that tail, 'Rena." He wolf-whistled.
"William," John said sternly. "There will be no cat-calling in this home. This is not a house of ill-repute."
Serena opened the oven to retrieve a steaming batch of cinnamon rolls, which were just beginning to stick to the pan. She mixed up a bowl full of frosting to top them with.
"Don't forget I want extra sweet frost!" Billy called from his place at the table.
"Chay-vez ain't here. I get his share," declared Charley.
"I wouldn't speak too soon," said John, nodding pointedly at the storm door.
Chavez entered the house, making a beeline for the coffee pot. Making no comment about Serena's outfit, he poured coffee into his usual mug. Serena continued serving everyone else, thinking Chavez was just taking coffee this morning. She was just about to sit down when he said, "I'd like some breakfast too."
"You got it, muchacho." she said with a grin.
"Thanks," said Chavez, taking the plate from her.
"So...are you feeling any better today?" asked Serena, keeping her voice low. There was no reason for anyone else to know he had gone to pieces the previous day.
"Very much so," Chavez nodded, licking a glob of icing off the tip of his knife. "I had a lot of time to myself to think, meditate. I've decided caring for Spring Dawn may be the best thing to help heal the deep wounds in my heart. The scars may be there forever, but at least I know there are two people in this world who give a damn about me, who I can trust completely, and are always there when I need them most."
Serena would have liked very much to have asked "Am I one of those two?" but nerve failed her. As often happened, she found herself falling into his deep brown eyes. An incredible person he was. Despite all he'd suffered in the past, he still possessed a very kind heart, buried in gruffness though it was.
Chavez caught her completely off guard by adding, "You know, if I had to trek into hell, you're the person I'd want by my side."
Serena's cheeks turned very pink. She mumbled, "Thanks a lot. Same to you." without looking at him and picked up her truck keys.
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'What the hell was that supposed to mean?' Serena wondered to herself as drove toward Lincoln in her battered green-and-white Chevy pickup, all the boys piled in the back. 'He has the same feelings for me that I have for him? Or did he just pick me 'cause he figures I'm so mean I'd scare Satan himself? Or does he just consider me a really, really good friend?'
She was jerked back to reality by Billy's yell of "Watch the road!" She jerked the wheel just in time to avoid a head-on collision with a large catcus. She turned back onto the main road, only to screech to a halt three seconds later.
"Goddamn, 'Rena!" yelled Charley. "You tryin' to kill us?"
"No. I have to let them cross." she said.
"Let who cross? I don't see anybody." said Billy.
"I think she means the mother armadillo and her young that have stopped in front of us," said Chavez, leaning over the side of the truck to look.
"Just run over the damn things," Steve said impatiently. "They're ugly as sin anyways."
"She can't." said Doc. "You know how much 'Rena loves animals."
Since the armadillo family showed no signs of wanting to move, Chavez climbed out of the pickup's bed and stood beside them. He talked softly to them in his native language to reassure the animals he meant no harm to them; he was going to take them to safety. "Safety" turned out to be the cab. The mother armadillo moved her pointed nose over the head of each baby, as though she were checking to make sure they were all accounted for.
