Luke rubbed her head and said, “Yes. I got a pair for Andrea as well.”
Talia replied, “Ah, I’ll go get her,” and ran off.
Luke shrugged and called Joseph to come in before he shut the door.
This was a single-story house, and compared with Robert’s place, it was rather small.
Selina, her parents, her two sisters, and one brother all stayed here – six people lived in this house of about 100 square meters.
Before long, Talia arrived with her younger sister, Andrea.
The six-year-old girl happily received her gift. They thanked Luke before gleefully running back to their room.
From the clamor inside, it was clear that the two little girls were trying on their new shoes.
With a thud, a door not far ahead opened. Selina came out wrapped in her bath towel.
When she saw Luke, she nodded. “You’re here? Have a seat. Let me get changed.”
Luke nodded and smiled, but he didn’t forget to let his eyes linger on Selina’s petite figure all the way until she entered her room.
Next to him, Joseph was busy playing with his football, completely oblivious to the pretty girls in the house.
A short while later, Talia and Andrea came out first before Selina. “Luke, Lukeee, see, do we look good in these shoes?”
Luke slapped a palm to his forehead as he asked, “Who tied these shoelaces?”
The sisters pointed at each other and said at the same time, “She did it.”
Fine, at least they were aware that their shoelaces were a complete mess.
They lacked patience and were in too much of a rush to try the new shoes. Thus, they only randomly shoved the shoelaces through the holes on each shoe before tying them into a dead knot.
Luke called Andrea over and got her to sit down before he took her shoes off. Then, he pulled out the messy shoelaces from her shoes before putting them back on and tying them up properly.
“Come, try putting the shoes on,” Luke said as he helped her put the shoes on.
Andrea studied her shoes and said, “Um, um, Luke, you’re so smart. Much smarter than Talia. She’s really stupid. She got my shoelaces completely messed up.”
Talia countered unhappily, “Look at my shoelaces. You made a mess out of them as well.”
Luke shook his head with a smile. It was no wonder they pointed at each other earlier. So, they had actually helped each other with the shoelaces?
The sisters continued bickering over who was the stupid one.
At that moment, Selina came out in a loose fitting T-shirt and a pair of shorts.
When she heard her sisters bickering and saw their shoes, she frowned. “Why did you buy them something so expensive?”
The shoes weren’t cheap. Luke bought them the New Balance summer collection, which sold at a special price of 99 dollars per pair.
Luke replied, “To thank your mom for dinner.”
Selina said, “Bullshit. Everything she made tonight won’t even cost more than a pair of those shoes.”
Luke replied, “You shouldn’t belittle your mom’s hard labor like that.”
Selina replied, “Fine, fine, I meant the cost of the food ingredients.”
Luke shrugged. “Well, I don’t feel like I’ve done her a favor large enough to deserve dinner, so the shoes are a token of my appreciation.”
Selina said, “No, that sounds fishy. Take the shoes back. The price tags are still on them, so Riste will still give you a refund.”
Luke smiled. “No way am I going to see Riste’s ugly face again. If you want, just consider that you owe me for this, then.”
Selina replied, “What? A favor from me is worth only 200 dollars? No, to be precise, 198 dollars?”
Luke smiled and shook his head as he pointed at the table next to him. When Selina looked over, she saw a beautiful cake resting there.
From the packaging, Selina knew which bakery Luke had gotten this from. This was the cake that she had mentioned wanting to try a few times before.
Unfortunately, this cake was too expensive at 80 dollars.
Selina couldn’t bring herself to spend so much on a cake.
She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the cake before she stared at Luke. Finally, she smiled. “Fine, for this cake, I’ll owe you one.”
Since Luke had even remembered that she wanted to try this cake, she decided not to bother about the shoes anymore.
In any case, as Luke’s partner, she was aware that Luke didn’t spend much anyway.
She’d just keep in mind to remind him not to bring gifts the next time he was invited over for dinner.
Finally, Selina’s mom, Sandra, came out as well.
Selina’s mom was in fact still quite young. She gave birth to Selina when she was 16. This year, she was only 40 years old, and full of a mature charm.
She and her husband had been quite lucky. They were able to get their green cards a few years after they arrived in the States, and their daughter was capable as well. At a young age, she became a police officer in town, which was a stable job that paid the bills.
Compared to other Mexican immigrants, Sandra’s life was a smooth ride filled with joy.
As for when she shot the gunman who invaded her house not long ago, that was nothing for her.
She didn’t seem to mind that Luke had come bearing gifts for all her daughters.
But when even her son, Julio, received a baseball and baseball glove, she finally looked at Luke in astonishment and asked, “Alright. Tell me, when are you two getting married?”
Luke was caught by surprise. “What?”
Selina burst out laughing. “Now you know why I told you not to bring so many gifts. Sandra will think you’re trying to please me.”
Sandra asked, “Is he not?”
Luke shook his head with a helpless smile. “No, we’re partners at work. Isn’t it normal to give each other some gifts?”
Sandra’s lips curled up. “Selina’s previous partner, what’s his name? Oh, yeah, Hanks. That guy also ate here a few times, but always came empty-handed. In fact, he even took unfinished food back home with him. And he dared to claim that he was trying to court Selina. Is that how a police officer courts someone?”
Luke was astonished as he looked at Selina and asked, “Hanks did that?”
Selina nodded. “Yeah. That’s why I rejected him mercilessly and told him to stop dreaming. After that, he resigned.”
Luke blurted out, “So the reason he’s still single is all his own fault. You really shouldn’t hold a grudge against him for that.”
The mother and daughter both replied, “Huh?”
After a while, Selina finally got her two sisters to serve dinner.
Luke asked, “Where’s Mario?” That was Selina’s father.
Sandra replied, “He’s been staying over at the ranch recently. A few cows are giving birth soon. He’s too busy to leave.”
That satisfied Luke’s curiosity.
Mario worked at a ranch outside town. The wage wasn’t too high, but at least it was a stable job.
As long as the ranch existed, he would have a job.
But during peak seasons, he often had to stay over at the ranch.
Because of that, when the Carlos Family attacked, only Sandra had been home to protect the children.