“I know you know.”

“I know,” he confirmed.

She stifled a flinch and went on. “It isn’t your job to look after us.”

“Violet –”

“It isn’t your job.”

She was right, it wasn’t, but that didn’t mean dick because he was going to do it. He didn’t tell her that, he just kept looking at her.

“You’re here because Keira’s making it her mission to befriend everyone within a twenty mile radius. She misses home, she had tons of friends and family at home and she’s social. She’s trying to recreate that,” Violet informed him though she was wrong. He was invited by Keira because her daughter loved her and knew Violet missed her husband and Keira was looking for a replacement to take away her mother’s pain. He’d done the same thing with his Dad after his mother died. It didn’t work but he’d done it.

Cal didn’t tell her that either.

“We’ll get through this…” her hand lifted and she gestured at the mall, “and we’ll go home and you’ll disappear like when we first moved in. You’ll be a shiny, Ford pickup in your drive and that’s it. Yeah?”

“No.”

He watched her upper body jerk and she stared at him.

Then she repeated, “No?”

“What Colt tells me, your situation is extreme.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“You live next door.”

“It’s still none of your business.”

“You got two girls.”

He watched her swallow as something crossed her face before she hid it.

Fear.

Cal felt that lock in his chest too.

“This is my business, buddy, people pay me a lotta cake to keep them safe,” he told her.

“It might be your business, Joe, but this is not your business.”

He leaned into her and she held her ground, glaring up at him.

Quietly, he reminded her, “I’ve had my dick in you.” He watched the color hit her cheeks, she opened her mouth to speak but he kept going. “That makes it my business.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she hissed.

“No, it sure as f**k isn’t.”

“I don’t want your help.”

“Too bad.”

“Joe –”

“Too bad.”

“Dammit, Joe –”

She stopped speaking because he grabbed her hand and started walking, hauling her along with him.

Her girls were standing inside the mall doors looking out at them and when they hit the sidewalk, Violet twisted her hand out of his.

Cal allowed this. He was there looking out for her and her girls. He wasn’t there to give them any ideas or start anything up again with their mother.

They walked into the mall and even though Violet said she wasn’t going to Lucky that was the first place she directed them.

She stopped just inside the store, looked at her daughters and stated, “You both have one hundred and fifty dollars to spend in here.”

Cal thought this would be met with shrieks of joy but it was not. Both girls looked at their mother and didn’t move nor speak. Keira even turned her ankle to the side with sudden discomfort.

“Hello?” Violet called. “Did you hear me?”

“That money’s for you,” Kate said to her mother.

“Yes, and I’m giving it to you,” Violet returned.

“Granddad gave that money to Uncle Sam for you to use,” Keira put in.

“He gave it to me to do with what I wanted and I’m doing that,” Violet told her daughter.

“We already spent our money,” Kate replied firmly.

“So now, spend more,” Violet responded even more firmly.

Neither girl responded nor did they move.

They all looked at each other, locked in silent mother-daughter combat. Cal wondered who’d win but if he had to put money on it, his money would be on Kate and Keira.

As he watched the silent showdown, he decided he liked Violet’s girls.

“I know!” Keira suddenly exclaimed, breaking the tense silence. “I’ll be your personal shopper!” She jumped forward, grabbed her Mom’s arm and, yanking on it, turning to Cal and Kate. “You guys, go get coffees. I’m gonna find Momalicious some kick butt Lucky!”

“Keira –” Violet began but Cal turned to Kate.

“Let’s go,” he said, jerking his head to the doors of the store and he waited while she glanced at him then headed out.

Cal followed her then walked beside her as she headed to the coffee place, making a bee-line straight to it. She knew this mall like the back of her hand and she obviously drank coffee.

She didn’t speak and acted like she was uncomfortable though she wasn’t awkward. Cal was wrong that they didn’t get anything from their mother. They had a hint of her attitude and they had her natural grace.

When they got to the front of the line, Kate ordered three complicated drinks and then glanced hesitantly up at him.

“Coffee,” he said.

“Americano?” the clerk asked.

“Whatever, just coffee.”

This seemed to confuse the kid then he rallied and asked, “Room for cream?”

Cal just stared at him, he grew flustered, bent his head to the cash register and started pressing buttons. Then he grabbed a paper cup and wrote something on it and set it by the big coffee machine with the other three cups.

He heard Kate laugh softly and he looked at her, seeing he was wrong again. Violet’s daughters weren’t just pretty. With Kate’s face relaxed and smiling, she was more than pretty. She wasn’t a knockout but she was something else and it was all good.

Kate went for her purse but Cal murmured, “No.”

She looked up at him and pulled her lips between her teeth as he paid.

They walked to the other end of the counter, waited for their coffees and nabbed them when they arrived.

Quietly and politely, Kate told him, “Cream and sugar are over there.”

“I take it black.”

“Oh,” she whispered, nodded then turned and led him back the way they came.

Halfway there, shyly she said, “I’m going out with Dane Gordon.”

He knew she was. He knew the Gordon kid too. Good-looking boy, kickass tight end. Rumor had it that colleges were already scouting him even though he was a junior. Kate had scored with him, then again, Gordon probably felt the opposite and he wouldn’t be wrong.

“Yeah?” Cal prompted when she didn’t go on.