“Yes I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“But, I am.”

“You aren’t.”

She leaned toward him and whispered, “I can’t wear flip-flops to Sam’s funeral.”

“You got stitches in your foot,” Cal pointed out.

“So?”

“Vi.”

“Cal.”

He felt his mouth go tight as he squeezed her knee again.

They needed to have words, he knew that, not now, later, when she was herself again. When this shit didn’t weigh heavy on her mind. When he could tell her the state of play had changed pretty f**king significantly. It had changed in a way that Haines’s f**king SUV wouldn’t stay parked in her drive all night. It had changed in a way that her ass would never be in that SUV again. It had changed in a way that she’d stop f**king calling him Cal and use his goddamned name like she used to.

But they’d have words later.

Now he needed to get her to her brother’s service.

“Put ‘em on,” he gave in, taking his hand from her knee, “let’s go.”

“I’ll be out in a second,” she replied.

“What?” Cal asked as he buttoned the collar of his shirt.

“I’ll be out in a second.”

“Vi, just get a move on.”

“Cal, I said, I’ll be out in a second.”

Cal sighed and knifed out of the car. Then he threw the door to.

He made short work of knotting his tie, something he hated, preferring to have his fingernails torn out at the roots. Not that that had ever happened but he was sure he’d prefer it. The minute he was done, Kate moved into him and shoved a shoulder under his arm so he had no choice but to slide it around her shoulders.

Another thing that Kate did that she got from Violet.

Keira took a step back and looked away.

His brilliant idea with Nadia clearly didn’t go down so well with Keira, exactly as he’d intended.

Jesus, he wasn’t a dick, he was an ass**le and he had some serious f**king work to do.

“She okay?” Kate whispered, peering into the window to look at her Mom.

“No,” Cal told her the truth.

Kate’s arm around his waist flexed and he gave her shoulders a squeeze.

Then he saw through the window why Vi wanted him out.

She was sliding up a pair of black, lace-topped, thigh high stockings.

He tore his eyes away.

He’d had two and a half months without her, without any woman, and it felt like two hundred f**king years.

Minutes later, her door slammed and she limped around the car, going to Keira and putting her arm around her. Cal studied her as she did this. Only Vi could go to a funeral looking like a classy sex kitten. The jacket was sweet, the tight dress sweeter and those f**king heels were unbelievably hot, even though it pissed him off she was wearing them.

Before he got his head sorted, Kate hustled Cal toward her mother and sister and she slid her arm around her Mom’s waist. This meant while they walked up to the front doors with a number of people watching to the point they were staring, they did it in a row, arms around each other.

Score one for Cal and Kate.

In order to get through the door, Kate had to let her mother go which she did.

Vi mumbled greetings as she went through the people, her arm was touched, she shook hands, had her cheek kissed. The girls were touched, gentle eyes falling on them as they moved through. Kate didn’t let go of him as Vi let go of Keira when she entered the building. People were forced to move out of their way so they could both fit through the door together.

Once they made it inside, Cal was not surprised to see the place was packed and nearly every face was stricken. Sam was a well-liked man, he had a lot of friends and this was a shock to all of them.

Those friends closed in on Vi and the girls, sweeping him up with it as Kate held fast. There were tears, hugs, kisses and a number of curious glances in his direction.

“Oh, Joe!” he heard a familiar voice cry and he and Kate turned to see Melissa, Sam’s woman, moving quickly toward them.

When he met her he thought she was pretty, light brown hair she’d had streaked, blue eyes, good body, not tall, not short.

Now she was a mess.

Her hand fell on his arm and she squeezed. “I’m so glad you drove Vi and the kids up here. I was worried when she said she’d drive herself.”

Then without waiting for a response she turned to Kate, pulled Kate into her arms and burst into tears.

Vi glanced at him as he stepped away so Keira could force herself into Melissa’s embrace and finally Vi entered it.

Cal looked at the group who were now all crying then he looked over heads and scanned the room.

He found them standing up front by the closed casket, Vi’s parents.

The father, looking frail and ravaged and a million years old, the mother, looking cold and staring at Vi, Melissa and the girls as if she was watching something disgusting.

Cal leaned in, his mouth at Vi’s ear and he whispered, “I’ll be back.”

Her head came up and she nodded then she tucked her face into the huddle again.

Feeling the eyes following him, Cal walked straight to Violet’s parents. They were standing next to an uncomfortable looking black man and woman both about Cal’s age.

He made it to her parents and glanced at the man.

“I need a word,” he told him, noting he, like everyone else, was staring at Cal but his gaze was sharper, shrewder, Cal smelled cop all over him.

Even though Cal thought he made his point, the man and woman didn’t move away.

So be it.

Cal turned to Vi’s parents. “I’m Joe Callahan, I’m with Violet.”

Violet’s father was staring up at him, his mouth open, surprise mingling with the pain etched in his face. They hadn’t met, not officially and by the look of him, Cal’s being with Violet came as a shock though, Cal sensed, not an unwelcome one.

Her mother was staring at his scars, her eyes cold, the skin of her face indicating she’d had it lifted. Unlike her husband, it was clear she didn’t think much of Cal.

“I’m Pete Riley, this is my wife, Madeline,” Vi’s father introduced himself and his wife.

Cal nodded and said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” Pete replied but Madeline again didn’t speak.

Trying his best give it to them gently, Cal stated, “I know this day is difficult for you, it’s also difficult for Vi and the girls. Don’t make it more difficult for her or the girls by gettin’ in their space unless they make it clear they want you there. Yeah?”