“Process, my ass. She’s gotta cal that boy home, give him the business and get on with it,” Shirleen put in.

“They need to talk, not do the nasty,” Roxie replied.

“Doin’ the nasty does the talkin’, girl,” Shirleen shot back.

“You know that more than anyone. Shee-it, just last night, your man gave you a ring while givin’ you the business. That says it al .”

Al y put her hands over her ears and chanted, “La la la, I’m not listening, la la la.”

“Sex isn’t the answer to everything, Shirleen,” Ava talked over Al y.

Shirleen’s gaze snapped to Ava. “When’s the last time you and Luke had sex?”

“I don’t understand –” Ava started but Shirleen cut her off.

“When?” she clipped.

Ava glanced around then shared, “Before coming tonight.”

Daisy giggled and the rest of us exchanged grins.

“You two share heart-to-hearts? Does Luke f**kin’ Stark process his feelings with you? Or, when he’s got somethin’

to say, somethin’ to communicate, somethin’ to process, does he throw you up against the wal and give you the business?” Shirleen asked, making what I thought was a valid point. I myself had given Mace the business last night as my way of showing him I was glad he was back. He heard my message loud and clear. Sure, we talked but only after my message had been delivered.

“We didn’t have wal sex. We had dining room table sex,” Ava corrected, stubbornly not giving Shirleen her point.

“Oowee, dining room table sex. I like dining room table sex,” Daisy burst out. “You two need to get a desk. Marcus and I had desk sex last night. Desk sex is fine. ”

“We have a desk, it kind of… fel over when we tried desk sex,” Ava said.

“Luke’s a big guy, your desk is smal . You need a bigger desk,” Roxie advised.

“Kitchen counter sex is the best,” Indy put in her thoughts.

“Lee’s creative but when we do it in the kitchen…” she trailed off and started looking dreamy.

“La la la, not listening about Lee being creative, la la la.” Al y was back to chanting.

“I’m not sure it’s the where, it’s more the position,” Jules entered the conversation.

“I don’t think it’s the position, it’s al about the intensity,” Jet joined as wel . “Eddie and I like it hard, rough. That’s the best. You know what I mean?”

“Fuck,” we heard muttered and everyone turned to see Hector standing behind Jet and looking at her like he wished he could rip off his own ears after hearing that his brother liked sex hard and rough.

“Whoops,” Jules whispered and everyone started giggling except Jet who started blushing.

“Sorry Hector,” Jet mumbled.

“Welcome to my world. Now you know my pain,” Al y informed Hector.

Hector wasn’t about to be dragged into this conversation. His eyes sliced to me and he held up his hand, his index and middle fingers holding a folded piece of paper.

“You wanted a number?” he said to me.

Oh my God.

Mace’s Mom’s phone number.

My breath caught, I felt my eyes grow wide and I nodded.

“Let’s go. You got a cal to make,” Hector finished and without delay I put my beer on the display case and moved forward.

“What cal ?” Al y asked.

“What’s going on?” Daisy said at the same time.

“Whose number is that?” Indy put in.

“Leave her be,” Jules said softly.

It was at that moment, Tod and Stevie pushed into our clutch.

“Oh my God. I’ve been browsing and there is nothing here I want to buy. I’ve never been to a store where there was nothing I wanted to buy,” Tod announced, sounding horrified. “Someone check my forehead; see if I have a fever.”

“It’s a head shop, Tod. You don’t smoke pot and you aren’t a hippie. Of course there’s nothing you’l want to buy,” Stevie explained.

“I’ve seen Hair, like, five mil ion times,” Tod snapped back, putting his hands to his hips. “Burgundy Rose could kick the shit out of ‘The Age of Aquarius’. I’ve looked everywhere and there’s no macramé halter tops anywhere.” At Tod’s announcement, Hector had had enough. He grabbed onto my bicep and pul ed me to him.

Unfortunately, Daisy noticed.

“Hang on. You haven’t answered our questions,” Daisy cal ed after us as Hector started leading me away.

“I’l explain later,” I said over my shoulder.

“You better!” Daisy shouted and Hector kept going.

Without a word, Hector led me out to an old model, brown Bronco. We were both buckled up and heading to my place when he spoke.

“Do you women always talk like that?” he asked, referring, I knew, to the sex chat.

“Um…” I hedged, because, wel , we did.

“I don’t wanna know,” he cut in.

“Good choice,” I whispered.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

* * * * *

The apartment was dark, it was late and Juno and I were in bed when we heard the key in the lock. Juno was sleeping. I was not.

I was planning.

I rol ed when I heard the door open and the alarm start beeping. Juno lifted up and then jumped off the bed. Then I heard the code being entered and Juno’s tags jingled as she walked across the room.

I got up on an elbow, pul ed my hair out of my face and cal ed, “Mace?”

“Yeah, babe,” Mace cal ed back quietly.

I felt my heart flutter then settle. Not that I thought anyone was breaking in, just that I was glad he was home. I was glad to hear his voice say “yeah, babe” like he came home and said that to me every night. I was glad because I thought there was a possibility that he could be coming home and saying that to me every night.

“Just checking,” I told him. “Everything okay?”

“As okay as it can be.”

That wasn’t a great answer but at least no one had been shot at.

“Are you coming to bed?” I asked.

“In a minute,” he replied.

I listened to Juno’s tags jingle louder than normal knowing Mace was giving her a rubdown. Then I listened to Mace move around in the dark, listened to him taking off his clothes, listened to the soft rustle as his clothes hit furniture.

He walked into the bathroom, the light went on a second before he shut the door.