It was one of the reasons why I liked Mace cal ing me

“Kitten” so much.

I wondered if she cal ed Mace “sweetie”.

Lana went on, “When she was taken, I watched my son die.”

I sucked in breath, my body got tight, I felt my throat close and my eyes flew to Hector as she continued.

“Kai disappeared. This Mace person has taken his place. You need to understand that he might not want me there. Caitlin, her Mom, Chloe, Kai and I used to do holidays together. We even did vacations together. We made a family out of what Preston left behind. We al got along great, even if at first, Chloe and I…” She stopped then started again, “Kai did that. Kai built our family. Kai wanted that for Caitlin and for Chloe and for me.”

“And for himself,” I cut in.

“And for himself,” she agreed softly. “But that’s gone now. He wants it gone. And he might not want it back. Not without Caitlin.”

“You’re his mother,” I told her.

“I am but –”

“And Chloe is al that’s left of Caitlin.”

“Stel a, sweetie –”

“I need to cal her too,” I said, a half-baked plan forming in my head.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Lana replied quickly.

“He can’t go on like this.”

“My son’s a pretty strong guy. He always was. He can do whatever he wants. He’s always done that too,” Lana told me and she sounded resigned to that.

I wasn’t resigned.

“That’s true. But now, he has to do whatever Caitlin wants. And I don’t know Caitlin but I can’t imagine that she would want this. Not for Mace, not for you and not for Chloe.

You need to be a family again.”

Lana was silent.

“Can you give me Chloe’s number?” I asked into the silence.

There was a pause, I heard a deep breath and then, hesitantly, “I’l phone her.”

My eyes came up and I smiled at Hector. “That’d be good,” I said into the phone.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” I heard Lana say.

“I don’t,” I admitted then, since I was admitting things, I went for the gusto. “But I love him and I have to try.” Another pause then with warmth, “I’m looking forward to meeting you, Stel a Gunn.”

I smiled again. “Me too.”

I asked Hector for the cel number, gave it to Lana, we said our good-byes and then we disconnected.

My eyes found Hector’s were stil on me.

“Am I doing the right thing?” I asked him.

“Absolutely,” he replied immediately, sounding certain.

“You’re sure?” I wasn’t so certain.

He got up and walked to me. I sat in silent surprise as he bent down, wrapped his hand around the back of my head, kissed the top of it and when I tilted my face to look at him, his gaze locked on mine.

“I’m sure,” he whispered.

“I hope you’re right,” I whispered back.

He let me go and straightened. “Mace is a lucky guy.” I felt a weird, happy warmth flow through me at his approval.

I smiled up at Hector. “Thanks.”

Hector smiled back and my breath took a hike through the trails of the Rocky Mountain National Forest.

Hector Chavez had a f**king great smile.

Shortly after, Hector took off, leaving me the cel . I used it to phone Floyd and make sure he and Buzz were okay.

Linnie’s funeral was the next morning (and I was cheesed off I couldn’t go but, for obvious reasons, I couldn’t) then they were coming back so they could make the gig on Thursday.

I shared a few things with Floyd while we talked. He strangely sounded both worried and relieved.

Then he passed the phone to Buzz and I shared a few things with him.

“Linnie would be so happy,” Buzz told me.

I knew she would and that made me happy but it also made me sad. I wished that she could be around to see it al unfold and believe in it and maybe believe in herself again.

But my luck hadn’t changed that much.

Once I hung up, I made the set list for Thursday’s gig and it was going to be a humdinger, designed both for Dixon Jones and Kai Mason and then I played guitar. Then Juno and I went to bed and I planned.

The bathroom door opened and I heard Mace moving through the room. I saw his shadow at the side of the bed, the covers went back and then he was in, stretching out beside me and pul ing the covers up to his waist.

For some reason, I stayed where I was, waiting for him to reach out to me.

He didn’t. He was on his back, he put his hands behind his head and I saw his profile facing the ceiling. I was on my side, facing him.

“Lee told me about the fight in the head shop,” he said.

Oh dear.

“Pong and Leo got a little out-of-control,” I replied.

Mace didn’t respond. There was nothing to say. Pong and Leo had a habit of getting out-of-control on a routine basis.

“Daisy and Hector have set a meeting on Thursday with the A&R guy from Black Fat Records,” I told him.

“You gonna take the meet?”

I took in a breath then said, “Yeah.”

He took his hands from behind his head, turned to his side to face me and murmured, “Good.”

“I’m scared,” I shared.

“I know,” he returned.

Wel , there you go. Nothing else to say on that subject.

“I swung by to see Monk today,” Mace told me. “Got your money, it’s on the kitchen counter. I’l give Floyd, Hugo, Pong and Leo their take tomorrow.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know that too.”

Wel , there you go again. Nothing else to say on that either.

“I didn’t cal my Mom today,” I told him.

“Good,” he surprised me by replying. “I want to be there when you do it.”

My heart skipped a beat.

God, I loved him.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

Again, he didn’t respond.

“How was your day?” I asked, feeling weird.

We’d never done this, laying in bed, talking, sharing, even, one could say, processing.

It was kind of freaking me out (but in a good way).

“There’s been progress. George, the guy from the offices today, is an assistant DA. He’s giving us trouble with Sid’s case. Hank went over George’s head. Presented the evidence to his boss. The boss disagreed with George.