“If she’s lookin’ for Joe, tell her he joined the Peace Corps,” Keira advised quickly, she’d surmised the situation and clearly wanted to run interference on Kenzie’s bid for Joe, making certain I had a clean go.

I gave my daughter a look, hit the necessary buttons on the alarm panel and then opened the door.

When I did, Kenzie looked down her nose at me. She actually tilted her eyes, not her head, to stare down her nose at me from her towering height in her platform heels.

“Hey there,” I said, like she or any other famous movie star came to my door every day and like the last time I saw her she wasn’t practically naked and crawling around on the floor.

“Is Cal here?” she asked.

Damn. I knew she was looking for Joe.

“No, he’s in LA,” I told her.

“How do you know where Joe is?” Keira asked and I looked behind me to see Keira, Kate and Dane had all gathered close to my back. Keira was staring at me; Kate and Dane were staring at Kenzie.

“He told me,” I said to Keira.

“When?” Keira asked.

I would have paid money at that moment to have a less astute daughter.

“She calls him Joe?” Kenzie interrupted us with her question and I looked back at her because she sounded kind of pissed and when I looked at her she was glaring at Keira.

“Yeah, we all call him Joe,” Keira shared. “Or, at least, Mom, Kate and me do. Dane calls him Mr. Callahan.”

Kenzie’s eyes came to me and I was right, she was pissed.

“He doesn’t let anyone call him Joe.”

I opened my mouth to speak but Keira got there before I could.

“He lets us call him Joe, he likes it.”

I wracked my brain for a way to intervene and stupidly offered, “Would you like to come in, have a pop or a beer?”

She stared daggers at me and announced, “We need to talk.”

I didn’t know what she wanted to talk about, though I did know, whatever it was, I didn’t want to talk about it but I couldn’t exactly shut the door in her face in front of the kids because they didn’t know anything about anything and I didn’t want them to.

Therefore, I invited, “Okay, come in,” then I stepped out of the way.

Her eyes swept Kate, Dane and Keira then they came back to me.

“Alone.”

I looked into my house. There wasn’t much alone space in my house unless I took her to a bedroom which I wasn’t going to do.

Then I saw the sliding glass door to the deck. It was a nice night, not muggy, fresh and warm. The deck was perfect.

“We’ll go sit on the deck,” I told her and swung my arm out, showing the way. She sashayed in, all leg (or, more aptly, bony leg) and swaying hips and she walked through my house as if prolonged exposure to the air the girls and I breathed would contaminate her.

I walked behind her and ordered the kids, “Go back to your movie.”

“Mom –” Keira started.

“Come on, Keirry, let’s finish the movie,” Kate urged, her eyes on me, she grabbed her sister and started pulling her to the couch.

I threw my eldest a smile, saying a silent prayer to God in thanks he gave me one sane daughter and hustled behind Kenzie.

She pulled the door open herself and walked out, her pumps sounding on the wood of my deck as she headed straight to the wrought iron furniture Tim had bought me at an end of season sale three years ago. The furniture was fantastic, a circular table, wide, comfy chairs that rocked and a big umbrella. There were also two loungers. All of these had elegant, tailored gray pads on them.

She dumped her big, slouchy, designer handbag on the table without looking at me or my garden and started digging through it.

I closed the sliding glass door and approached her, stopping out of distance of her nails.

She pulled out a gold case, selected a cigarette, dropped the case back in her purse and put the cigarette to her lips, lighting it with an elegant, slim, gold lighter.

Then she let out of a plume of smoke and stared out at my lawn.

Without anything to say to her, I looked around my deck.

If I wasn’t at the garden center, at the grocery store, doing laundry, ironing, cooking, cleaning house, buying expensive dog food and water bowls, sleeping with Joe or just plain sleeping, I was in my yard.

My boss Bobbie gave great employee discounts and I took advantage as much as I could on our tight budget. I’d used some of the money my brother gave me to augment this but most of that I tucked away for a rainy day. But, even if I said so myself, I didn’t do half bad with my yard.

The front of the house had window boxes on all of the windows stuffed full of flowers bursting out and greenery trailing down. I had sections of split rail fence at one side of my drive and another where the drive met the front walk that ran from the drive parallel to the house. I’d planted lush, tall grasses around the fences with low to the ground flowers that had filled in beautifully in the Indiana soil. I had a burgeoning hanging basket by the front door and the front walk was lined with vibrant, healthy bedding plants. It looked great.

The back was better. The lawn was just lawn but I’d fertilized it and put weed killer on it and it looked brilliant, rich green, thick and lush. But it was the deck that was the show stopper with its posh furniture. I’d bought bunches of terracotta pots in every size and they were everywhere, stuffed full of flowers of all colors and varieties. It appeared random but I spent ages fiddling with them until I liked what I saw.

And it looked beautiful. I had a way with flowers, always did. I had a part-time job in a florist shop before Tim died because I loved flowers. And Bobbie let me do the displays at the garden center and everyone was talking about them. I even had a customer come up to me the week before and offer to pay me to have a look at her garden, said she was hopeless and needed garden direction. I was going to her house on my day off next week.

“You fucking Cal?”

I started and my eyes jerked to Kenzie when she spoke.

I didn’t know what to say. Her question was nosy and rude and more than a little psycho, considering Joe had made it perfectly clear in a way that couldn’t possibly be ignored that this kind of information was none of her business.

And why was she there, considering Joe had made it perfectly clear in a way that couldn’t possibly be ignored that her infiltration into his life was not welcome?

And anyway, I had kids in the house. Was she nuts?

I looked back at the house and through the sliding glass doors. The kids didn’t have their faces pressed to the glass which was good and I hoped they couldn’t hear.

“You’re fucking him,” Kenzie went on and I looked at her again.

“Would you mind telling me why you’re here?” I asked.

She had one arm crossed at her ribs, her other elbow resting on her wrist and her cigarette hand in the air. She swung her hand to her face, took a drag then swung her hand out as she exhaled the smoke.

Then she looked me top to toe.

“What’s his deal?” she asked though I didn’t think she was asking me even if I was the only one there and I found I was right when she went on. “You’re fat.”

I felt my body go solid.

I was not fat. Okay, so, I wasn’t thin nor was I rail thin and emaciated like her but I couldn’t be described as fat.

“I’m not fat,” I stated.

She sneered and took another drag off her cigarette.

I’d had enough. In fact, I should have slammed the door in her face.

“Listen, if I can’t help you with something, maybe you’d like to –”

“Vi?”

I twisted around and saw Colt standing at the end of my deck looking at us.

“Hey Colt,” I called.

His eyes moved to Kenzie, I saw his face register recognition but that was it then his eyes came straight back to me.

“You okay?” he asked, walking down the deck toward the steps and I saw he had his badge on the belt of his jeans.

“I’m fine,” I told him as he jogged up the steps. “I just –”

“Hi there,” Kenzie breathed and I swung my head around to look at her to see she was gazing at Colt like he was a hot fudge sundae with tons of whipped cream, nuts and a cherry.

“Hey,” he replied, barely glancing at her and his eyes came to me. “Cal called, said the girls were screamin’?”

Joe had called Colt for me. My stomach did a little flip.

“Um… they were a little excited about a movie star bein’ at the door.”

Colt’s eyes sliced through Kenzie again then they came back to me.

“You better call Cal. He’s worried it was somethin’ to do with your thing,” Colt told me.

He was worried about me. My stomach did another little flip.

“I’m Kenzie Elise,” Kenzie butted in and I looked at her again.

“I know who you are, found out about ten minutes ago you keep callin’ Vi’s house,” Colt said to her, my mouth dropped open at this news and I stared at Kenzie realizing she was nuts. “Gonna have to ask you to stop doin’ that,” Colt went on.

“You have my number?” I asked but she ignored me, her eyes glued to Colt.

“I’m looking for Cal,” Kenzie told Colt.

“How did you get my number?” I asked but she didn’t answer because Colt spoke.

“You want to talk to him, you call his girl. You don’t call Vi’s house and hang up.”

His girl? What girl? Joe had a girl?

I forgot about finding out how Kenzie got my number, the more pressing matter at hand was Joe having a “girl”.

“Lindy won’t give him my messages,” Kenzie said to Colt.

“I’ll let Cal know his secretary is fallin’ down on the job.”

Joe had a secretary?

Joe stayed in hotels with valet parking and had a secretary?

“Now unless you have some business with Violet, might be a good idea you move along,” Colt ordered but did it in a way that sounded like a suggestion except it was a suggestion you couldn’t exactly deny. Kenzie denied it. “It’s important I speak to him.”

Colt stared at her for several long seconds like he didn’t know what to make of her but what he was coming up with wasn’t much. Then he reached into his back jeans pocket, pulled out his phone, flipped it open and hit some buttons.

Then he put it to his ear, his eyes on the deck while it rang then he said, “Yeah, Cal, Colt. Everything’s cool except Kenzie Elise is standing on Vi’s deck. She wants to talk to you.” A second passed and then Colt grinned at the deck and said, “Yeah, I’ll put her on,” then he offered Kenzie his phone.

Kenzie didn’t look at either of us before she took the phone and put it to her ear.

“You let her call you Joe?” she snapped into it without saying hello which, personally, I thought was a mistake.

I watched as she paused, listened, her face grew even paler than her normal pale (there it was, proof her snapping at Joe was a mistake) then it twisted before she said, “I have another situation and only you can help me out,” again she paused then, “I don’t want him, I want you.”

I thought this also was a mistake. Joe didn’t like it much that Kenzie thought she could get what she wanted when she wanted it.

I watched as she was silent for another moment then she said, “No,” another pause then a hissed, “I can’t believe you won’t help me!” Yet another pause while her eyes came to me and she snapped, “I don’t think so!” She listened for about two seconds then she took the phone from her ear, jerked it toward me and bit out, “He wants to talk to you.”

I took Colt’s phone, glancing at her then at Colt then I put it to my ear and announced, “She called me fat.”

“Buddy –”

“I have my own stalker, Joe. I don’t want to have to deal with yours.”

He burst out laughing and I didn’t think anything was funny.

“I have your movie star stalker standin’ on my deck, calling me fat and she’s callin’ my house and hangin’ up. This is not funny.”

Joe’s laughter vanished, he was silent then he said in a soft but scary voice, “What?”

“Your movie star stalker is the one doing the hang ups.”

There was no silence before Joe demanded, “Put Colt on the phone.”

“What?”

“Give the fuckin’ phone to Colt,” he clipped.

I decided to give the phone to Colt seeing as Joe sounded pretty freaking pissed so I sure didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

Colt put it to his ear and said, “Yeah?” then he listened for awhile and said, “Gotcha. Later.” He flipped his phone shut, shoved it in his jeans and looked at Kenzie. “Cal says you aren’t off Vi’s property in five minutes, he calls some guy named Marco. He says you’d know what that means.”