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?”

The black man and his woman made noises, the man’s low, guttural, the woman’s high, almost sounding like a strangled giggle but Cal didn’t take his eyes from Vi’s parents.

“I… you… I don’t believe –” Madeline started, her eyes going from cold to furious in a heartbeat.

Cal cut her off. “You turned your back on her, her man and then those girls seventeen years ago, you should believe.”

Madeline’s eyes turned to slits and she opened her mouth to speak but Pete got there before her.

“We’ll steer clear,” Pete announced quickly, still staring up at him.

“Peter!” Madeline hissed and her husband leveled his eyes on her.

“We’ll… steer… clear,” Pete repeated in a firm, irritated voice.

Madeline’s head jerked back in shock and Cal got the feeling the woman didn’t often get spoken to like that.

It was too bad. Pete might have saved a lot of heartbreak if he’d brought her into line a long time ago.

“Appreciate it,” Cal muttered, said not another word, turned and walked away.

“Callahan,” he heard when he was five feet from Vi and the girls and Cal turned back to see the black man and woman had followed him.

“I know you?” Cal asked the man, his eyes moving to the woman and then back.

“Nope, but I know you. Alec Colton’s told me about you,” the man said.

“You know Colt?” Cal asked.

“Nope again, talked to him on the phone,” he stuck his hand out, “I’m Barry Pryor, Tim’s partner.”

Fucking great, the dead husband’s partner.

Cal took the man’s hand and shook it, Barry going for the gusto; Cal giving it back and then Barry broke it off, suddenly grinning.

“This is my wife, Pam.”

“I think I love you,” was her totally bizarre greeting.

Cal didn’t respond but took her offered hand and shook it too.

“Tim wanted to say that to them for, freakin’, ever,” Pam told him then went on. “Well, not that, what he wanted to say would’ve had a whole lot of f-words but that did the trick.” She leaned into him. “If I didn’t think I’d get stoned by all Sam’s friends, I’d have laughed myself silly.”

“They wouldn’t stone you, baby, Sam would retch at this scene,” Barry told his wife and then looked at Cal. “You told Sam he was gonna buy it, he’d tell you to cremate him, take his ashes to Rico’s or Hoolihan’s, pour a Guinness in it and dump it in Lake Michigan. That was, after everyone got blitzed out of their fuckin’ brains.”

Pam leaned to her husband and whispered, “Barry, don’t say fuck in a house of God.”

“Pam, this isn’t a house of God, it’s a fuckin’ funeral parlor.”

Pam gave Barry an irate look then rolled her eyes at Cal and Cal decided he liked Barry and Pam.

“Uncle Barry! Auntie Pam!” Keira cried loudly, rounded Cal and threw herself at Barry.

Barry’s arms went around the girl and he bent his head so his lips were at her hair. “Hey, little donut.”

“Auntie Pam,” Kate came around his other side and walked into Pam’s outstretched arms.

“Hey, shug-shug-sugar,” Pam whispered in Kate’s ear.

Violet, limping but trying to hide it, moved awkwardly to Cal’s side and stopped several feet away, standing, favoring her foot and waiting her turn. She got it after Kate and Keira changed arms then Vi moved in for a big hug from Barry then a longer one with some swinging back and forth from Pam.

Then she stepped back, Cal leaned in, caught her with a hand at her hip and pulled her into his side. Her head snapped up to look at him as her body pressed against his hand to get away but he held her firm and he held her close and looked down at her.

“Take your weight off that foot,” he ordered.

“Cal –”

“Weight off that foot.”

“Cal –”

“Buddy, take your fuckin’ weight off that foot before you tear the stitches.”

Violet glared at him and he heard Barry speak.

“What stitches?”

“It’s nothing,” Vi answered.

“Vi got emotional when she heard about Sam, threw around some shit, glass broke, she cut her foot,” Cal answered.

“Cal!” Violet snapped and Cal looked down at her, brows raised.

“Stitches? Oh Vi, does it hurt? You need to sit down, baby,” Pam advised.

“I’m fine,” Vi lied.

“Take a load off then, got a tall drink a’ water beside you, girl, use it,” Barry put in, nodding his head to Cal.

“Really, like I said, I’m fine,” Vi repeated.

“Stubborn,” Pam shook her head at Cal.

Cal didn’t reply and didn’t take his arm from Violet.

“Hey guys,” Melissa joined their group, sliding arms around both Keira and Kate. “They want to start. Let’s get his stupid head trip of Madeline’s over with so we can go to Hoolihan’s.”

“Mel, honey, I told you yesterday. We can’t go to Hoolihan’s with you, the girls can’t come in,” Violet told her.

“Oh yeah, right,” Melissa whispered, looking startled for a second that this hadn’t sunk in then she kissed the side of Kate’s head then Keira’s.

“I want you to come down soon, be with us for a weekend or for awhile, get away from here, get away from –” Vi started but Melissa interrupted her.

“Soon’s I can, Vi-oh-my.”

At Melissa using Sam’s nickname for his sister, Violet finally gave him her weight, so much of it, her hand came around and she clutched his shirt at his stomach to remain standing. Part of this was good, her doing it, part of it was bad because she didn’t notice she was.

“Good,” Vi whispered but her voice sounded choked.

Cal watched Melissa swallow and both Vi’s girls pulled in their lips.

“This sucks, doesn’t it?” Melissa whispered back to Vi.

“I still can’t believe it,” Vi whispered to Melissa.

“Wake up and reach for him –” Melissa stopped, Kate dropped her head but Pam pulled her in her arms as Keira moved around and hugged Melissa front-to-front.

Barry cleared his throat.

“Callahan, let’s get our girls to their seats,” Barry suggested to Cal, Cal nodded and they herded the women to the front row, opposite the aisle from where Pete and Madeline were sitting, the whole row to themselves. Sam’s friends clearly weren’t big fans of Pete and Madeline.

Kate maneuvered the seating arrangement so it was Keira, Melissa, Violet, Cal, Kate, Pam and Barry.

“I still can’t believe they planned this ridiculous farce,” Melissa hissed when they were seated, her eyes cutting to Madeline then back to Violet. “Shoulda married him, Vi, woulda had my say how the funeral would be.”

“We’ll get through this then the burial then you can get to Hoolihan’s, honey,” Vi returned.

“They even get near me, I’ll rip their heads off,” Melissa threatened and Pam leaned forward and into Kate.

“No worry with that, Joe here warned them off,” Pam informed Melissa.

Violet’s body jerked and Keira, Melissa, Violet and Kate’s eyes all jerked to Cal.

“What?” Vi asked Cal but Pam answered.

“Told ‘em not to get into your space, ‘less you invited them. Sorry, Mel, but I swear, I nearly pee’d my pants laughing. Then when your Mom got all,” she whirled her hand in the air, “and said, all snooty, ‘I can’t believe…’ Joe said he didn’t know how she couldn’t believe since she turned her back on you, Tim and the girls. I’m writin’ that shit in my diary. Crap day, the worst, but always a little light shines through. That’s my light today, seeing Madeline Riley’s face when Joe was through with her.”

Pam stopped talking but Keira, Melissa, Violet and Kate didn’t stop staring at Cal.

“Did you really say that?” Melissa asked.

“Yep,” Cal answered.

Tears filled her eyes, she drew in breath through her nose, swallowed and, after this struggle, finally whispered, “Somewhere, Sam and Tim are both smiling.”

Kate, Cal noted, was smiling too. Keira, Cal saw, was now staring at her shoes. Vi was still staring at him.

Then she surprised him by saying, “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d have done if Mom –”

While she was talking, he lifted an arm and draped it along the back of her chair, dipped his chin, got close to her face and cut her off.

“Shut up, buddy.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

The girls were there, her friends, her parents and he didn’t give a fuck. He dipped in closer and kissed her lightly on the lips. When he pulled away, those lips had parted and her eyes had grown wide.

Because she looked cute as hell, as well as totally lost, his arm curled from her chair to her shoulder and he pulled her into his body. Then he did the same to Kate on the other side. Kate curled into him and wrapped an arm around his stomach, resting her head on his shoulder.

Something had broken for Kate the day she found out about her uncle, it was clear. She’d lost two men in her life that meant everything to her. She was holding on with all she had to anyone who was left. Even Cal.

Vi looked at her daughter then she looked across Cal to Pam.

“Like him, girl,” Pam whispered then winked at Vi, “keeper.”

Vi straightened and looked at the casket.

Cal grinned and felt Barry’s eyes on him so he turned his head.

Barry was looking at Kate then he looked at Cal then he sighed and gave Cal a nod.

Score another one for Cal and Kate, a big score, the dead husband’s partner and his wife, huge.

The minister took the podium and Cal turned to face front.

* * *

I stared out the window as Chicago slid by.

Cal had said we were going to dinner before hitting the road and I didn’t argue. Sam’s memorial (so not Sam and so very my mother) and his burial (ditto with it not being Sam, who wanted to be cremated but was buried because of my fucking mother) had taken it out of me. They were long, they were wordy and the pastor who spoke at both knew not one thing about Sam (nor did Mom arrange it so anyone else could say a freaking word). And I hadn’t had anything but a couple of pieces of toast for breakfast. I was angry, hungry and exhausted and I hoped, after I ate, that I’d sleep all the way home.

I didn’t know what Cal was up to and I didn’t care, not now. I’d care tomorrow or the next day but I was hoping his lunacy would be spent by then, he’d be on another trip, off on his job as Security to the Stars and I wouldn’t have to bother.

He slid into a parking spot in the street that had two clear signs that read NO PARKING then he cut the ignition.

I stared at the signs then looked beyond them and around me, seeing that we were deep in the city. I hadn’t been paying attention. Why Cal took us so far into the city, God only knew.

Then I looked back at the girls who were both leaned to peer out the side window.

Then I looked at Cal.

“Cal, you can’t park here,” I told him.

He ignored me and ordered, “Change your shoes, buddy.”

Here we go again.