As I started taking the steps down, she asked, “When are you going to find yourself a girl?”

Her question caused my steps to falter; this was not our standard conversation.

When I didn’t reply, she said, “I want to see you happy before I die, young man, and I’m not getting any younger.”

I spun around to face her. Frowning, I asked, “Are you trying to tell me something?” My heart began beating a little faster in my chest. Josie was the only blood family I had left. Well, the only one I cared about. I wasn’t ready to lose her.

She nodded. “Yes, I’m trying to tell you to get your head out of your ass and start looking for a woman.” Relief sparked through me that she hadn’t been trying to tell me anything else.

The way she spoke so seriously and the way her mouth wrapped itself around language she never used, made me throw my head back and laugh. Aunt Josie had been raised a lady and I’d never seen her be anything but that, so she’d caught me off guard - enough to loosen my lips. “I found one once, Josie. It didn’t work out and I’m in no hurry to do it again.”

Her lips pursed and she shook her head. “So whenever things don’t go your way in life, you just pack it in and give up? That’s not the McAllister way.”

Jesus, she was being feisty today. “No, but when I’m screwed over like I was, I’m gonna do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen again. That’s the McAllister way.”

She tsked. “I think you need to revisit that and find a new way. The old way clearly isn’t working for you.”

If it had been anyone else telling me how to live my life, I would have told them where to go, but Aunt Josie held a piece of my heart so I always listened to what she had to say. I couldn’t figure out what had gotten into her today, though, because this was not typical Josie talk.

“I’ll take that under advisement,” I finally agreed, and the smile she gave me, and the nod of her head told me I’d given her the words she wanted. “And now I’m gonna go mow. Is that okay with you?”

“No need to get smart,” she murmured, and I fought the grin forming on my lips. She waved me away. “Go. I’ll have a cold drink ready for when you’re finished.”

I left her and found the mower in her back shed. Five minutes later, I started on her back yard, and disappeared into my thoughts, trying to figure out the riddle of the cocaine Ricky had mentioned. We’d contacted our suppliers and reached out to other contacts, but none of them confirmed anything for us. Either Ricky’s source was wrong or we were being lied to. My gut feeling was the latter, and Scott had the same instinct. Tomorrow, we’d work more on getting to the bottom of it.

When I finished the back yard, I took a five-minute break before heading out to the front. The humidity was cruel today and my shirt clung to me, so I ripped it off and dumped it at the bottom of the front stairs. I kicked myself for not changing into shorts, but the front yard was a lot smaller and I’d be done soon, so I persevered.

Ricky invaded my thoughts again, but at least that was a good distraction from thoughts of my family.

Anything was better than that.

3

Sophia

I spotted him the minute I turned my car onto my street.

The guy from last night.

And I realised why I’d recognised him – he visited Josie across the street at least weekly, if not more often. I’d been living here for nearly two months now and I’d seen him working on her roof, her stairs and her yard. If she hadn’t told me she had no children, I would have assumed he was her son.

I’d never paid too much attention to him except to note he was tall, built and dangerous. The only reason I’d picked up on the dangerous part was due to the time I’d come home late one night and found him threatening a lowlife for attempting to steal my neighbour’s car. Threatening wasn’t perhaps the right word; more like, he was beating the guy up. I took no issue with his actions – if a person was willing to commit a crime, he should also be willing to suffer the consequences.

Today he had the mower out and I had to concentrate hard to keep my eyes on the road. This man and that body could singlehandedly cause traffic to halt. I did sneak a look before I pulled into my driveway, and caught an eyeful of his arms flexing as he pushed the mower.

What a way to start my night, especially after the craptastic day I’d had. Hot arm visions would help get me through the night.

I parked my car in the garage and then walked the short distance to the mailbox. My eyes were still glued to him. He, on the other hand, hadn’t noticed me. I considered crossing the street to introduce myself, but my sister, Magan, called so I grabbed my mail and headed inside while talking to her.

“How was your day?” Magan asked as I juggled my bag, the mail and unlocking the front door.

“Let’s just say, some days I hate graphic design. And some days, I hate my clients. I’m going to pour myself a glass of wine and sit in the bath for hours tonight.”

She groaned. “I swear you seem more like thirty-nine than twenty-nine, Sophia. Why don’t you go out with your friends and get smashed or something?”

“You’re only saying that because you’re seventeen. When you’re my age, I bet you grow tired of going out drinking every night.” I dumped everything in my arms on my kitchen counter and headed straight for the fridge. The wine called me.

“You’re telling me that when you were younger you used to go out every night?” she said, her voice full of disbelief.