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Who the hell was that? And why in the hell was she kissing hi his after-coffee-before-beer Coke and started at the man Cilla was currently attached to-like, like sumac on an oak at the man Cilla was currently attached to-like, like

What ith the ponytail anyway? And the ars, for Christ’s sake- rubbing Cilla’s ass?

"Turn around, buddy Turn around so I can get a better look at your Wayfarer-wearing face"

At Ford’s tone, Spock gave a low, supportive growl

"Jesus, his whole arht up to the sleeve of his black T-shirt See that? You see that?" he delint? Oh yeah, that was an earring

"Move the hands, pal You’re going to want to move those hands, otherwise" Ford looked down at his own, surprised to see he’d crushed the can of Coke, and the contents were foaht Jealousy? He wasn’t the jealous type Was he? Okay, h school, and that one ti up He sure as hell wouldn’t get worked up about so a wootten under his skin And Spock’s, he conceded as his dog stood at full alert, snarling and gruood part of that could be attributed to the work, and her starring role in it If he felt territorial, it was just a by-product of the work, nothing more or less

Maybe a little more, but a man didn’t like to stand around and watch a wouy’s when they’d been slapped to his a couple of days before The least she could do was stop flaunting it in his face and take it inside where

"Shit Shit They’re going inside"

"I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE HERE"

"I told you I’d swing down if I had time"

"I didn’t think you’d have ti down" Steve tipped down his Wayfarers and looked at Cilla over theotten you?"

"Do you want a list?"

He laughed, gave her a hip bump as they crossed the veranda "When it counted Whoa" He stopped just inside the doorway, scanned the living area, its pockets of drying plaster, the patchwork of scarred floors and splattered drop cloths "Excellent"

"It is, isn’t it? And it will be"

"Nice space Floors’ll clean up Walnut?"

"They are"

"Sweet" He wandered through, passing casual how’s-it-goings to the workers still on-site cleaning up for the day

He walked lightly, and looked slight Looks, Cilla kneere deceiving Under the T-shirt and jeans, he was ripped Steve Chensky honed his body with the devotion of an evangelist

Cilla thought if he’d worked half as hard on hisartist to serious rock star Or so she’d told hiain, if he’d listened to her, their lives ht have turned out very differently

He stopped in the kitchen, took his lasses hooked in his T-shirt "What’s the plan here?"

"Take a look" She flipped through the notebook sitting on the one re counter, found her best sketch of the concept

"Nice, Cill This is nice Good flow, good work space Stainless steel?"

"No I’ the fifties appliances retrofitted Jesus, Steve, they rock I’ copper there Kind of old-tiood invest polished concrete, but for this? You’ve got to go with granite I haven’t picked it out yet, but the cabinets are in the works Glass fronts, see, copper leading I nearly hite there, but I want the warave her an elbow bump this time "You always had an eye"

"You opened the door so I could use it"

"I opened it You knocked it down I drove by the Brentwood house before I headed to New York Old tiotta beer?"

She opened the e, pulled out a beer for each of theot a couple of weeks I’ll trade labor for digs"

"Seriously? You’re hired"

"Like old times," he said, and tapped his beer to hers "Show me the rest"

Ford bided his time He waited a full hour after the crews headed out for the day No har a friendly visit He scowled at the Harley, and after Spock peed copiously on its front tire, crouched down to exchange a quick high five with his loyal best friend

It wasn’t as if he’d never driven a motorcycle He’d taken a few spins in his day Okay, one spin He just didn’t like bugs in his teeth

But he could drive one if he wanted to

He ja the Harley a testing kick He heard theto the front, followed the sound around back

They sprawled on the steps of the veranda with a couple of bottles of beer and a bag of Doritos His flavor of Doritos, Ford noted With her head tipped back against the post, Cilla laughed so the sound of it poured right over the rinned at her, in a way that spoke of love, intie What if you’d Hey, Ford"

"Hey"

Spock stiff-walked over to Tattoo Guy "Steve, this is Ford, hbor across the road And that would be Spock Steve detoured down frouy, hey, pal" He ruffled Spock’s big head with his ringed hand Ford’s lips curled in disgust when his dog-his loyal best friend-dropped his head lovingly on Steve’s knee

"Want a beer?" Steve offered, giving Spock a full-body rub

"Sure Are you driving the Harley cross-country?"

"The only way to travel" Steve opened a beer, passed it to Ford "My girl out there, she’s my one true love Except for Cill here"

Cilla snorted "I notice you still put the bike first"

"She’ll never leave me, like you did" Steve clamped a hand on Cilla’s knee "We used to be married"

"You and the bike?"

The cool re "We’re still married Cill and I only were"

"Yeah, for about five minutes"

"Come on It was at least fifteen Pull up a step," Steve invited

The polite thing to do, the sensible thing to do would be to back off, back away But Ford was damned if he’d be polite or sensible He sat And the brief sour look he sent Spock had the dog hanging his head "So you live in LA"

"That’sHouses," Cilla added "He needed some slave labor on a flip one day, drafted o into the next one with him"

"When you werea script ereI started the script after"

"Right, right I worked on a session with Cilla, picking up soet round"

"You’re a ht now I’uitar on the side, and does the HGTV thing"

"Rock the House," Cilla supplied "Hoes of a rehab, remodel, a flip Nauy, Ford thought That just figured

"Construction was my day job, back in rock-star-hopeful days," Steve continued "And I talked Cill into bankrolling my first flip when I sa the real estateand when the band flushed away Hit that mother in the sweet spot Is that your Victorian across the street?"

"Yeah"

"Nice So do you knohere we can get a pizza around here?"

Pizza was a key word for Spock, who lifted his shamed head and did his happy dance "Eat in or delivery?"

"Delivery, ot the pizzeria’s number," Cilla told him "Do you want the usual?"

"Stick with a winner"

"Ford?"

"Whatever you want’s fine"

"I’ll call it in"

When Cilla went in, Steve tipped back his beer "Did you rehab the place yourself?"

"No, I bought it that way"

"So what’s your line? What do you do across the street?"

"I write graphic novels"

"No shit" Steve buht and Froraphic novels?"

"Ate comic books for breakfast, lunch and dinner when I was a kid But I didn’t discover the graphics until a few years ago Maybe I’ve read some of yours What damn, are you Ford Sawyer?" The brown eyes went child-like wide, and full of thrill "Are you the fucking Seeker?"

So uy wasn’t a coht"

"This is unreal It’s like surreal Check this out" Standing, Steve yanked off his T-shirt, turned his back There, a Steve’s back, was a tattoo of the Seeker striding over the left shoulder blade

"Well " Ford’s usually active mind switched off

"Your dude is completely awesome I mean, he totally rocks He suffers, and I feel that" Steve punched a fist into his chest "But he keeps going Picks it up and goes, does what he has to do And the bastard can walk through freaking walls! How do you coain?" Cilla de Sawyer living across the street Man, he’s the Seeker"

Cilla studied the tattoo Steve tapped as he looked over his shoulder "When are you going to stop that?"

"When ot you on my ass, doll"

"Do not pull down your pants," she said, knowing hioing to grab a shower" Steve punched Ford’s shoulder, gave the delighted Spock a quick scratch "This is way, over-the-top cool"

As the screen door slammed behind Steve, Ford studied his beer "That was just weird"

"That was just Steve"

"To whom you were married for five ain, stretched out long legs "You’re looking for the story"

"I’d be a fool not to"

"There isn’t that much of one We met, we clicked He wanted to be a rock star, and I was, at seventeen, an actor already trying for a come-back Except, even then, I didn’t really want one And Steve was exactly the opposite ie of what everyone expected froirl ood, and he wasn’t so bad We loved each other, ood sex What else could you ask for? So the ot married It took us about that five minutes to wonder, what the hell did we do this for?"

She tipped back her head and laughed "We didn’t want to be married, to each other or anyone else We wanted to be friends, to hang out, and ood sex now and then So we fixed it, way before there was any ugliness or dae, and we still love each other He’s the best friend I ever had And, tattoos aside, the most stable and solid"

"He didn’t let you down"

Cilla looked over, nodded "Not once Not ever I couldn’t do what I’ht eneration contractor Part of the rock star bit was a rebellion against that, you could say Man, I’ured out he was better, and let me say a hell of a lot better, with the hammer

I lent him some money for his first flip, this sad little duht another He askedled to another Now he owns his own co He still turns sad little dumps, and he turnsa branch in New York, and there’s talk about a spin-off for the show for the East Coast He was up there, doing the business, so he swung by before he heads back to LA"

"And he has you tattooed on his ass"

"For old time’s sake Got any?"

"Tattoos?" Oddly, he felt foolish "No You?"

She smiled, sipped her beer "A lot happens in fivepizza, and wondering what sort of tattoo Cilla had chosen, and where she’d had it inked

Because the idea wouldn’t leave hi sy to do once he returned home other than obsess as to whether or not Cilla and Steve were talking rehab plans or having good sex

By two AM both his eyes and his energy gave out Still, curiosity had hi to one of his front s to take a last look at the house across the road A slow sht cutting through the dark toward the barn

If Steve was bunking in the barn, good sex wasn’t on the night’s agenda

"Let’s keep it that way," Ford muttered, stripped off his clothes and fell facedown on the bed

"YOU HEAR THAT?" Steve poked Cilla awake, an easy job as they were sharing her sleeping bag

"What? No Shut up" Rolling over, Cilla vowed Steve would find other sleeping arrange Like a moan, like the way a door sounds when it opens in an abandoned house in a creepy o check it out"

"Do you remember what I said when you proposed we have sex?"

"That was a no"

"Same answer for this Go to sleep"

"I don’t kno you can sleep with all this quiet" He rolled, rolled again until she snarled at hiet you your own sleeping bag"

"Harsh" He kissed the top of her head "You’ll be sorry when some wild-eyed mountain dude runs in here with a ize Now shut up or go away Crew’s coed rhythainst the red wall, the sound punctuated by her cries of pleasure A shaft of lazed now as he plunged into her She called out his naed under his