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“Probably,” she said gravely, still slad you had fun Just take care of your heart, okay? It took everything I had not to hunt Brandon down and shank him after we lost Tricia I’m not sure I’d be able to hold back twice”

“No worries This isn’t anything real, believe me But it’s been a crappy year, so why shouldn’t I have fun?”

“When you put it like that, I can’t think of a damned reason,” she admitted “Go, Tinker!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Without Randi I wasn’t nearly as productive as I needed to be Fortunately I had a bit of an out—my dad had an appoint him over on Thursday That’d let me take care of the deliveries on my own

By five fifteen, I’d finished shutting everything down at the shop, wanting to get home in ti into the convertible I really needed to sell at some point when I realized that I didn’t have anyone to stay with Dad for the night I’d been planning on asking Randi, and had forgotten about it when she left Crap

I couldn’t go out on a date—I had to stay home and babysit my father

“This sucks,” I ht not be under any illusions that Gage was the man of s fling had been growing on ain (what can I say—so into the house, I was so busy feeling sorry forroo Country, of course They also had what looked to be a fairly intense round of poker going, based on the carefully arranged piles of chips on the table

Place looked like a casino

“You have a good day?” I asked Dad, kissing the top of his head

“Mary and I had a great tiether,” he told me “It’s been nice”

“Glad to hear it,” I said, glancing toward Mrs Webbly, who offered me a sweet smile

“We’ve had a lovely day,” she agreed “We used to play cards like this a lot, actually While you were living in Seattle When your ood to play again”

“We talked about her a lot,” Dad said, s fondly “She always used to cheat”

Mrs Webbly laughed “Lord, didn’t she? She kneere on to her, too She had to know”

“Oh, she knew,” he agreed “Plausible deniability So long as nobody called her on it, we could all keep having our fun”

They both started laughing again, and I thought about all the hundreds of ti cards while I was growing up The memories were bittersweet, but for the first time they didn’t hurt Ito heal

I hoped so

“I’ll be right back,” I told the the way I pulled out e a quick text

ME: I can’t go out tonight I know it sounds stupid, but I forgot that I needed someone to watch over my dad

He responded immediately

GAGE: Mary Webbly will stay with hi out

UmThat was a little presuehtful, but pushy, too

ME: OkayNext time check with me first, okay?

GAGE: Sure Glad to hear you’re planning a next time