Angel turned to look up at Paige, his dark eyes roving over her face before he turned to Grace and stared directly at her. Grace couldn’t quite tell which one of them was in charge of the interview anymore since it seemed Paige was going to be taking over some of it and playing the role Grace had originally been meant to play.

  “Do you know who Joseph is?” Grace asked.

  Angel didn’t answer.

  “Let’s start somewhere else, shall we?” Paige commented and relaxed into the chair, widening her stance to open her body language to listening. Grace watched each calculated move as Paige made it. “How did you first come to hear about Joseph?”

  “News.” Angel licked his lips but still kept his gaze on the table in front of him.

  “That’s good. So you saw him on the news and then what? Thought you’d go visit him?”

  “A lot of people visited him at first.”

  Paige nodded and shifted to lean in a little like she was enraptured by his words, which Grace had no doubt she was because she was herself. Curious, Grace kept her mouth shut and her questions behind and Paige took over.

  “And did you?”

  Angel nodded. “A couple times.”

  “Then did you stop?”

  “No. I kept visiting him.”

  “Why would you do that?” Paige slid her hand against Grace’s under the table again.

  Grace ignored her and focused on Angel and every change in his demeanor. He had gone from defensive to resigned. He still refused to look at either of them, but his lips moved with no words escaping, and Grace wondered if he thought he was talking. When the rooms stayed silent, Paige slid her hand from Grace’s thigh to her pocket and pulled something out. Dropping it onto the table, she smiled at Angel.

  “Where did you get this?”

  Grace’s eyes widened in shock. The least Paige could have done was tell her. The class ring, red jewel with engravings on the sides sat on the table in front of them, and she had to do her damnedest not to grab it and run to examine it. Paige must have wanted to get back at her for whatever Crystal had said. Gritting her teeth, she focused on Angel’s face, knowing this moment and opportunity wasn’t going to happen again.

  “Is this your ring, Angel?” Paige asked.

  He shook his head ever so slowly to the point Grace wasn’t even sure he knew he was doing it.

  “Where did you get it?”

  His gaze flickered from the table to Paige and back down to the ring, where he remained transfixed, not that Grace could blame him.

  “Whose ring is this, Angel? Is it Joseph’s?”

  Angel nodded, his chin rising and falling as he closed his eyes. Grace reached for the ring then and held it in the palm of her hand. It was larger than she had imagined, but it had a date on it, a high school name on it, and it had initials carved into one side.

  Taking back control, Grace shot Paige a glare and asked Angel another question. “Angel, you won’t get in trouble for this. I promise. Where did you get the ring? Did you take it from him when he got to the hospital?”

  Angel nodded. “When he was in the ER that first night.”

  “Okay. Thank you.” Grace shot Paige another glare. “I’m going to keep it, if you don’t mind, since it is evidence.”

  Letting out a sigh, Angel didn’t give a verbal answer as his head rose and fell.

  “Here’s the deal, Angel. I don’t want you to talk to Diego.”

  “I don’t talk to him anymore.”

  “Care to share why?” Grace asked, her voice softer than she had intended, but she was pretty sure it would work to her advantage.

  “He’s not a good person. He drinks a lot. He’s not the same person he was when we were growing up.”

  “All right, that makes sense to me. Make sense to you?” Grace turned to Paige, who smiled weakly at Grace.

  Grace wanted to scream and yell at Paige for the stunt she had pulled, but she knew she wasn’t going to get away with that, ever. She finished up her interview with Angel, not finding out much more information from him about anything. She felt confident he wasn’t going to talk to Diego any more, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t talk to anyone else.

  As soon as he was released, she sat at her desk, she ignored Paige who loomed over her shoulder. When Paige pressed a hand to Grace’s shoulder and leaned down to point to something on the screen, Grace snapped at her. “I know how to do a search.”

  Paige stepped back with her hands in the air. “I didn’t say you didn’t.”

  “Then let me do it.”

  “Fine.”

  Paige moved to her desk, giving Grace the space she wanted. When she looked at the ring in her hand again, Grace shook her head. That had been a stupid stunt, but she had something she had desperately needed, and she had proven Paige wrong. The ring wasn’t bullshit after all. She continued to run the search to figure out who made it, and then she called the company to find out who had purchased it. Money always told the truth. Following the money would no doubt get her the answers she needed and wanted.

  Do You Love Me?

  With the weekend finally around, Grace was beat. It had been one of the longest weeks she could remember having between Kit, Peter, her case—everything had seemed to be going a million miles an hour with no break in sight.

  She settled onto the couch, sipping her coffee while the rest of the house was quiet. Grace was typically always the first one up in the mornings, well before the rest of the world, and definitely before any teenagers. Izzy had opted to stay in Kit’s room, so it was just Grace, Roslin, and the cat snuggling on the couch in the wee hours of the morning.

  When her phone buzzed, she groaned. She had wanted those quiet hours to herself. Swallowing down one more sip of coffee so she was at least semi-functional for whoever was calling, she grabbed her phone off the back of the couch and smiled as she saw the name flash across the screen.

  Answering, Grace moved straight into chiding. “You know, I expect when you use me as an excuse that it’s not for someone I personally know well or really even care about, and that you give me a heads up.”

  “Sorry,” Crystal whispered. “Nothing else seemed to be working, but using your name did.”

  Chuckling, Grace took another sip of coffee. “What happened?”

  “I don’t think she really wanted to date me either.”

  Grace knew that much to be true since Paige had told her as much, but she wasn’t about to bring that up to Crystal, even though Crystal knew just about damn everything about her life, including last Christmas when Amya had gotten so jealous of Paige’s actions, she’d abandoned ship for one night and crashed at Crystal’s to deal with her overwhelming jealousy.

  “So what happened? Because Paige was in a mood that was never-ending.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Grace sighed and settled the phone into the crook of her shoulder as she ran her fingers through Roslin’s fluffy hair. “She was just in a mood.”

  “No, don’t do that. Tell me what happened.”

  Rolling her eyes, Grace settled into the couch and took another sip of coffee. She had no idea quite how to explain what had happened with Paige other than it hadn’t been pleasant for anyone in the nearby vicinity. “She was mad. All day yesterday.”

  “Mad about what?”

  “Well, she said about you breaking up with her and me being the cause.”

  “Do you think that’s what it really was?”

  With a deep breath, Grace shook her head and stared down the hall toward their bedroom to double-check Amya wasn’t randomly coming out. “No.”

  “Then what?”

  “She told me at one point if she couldn’t have me then she would date you.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” Grace’s heart sank. She’d never wanted to do that to Crystal or end up in some kind of weird love triangle where only one party was interested. “I can’t figure her out, you know? One minute we’re fine, great work buddies, and then next?”

  “The next it’s like she’s kind of weirdly obsessed with you?”

  “Yeah. I guess that’s it.”

  “Well, she’s got at least a crush for sure. She’s an odd duck, Grace. On the dates we did go on, she is smooth to the point of seduction, but when it comes to actual relationships, she’s not at all.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Has she ever been in a relationship?”

  Grace thought back over their conversations in the past year. “Not what I would call a relationship.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “To be fair, Crystal, until Amya, I hadn’t been in a relationship either.”

  “Yeah, but she trained you up good and real quick.”

  “Oh shut up.”

  “It’s true, though! I had no hope for you before her.”

  Rolling her eyes, Grace took another sip and settled the mug on the coffee table before falling into the couch. Like clockwork almost, the door to their bedroom opened, and a sleepy Amya walked out into the hallway and across to the bathroom. Grace smiled at her sleepy form, no doubt still warm from the blankets.

  “Amya just woke up.”

  “Oh good.”

  “Why are you awake so early anyway? You’re normally one to sleep in on the weekends.”

  Crystal sighed. “Yeah, I am, but I wanted to catch you while you were alone and you’re always up before the crack of dawn.”

  “You woke up to call me? Aww, how … weird. You could just tell me you wanted to talk to me alone.”

  “Not really. You and Amya are a pair now, and I just assume anything I tell you she also knows.”

  “Well, I haven’t told her about Paige and you and your break up yet.”

  “Oh, that’ll be fun conversation today.”

  Grace grunted. “Surely that isn’t what you called for.”

  Amya slipped from the bathroom and into the living room, falling onto the couch next to Grace and pressing her nose into Grace’s neck as she curled into her side. Grace pulled her in tighter and dropped a kiss to her head as Amya shifted so the throw blanket covered most of her.

  “Well, yes, I called for that, but I also called to tell you Peter was at my AA meeting last night.”

  “He was?” Grace’s eyes widened and once again she found herself staring down the hall, but this time at Peter’s door, which remained firmly shut with the light off.

  “Yeah. He was ten minutes late, but he was there.”

  “That’s good, though.”

  “It is. I was glad to see him.”

  Amya shifted against Grace’s side. “We’re going to talk to him today about everything going on, anyway.”

  “What are you going to tell him?”

  “We’re going to let him do the talking, mainly, but we’ll figure it out.”

  “I’m sure you will. I want to see him succeed, I really do.”

  “We all do, Crystal. I hope he realizes that.”

  “Yup. Anyway, I’ll let you go because I’m going back to bed.”

  “You’re a dork.”

  “Somedays. Also, please don’t set me up with anyone ever again.”

  “I did not set the two of you up.”

  Crystal groaned. “I’m still going to blame you for this one.”

  “No. No, I do not get the blame this time. I did not want the two of you to date. I told her as much many times. I am not to blame for this shenanigan you found yourself in.”

  “You introduced us.”

  Crystal had her there. Grace pressed her cheek into Amya’s head. “Introduction does not preclude dating. Still on you and her.”

  “Fine.”

  “Right. I’ll see you.”

  “Love you!”

  “Love you, too.”

  Hanging up, Grace put her phone on the back of the couch and turned into Amya, tilting her chin up so their lips could touch. Amya moaned lightly in the back of her throat, her eyes closed, as Grace deepened the kiss. She skimmed her hand down Amya’s shoulder to her arm and back up, tangling it in Amya’s sleep messy hair.

  Amya said nothing as she moved and dragged Grace with her down onto the couch. Grace’s foot hit Roslin, who got off the couch with a huff, the cat already having jumped off as soon as Grace had shifted her position. The dog shook out before laying on the floor next to them, and Grace scooted her hand down to Amya’s hip to hold herself up.

  Amya grinned up at her. “Early morning calls with your lover?”

  Snorting, Grace pressed her lips to Amya’s neck. “I like this lover a whole lot better.”

  “And how is Crystal?” Amya skimmed a hand down Grace’s back and then up, pulling the fabric of her shirt with her to expose her skin.

  “She’s doing okay. Called about Paige.” As soon as the name left her lips, Grace regretted it. Amya’s entire demeanor changed. Every muscle in her body stiffened, her jaw clenched tight, her eyes narrowed, and her breathing quickened.

  Astutely making note of every change, Grace leaned in and kissed Amya’s lips tenderly, then her neck, and then she pressed more fully into her body.

  “But she also called about Peter.”

  “Oh?” Amya answered, still not relaxing as Grace made her way down her body.

  “He apparently went to a meeting.”

  “Good.”

  “Yup.”

  Grace tried to distract Amya even more by trailing her tongue along Amya’s neck, but it was clear their moment was over. Amya pulled Grace’s mouth up for a quick kiss. “You going to finish your coffee?”

  “Yes, but I will get you some if you want.”

  “I do.”

  Huffing, Grace kissed Amya again and stood up to make Amya a cup. When she sat back down, Peter emerged from the bedroom, much to their surprise. They stared at him as he wandered down the hall and came into the living room, plopping down onto the chair across from the couch. Both women had their cups perched to their lips as they stared at him over the rims.

  “Don’t give me that look,” he muttered.

  “What look?” Amya asked.

  “Like you know what I’m going to say.”

  Grace snorted. Amya was much more graceful as she moved her cup away. “I have no idea what you’re going to say, but you are never awake before eight, and it’s six.”

  “I know.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I wanted to talk to you before Kit woke up.”

  The running theme seemed to continue. Grace finished her cup and debated whether to get another one. “What’d you want to talk about?”

  “I’m thinking about going to a program.”

  Grace’s shoulders tensed. “A program?”

  “For recovery.”

  “Like in-person?”

  “Out patient.”

  “Here?”

  “Yes.”

  Grace shot Amya a look. “When?”

  “Next week.”

  Setting her cup onto the table again, Grace melted into the couch and tugged Amya into her side again as she stared Peter down. Silence filtered into the room, and she waited to see if he was going to say anything more on the subject, but when he remained quiet, she gave in. “I think it’s a great idea.”

  “Oh good.”

  “Under one condition, though.”

  Peter’s dark eyes raised to her and so did Amya’s crystalline ones. “What’s that?”

  “The boy—”

  “His name is Dick.”

  “Right. The boy can’t be in the picture if this is going to work.”

  “He didn’t know.”

  “Well, that’s an entirely different problem, which we can discuss if you want.”

  Peter’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

  Grace nudged Amya, hoping she’d pick up the conversation, but Amya just turned her chin up and shook her head. “No, you keep going with this, you’re doing good.”

  Sighing, Grace twisted her fingers in the tips of Amya’s hair. “You didn’t tell him you’re a drunk.”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  “I didn’t want the stigma.”

  Pursing her lips, Grace raised an eyebrow at him. “Or you didn’t trust him enough to tell him. He wasn’t safe enough to share that information with. You didn’t really want him to know because you wanted to not be the drunk in the crowd anymore.”

  Peter’s jaw dropped.

  “Right, so with that in mind, since you clearly don’t trust the boy enough to tell him these things, he’s probably not a good fit for you right now. Not to mention, Peter, you need to focus on your recovery, not dating someone half a country away.”

  “But—”

  “Nope. No buts.” Grace tugged on Amya’s hair and earned herself a half-amused glare. “No boy.”

  “His name is Dick,” Peter muttered.

  “I think what Grace is saying is valid,” Amya added in finally. “We want you to succeed, and really, with him in the picture right now, that is unlikely to happen. It’s not saying you and he can’t date sometime later on when you’re far more on your feet and so long as the two of you are completely honest and open with each other, but that’s how relationships work. You have to be able to trust each other.”

  Peter didn’t answer, and Grace strongly suspected it was because Peter knew they were right. Switching topics, Grace asked, “When do you start?”

  “A week from Monday.”

  “Good. Then you can clean up your room before it starts.”

  “I’m not a teenager.”

  “No, but this is my house, and your room is disgusting.”

  “You always say that.”

  “Because it is always true.” Grace tugged Amya’s hair again as Peter huffed.

  “Fine.”

  “Good.”

  “What’s for breakfast?”

  Rolling her eyes, Grace pressed her forehead into the top of Amya’s head and closed her eyes. “You wanna cook?”

  “I can.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Pancakes,” Amya announced.

  “I’m starving.”

  “Jesus, not a teenager, but fucking eats like one.”

  Peter shot Grace a sarcastic look, and Amya jabbed her elbow into Grace’s ribs.

  “Ouch.”

  “Have more coffee while you’re at it. You’re cranky this morning.” Peter wrinkled his nose.