“I might be a little cranky,” Maggie admitted. “I want a whole house when the baby comes. And it’s my own fault—I didn’t get involved enough. Plus, I want this baby to have a name when she gets here.”

“How about Portland,” he said, joking.

“I told you, no geographical references.”

“What’s wrong with Aurora?”

“No Disney princesses! You have too much history there.”

“Not with Aurora,” he said with a grin. Cal had had a brief and enjoyable career with the big theme park where he got involved with one of the princesses, off duty of course, but was fired because of it. He still maintained it was both unfair and quite pleasing. “I should have sued them. You can’t fire people for engaging in adult activities on their own time.”

“We’ve been married almost a year,” Maggie said. “Isn’t it time you at least tell me which princess?”

“Never. If I told you, you’d never get that image out of your head. Too risky.”

Cal thought he had the perfect marriage but had lately stumbled on a few minor flaws while turning the barn into a house with Maggie. “I hate chaos,” he said. “I was getting along fine with Tom.”

“I work in regular chaos,” Maggie reminded him. “I’m a born crisis manager.”

“Can you manage Phoebe, then? She drives me crazy.”

“I tried to warn you,” Maggie said. “But, like it or not, she’s getting things done. Things I hate doing—like shopping.”

It was true. Phoebe, with her decorator Janet, gathered up things from dishes to rugs to paintings and brought them to the barn for Maggie’s approval. And if Cal was extremely diplomatic, he could weigh in. Not only did Cal find Phoebe irritating, the way Janet placated her and trotted after her like a faithful pup made him want to shake her.

Then Jaycee Kent, the OB and Maggie’s best friend said, “I think you might be doing too much, your blood pressure is up a little and I don’t want it to get higher. You need longer rest periods, shorter surgeries—you can’t stand in an operating room for nine hours anymore. You have to lie down and put your feet up a few times a day, cut out the salt, no heavy lifting and lower the stress.”

Cal agreed, Maggie had too much on her plate. She was fretting over the house, helping Sully every free minute she had and working in Denver three days a week.

Maggie agreed to cut her work hours slightly—she was seeing patients in the office more often, passing off the more complicated surgeries to one of her partners and she was no longer taking emergency room on call.

Cal talked to his sister. “You’ve been helping Sully a lot at the Crossing. I don’t want to overload you, too, but is there any more time in your schedule so you can spell Maggie out there? We can work out pay, of course. Sully doesn’t like to admit it but he needs help, especially in summer when he’s full of campers. He’s no kid.”

“Really, he does very well, but it’s been so busy,” Sierra said. “I can cut back on my hours at the diner. The high school girls are begging for more time. Let me see what I can do.”

“Just be sure you have plenty of time for your own life,” he said. “You have important stuff, too.”

Sierra laughed. “I work with friendly people a few hours a week, the Crossing is not only outdoor work and exercise, it’s fun and Sully is my new best friend. He looks out for me. Everyone looks out for me. I even have a nice boyfriend. Cal, my life has never been this good.”

“Really?” he asked, shocked and yet wondering why he was shocked.

“More time at the Crossing for the summer won’t hurt me even a little bit. And I think Molly would love it.”

“And Connie would like it,” Cal said.

“Connie is a busy guy. He has way more commitments than I have. He works a couple of twenty-four-hour shifts a week, goes out on search and rescue detail, trains, and then whenever there are fund-raisers or kids at the firehouse, he’s first in line. I like that about him.”

“Right now all I want to do is take a little pressure off Maggie so she doesn’t have to be such a bitch.”

“Cal!” she scolded in a laugh.

“Well, she’s very pregnant, her blood pressure is up, her mother is hanging around too much and I can tell she’s afraid of the house—afraid if she doesn’t throw herself into it and make good choices it’s going to look like Sully’s place.”

“Yeah, you don’t need to spend much to get that look,” Sierra said.

“Not that I have a problem with that,” Cal added, smiling. “So. You and Connie? Is this the real deal?”

“You know I can’t answer that,” she said. “For both of us, for right now, it’s real enough. He’s still coming off a bad relationship and I’m coming off something...something worse. By the way...”

“I haven’t heard anything yet. Okay, I haven’t pushed on it too hard. Want me to push harder?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I suppose you should. But I don’t want to be in jail when the baby comes.”

He reached out and smoothed her hair back behind her ear. “I’m pretty sure you’re not going to jail. You didn’t do anything besides fail to investigate. It could’ve been a tree branch. Or an animal.”

“‘Pretty sure’ isn’t good enough,” she said quietly. “If something bad happened...”

What Cal didn’t admit was that he had been stalling. He took a cursory look at the public records, just enough to establish there had been no fatal accidents on or around the date she provided. When a victim dies days or even weeks after the incident, it’s upgraded to fatal. He was relieved enough to stop there, for the time being anyway. He didn’t want Sierra to need him while Maggie needed him. There was no easy way to balance that.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be okay. I have to say, Sierra, I was a little nervous about you coming here and now I’m glad you did. It’s been wonderful for us.”

“Wonderful for me, too,” she said.

* * *

Having at least two jobs, new friends, a dog and a boyfriend took a lot of time. Delightful time. She still made time for meetings here and there but she wasn’t seeing Moody for coffee quite as often. He was diligent in his role as a sponsor, acting like he wanted to keep the job.

“I think it’s time for a catch-up,” he said when he called her. “There’s an open meeting in Leadville with a good speaker—I’ve heard her before. Let’s have dinner in Leadville at five, then go to the seven o’clock meeting. Want to meet at the café where they have the heavenly hamburger? Bring your notebook.”

She was devotedly reading her big book, going to at least two meetings a week, when at one time while she was in rehab it was at least two meetings a day. She was writing in her journal and in her notebook, but there were times lately she just didn’t feel like it. There were times she wanted to forget that this was still a priority. Of course she didn’t dare, and even if she did dare, Moody would sternly remind her that her only chance was a green memory.

She went to the café early and, with a cup of coffee on the side, she opened up her notebook and did a little review. She wasn’t just a girl who partied too much. She got in trouble when she was drinking and had done some shameful things, things that for her recovery, she shouldn’t forget. With as many mishaps and misdeeds as she’d had, she was going to be on step eight for a long time.

Alex D.—I’m sorry about the car. Sorry I took it without permission just because I wanted a ride. Sorry about the fender, too. And your sunglasses, which I sold.

Joel W.—I told your wife you were screwing around on her. I was drunk, of course, but I was also malicious. She didn’t deserve you! Of course, I didn’t deserve you even more but in my twisted mind, I thought I did.

I sexted and sexted and sexted. I hate that I did that. I could never do that without being drunk. Not to mention all the drunk dialing...

I can’t wait to throw away this notebook.

“Love to see someone hard at work,” Moody said, sliding into the booth across from her. She loved his aging hippie look; his gray hair pulled into a ponytail, his bushy gray eyebrows were a little crazy. He was wearing his T-shirt with the peace symbol on it. “You got room for the rest of your transgressions or should I buy you a new notebook?”

“This should do it,” she said. “Luckily, I have many memory failures.”

“That does come in handy. Did you order dinner?”

“Not yet,” she said. “But I’m ready for a hamburger. A big greasy burger. I don’t eat stuff like that with Sully. We’re minding his heart. Let’s order.”

“You read my mind. And a chocolate shake?”

“Shouldn’t you be watching your cholesterol?”

“Don’t be taking my temperature here,” he said.

The waitress, having seen him join Sierra, was at their table at once.

“You want a review of my transgressions?” Sierra asked after they’d placed their order.

“I’m sure it’s fascinating,” Moody said. “But what I’d rather hear about is what you’ve been doing with yourself these days. Word has it you cut back on your hours at the diner. And the word is also out—you’re Connie’s girl now.”

“You told me to bring my notebook,” she said.

“I thought it would remind you—you have a notebook and it needs attention. So—what’s up?”

“My pregnant sister-in-law can’t help out at the Crossing as much—her ankles are swollen and her house is almost done,” she said. “I’m so happy to be doing that. Makes me feel better about that little cabin, which I love. I didn’t think I needed a place of my own, but I was wrong. I’ve been rootless for such a long time and I like having walls again. Walls I’m not sharing with anyone. It makes me feel grounded in a way. And I realized that when Cal said he needed me—it was pure joy. Sully calls me family, being Cal’s sister. My concept of family is a little screwed up.”