The office was upstairs in my second bedroom. The walls were painted a soft salmon because I heard that orange sparked energy and creativity and there was a desk and futon in there (for overnight guests). I’d made it into a funky room with cool, light wicker baskets and boxes, colorful toss pillows on the futon and a kickass, state-of-the-art swivel chair so I wouldn’t mind spending time there while I worked.

I barely got my computer booted up when my phone rang.

I answered it with a, “Yo.”

“You didn’t call me,” Sissy said, her voice sounding funny.

“Hey,” I replied. “You okay?”

“The police called me.”

Uh-oh.

“Sissy…” I started.

“Someone shot up my house and Dom is missing.”

I blinked. “Dom is missing?” I asked.

“Yeah. They waited for him at the house all night and they called his cell, no answer. They went to his office and he hasn’t shown up for work for two days, no calls to explain why he wasn’t there. Nothing.”

I knew Dom had an office. He “worked” for his Uncle Vito but I suspected it was a front for something. I didn’t ask because Sissy wouldn’t tell. And anyway, I liked Uncle Vito. I met him at Sissy and Dom’s engagement party and he was a hoot. He thought I was hilarious and always laughed at my jokes. I didn’t like thinking he was a criminal mastermind mafia-type person that would suck.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m freaked. Can you check my house?”

“Sure,” I told her.

“Thank God you weren’t there,” she breathed. “They told me they used a machine gun, totally shot up my living room. Can you imagine if you were there?”

Yep, I could imagine.

“Go to the house during the day,” she said. “Take someone with you.”

“Riley’s coming over for lunch. I’ll ask him if he wants to go.”

Silence then, “Riley’s coming over for lunch?”

“Yeah. He called me this morning and told me he was coming over.”

“What’s that all about?”

I laughed at her saying my thoughts out loud. “Hell if I know.”

“Call me the minute you find out.”

“I will.”

“Do you think I should come home?” she asked.

“Let me check it out, Sis. I’ll let you know.”

“Okay,” there was a pause then, quietly, “I hope Dom is okay.” I didn’t speak. “I know you don’t like him, and I know he’s a jerk but I can’t help how I feel.”

“I know, Sis. I hope he’s okay too.”

There it was again. Liar, liar pants on fire.

We said good-bye and I had barely put the phone down when it rang again.

I picked it up. “Yo.”

“Yo back at ‘cha,” Ally Nightingale said in my ear. “You comin’ to The Hornet?”

“Hey girl. Sure,” I told her.

“Cool, but you gotta give me something early. The girls are goin’ nuts. You know Luke?” she asked.

Shit.

“What girls?” I asked back.

“The Rock Chicks. Indy, Jet, Roxie, Daisy, Jules…”

My breath caught. “Jet, Roxie and Jules?” I asked.

Those were the names of Luke’s friends that he told me about and since not many people were named Jet, Roxie and Jules, they had to be –.

“Yeah. Jet works for Indy and she’s living with Eddie Chavez. Roxie is my brother Hank’s girlfriend, they’re living together too. Jules is with Vance, one of Lee’s boys.”

Holy cramoly.

See, what’d I say about Denver having a small town feel?

“So… Luke?” Ally prompted.

“I’ve known him since I was eight. He lived across the street.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Wicked, sister. Luke is hot,” she said.

Boy, did I ever know that.

“He works for my brother,” she went on.

“I know.”

“What happened yesterday?”

“I don’t know. He went gonzo on me. I haven’t seen him in years. I popped by and he just lost it.”

Silence then, “Girl, I know Luke pretty well. He doesn’t lose it unless he has a reason.” She said this with only a hint of accusation but I felt like a bitch.

Maybe I was turning into Marilyn and Sofia. I shivered and I shivered because that would suck.

Time to fight back the Barlow Bitch Pull.

“It’s a long story,” I confided. “We have some history. I made him a promise I didn’t keep and it was important to him.”

“You two work things out?”

“Not really.”

“You gonna work things out?”

I hoped not. I didn’t know what working things out would entail but I had a scary feeling it would entail Vibrator Infidelity.

“We’ll see,” I allowed. “I’ll tell you about it tonight.”

“Righteous. See you at seven.”

“Cool.”

We hung up and I sat looking at the phone with the very unhappy thought that my life was about to get pretty f**king complicated.

I had barely pulled up my files when the doorbell went. I sighed, walked away from the computer and down the stairs. I opened my door and Riley was there.

Really, he was seriously good-looking. I wasn’t into blond guys but if I was I’d likely have a crush on him.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey,” he replied on a white smile and lifted up a bag. “Noodles, veggies, no processed cookie-type food.”

“Damn,” I mumbled to be funny, and, as usual when I was trying to be funny, he laughed.

As I let him in the phone started ringing.

I took the bag from him saying, “I’ll see to the food, you get the phone.”

“No problem.”

I headed to the kitchen. Riley headed to the cordless in the living room.

I was pulling noodles and veggies out of the bag (which, I had to admit, looked good) to put on Fiestaware plates (cobalt blue for Riley, pink for me) when he walked in saying, “Sure, she’s right here.”

He took the phone away from his ear and said on a grin. “It’s for you.”