I had the day yawning ahead of me and no bodyguard following my every step.

It felt weird.

I went to Tex’s to give him an update and help him with the cats. He’d been re-stitched and let go last night. I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be Pepper Rick’s demise, I guessed jubilation, but was wrong.

“We live, we die,” he said.

Philosophical.

Cats fed, litter boxes cleaned, laser lights jiggled on the walls, I headed to Kumar’s to stock up on stuff for the condo and have a gossip. He wasn’t there but I had a chat with Mrs. Kumar who was behind the counter with Mrs. Salim motionless on a stool behind her. I thought, but did not say, that they might do better business if it didn’t look like a mummy was propped up behind the cash register. Then I worried if God would strike me with lightening for such a thought.

I got my bits and pieces from Mrs. Kumar and headed to Ally’s.

She made me coffee and gave me more ibuprofen.

“I know about the dead guy. Dad called Mom, Mom called me. You okay?” she asked.

“I’m getting tired of this.”

“I bet.”

“What are you doing today?” I asked.

“Laying low, I got a shift tonight.”

Ally now worked at My Brother’s Bar down by Platte River. They’d been around long enough for the wooden tables and walls to look weathered and worn, they had the best bar food in Denver, members of the symphony hung out there after performances and they pulled an excellent pint of Guinness.

“I was beginning to think you’d quit,” I told her.

“No, had a shift the night you got kidnapped but apparently it’s cool to call off when your best friend is being held hostage.”

“Good to know.”

She offered a manicure and pedicure and I took her up on it. I returned the favor by washing and styling her hair. I would have gone to beauty school if I hadn’t inherited Fortnum’s. Since I’d hit teenage status, I always gave good hair. With Ally, it wasn’t hard to give good hair, her hair was soft and thick with just enough wave, it never looked bad.

“How’re things with Lee?” she shouted over the hairdryer as I was roller brushing her hair.

“I’m totally freaking out,” I shouted back.

“I sensed that.” She was still shouting.

I turned off the hairdryer and looked at her. “He’s good at this stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Relationship stuff. He’s a natural. It’s weird, we’re new and we’re old. I can’t get my head around it.”

“He’s shit at relationship stuff. He’s only good at it because it’s you.”

“Sorry?”

“You’re shit at it too, but only because it was never him.”

Uh-oh, Ally was on her you-two-were-meant-for-each-other kick.

I turned the hairdryer back on, subject closed.

After visiting Ally, I went home, cleaned my house, went through my mail and watered my yard and flowers. Then I watered Tod and Stevie’s. Then I went to their front door and knocked.

Stevie answered then looked beyond me in case he could see a sniper.

“I watered your flowers,” I told him.

“That’s nice.”

“I’m sorry about last night.”

“I’m not sure I forgive you, though Tod says you threw yourself on top of him to protect him from bullets so I guess I’m not so mad. Tod thought it was a blast. Says it reminded him of home.”

“The way Tod tells it, I don’t think I want to go to Texas.”

Stevie didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, it’s easy for Tod to say it was a blast, he was protected a foot deep by foam rubber.”

We both knew bullets would tear through Tod’s rubber.

I kept talking, I knew Stevie was mad and somehow couldn’t help myself.

“The dead body of the guy who started it was set in the front door of Fortnum’s this morning.”

Stevie’s eyes widened.

Okay, so now I was beginning to let the shock of it all wear through me. Not to mention, Stevie was mad at me and I didn’t like people I cared about being mad at me. It wasn’t my fault even though it felt like it was. Tears sprang into my eyes.

“Talk to you later,” I said.

“Girlie, you’re a mess, get in here.”

He yanked me inside, gave me a drink and sat me on the sofa. I let it all hang out, including the fact that even though we’d get closer each time, Lee and I hadn’t done it yet.

Stevie listened, hugged me occasionally, got me tissues when the tears threatened to spill and cast no judgment. Then he took me home, snapped through the hangers in my closets, opened and closed boxes of shoes until he found what he was looking for, all the while he communicated His Plan.

While Stevie walked me to the Crossfire, he told me that Tod was at Denver International Airport, he had a flight and wouldn’t be back for a few days. Stevie was leaving late the next morning to do the same and asked me to look after Chowleena while he and Tod were gone.

“If I need to take her to Lee’s, would that be a problem?” I asked.

“Just write us a note.”

Then, like a fairy godfather (pun intended), he waved me off on my errands that would eventually end with Lee.

I went to Cherry Creek and popped into Linens ‘n Things. I grabbed a few necessities and went over to Fresh and Wild, got the stuff I needed for the night and added a few things for the morning and just in case my stay at the condo was even longer, carted it all, plus the stuff from Kumar’s store, the dress and the shoes, up to Lee’s condo.

I dumped everything in the kitchen and living room and started work. I made the chocolate cream pie first, then prepared the au gratin potatoes, topped them with aluminum foil ready to put in the oven. I trimmed the green beans ready to be blanched. I left the steak in the fridge, I could broil it in ten minutes and Lee told me he’d phone when he was coming.

I set the table and put out the placemats and cloth napkins circled with napkin rings that I bought at Linens ‘n Things. I tried to buy the most macho placemats, napkins and rings I could find, as they would be adorning Lee’s table, but they didn’t really do macho in that kind of retail.

In the center of the table I placed the high, tapered candles in silver candle holders I also bought. I arranged the flowers I got at Fresh and Wild in the vase I purchased. I got out the deep bowled glasses I’d noticed in Lee’s cupboards and, as a finishing touch, I put the expensive bottle of red wine between them on the dining room table.