“Okay,” I agreed.

* * * * *

When I got home, I called Marianne and set up a time to meet at The Hornet. Then I called Lee to tell him I was home. He was at the hospital checking on Luke. I was glad I didn’t have a ride-along on that one or my Denial Zone would be obliterated.

I gave Chowleena some kibbles and water. She put her nose up at the kibbles so I gave her a doggie biscuit. Then she gave me her pathetic look so I gave her another one. Then she pranced into the living room, curly tail swaying in the air, jumped up on my new couch, circled about twenty times, flopped down and settled in.

I jumped into the shower and did my Indy Out for the Night Preparations complete with leg shave. I didn’t really feel up to it, I was tired and hadn’t had a Disco Nap. However, there was a possibility Lee was going to meet us at The Hornet and his receptionist looked like she stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine. I thought it best to put some effort into it.

I grabbed my dress that was just a thick band of stretchy black from which fell a swath of olive green gauzy material swirled through with cream and black. The band fit above my br**sts, the gauze fell in a scarf-like hem to above the knee. I put on a droopy black belt with a big circular silver buckle and bloused the dress over it, making it mini. I fluffed out my hair, pawed through the dregs at the back of my makeup drawer and slapped on some makeup, put on a pair of big silver hoop earrings, a bunch of bangles on my wrist, a bunch of silver rings on my fingers and pulled on my black cowboy boots. I shoved some stuff into a black purse and headed out the door.

I walked to The Hornet, which was only four blocks away. I didn’t waste any time, Rosie was found, Pepper Rick and Sandy Pete were out of the picture and the hit man was behind bars. I was likely relatively safe but I wasn’t going to take any chances.

Marianne was there when I got there, sitting on a stool at the bar. I’d asked Ally to join us but she had a shift at Brother’s. I’d braved the pissed off brute and asked Eddie if he wanted to come but he was going to be bogged down in paperwork.

“I wish I could wear a dress like that,” Marianne told me when I slid on the booth next to her.

Marianne used to be a size four. Her hair changed color with her mood, so much so that I didn’t remember what it was when it started out. Now it was brunette. She had big gray eyes. She was always pretty and regardless of the weight, she still was a looker. She’d been popular, being so dainty and cute, boys flocked to her. Her divorce had taken its toll, it was ugly, she still wasn’t over it and she was eating through the pain.

I had no response for her and ordered a spiced rum and diet and excused myself and called Lee, again, to tell him I was at The Hornet. Marianne didn’t question this, she’d been an innocent bystander in one of my shootouts and anyway, Lee was hot.

“Well?” Marianne asked when I flipped my phone shut.

I sighed.

“Lee doesn’t take the bows from bras or panties, at least not anymore,” I said.

Marianne’s eyes lit up.

“Is he good?”

The way she asked it wasn’t gossipy or voyeuristic, it was a friend asking a friend about her sex life, which in my circle of friends was a natural thing. We weren’t exactly Sex in the City but we shared. It also meant our conversation wasn’t going to be e-mailed to half of the greater Denver Metropolitan Area by midnight.

So I answered her. “He’s good.”

“How good?” she asked.

My eyes slid to her. “Real good.”

Her face spread in a smile and I returned it.

“I’m so happy for you,” she whispered.

I was beginning to be happy for me too.

My drink came and I ordered a buffalo chicken salad with extra bleu cheese dressing. Marianne announced she was going on a diet and she ordered one too, without the bleu cheese dressing.

We ate at the bar, the plates were whisked away, I was on my third rum and diet and Marianne had gone to the bathroom when my hair was brushed to the side, a hand gliding across my bare shoulders. I looked around, then up, and saw Lee standing over me.

He’d showered and changed and he looked good. He was wearing jeans that were worn in but still newish, brown cowboy boots and forest-green collared shirt.

I smiled at him.

He frowned at me.

“Where’re the rest of your clothes?”

I looked down at my dress then back up at him.

“These are my clothes,” I said. “You don’t like it?”

“Yeah, I like it. If you’re wearin’ it in my kitchen while cookin’ steaks. I don’t like it when you’re wearin’ it sittin’ on a barstool and thirty guys are imaginin’ your legs wrapped around their backs.”

Jeez.

“Lee, you’re gonna have to get over this jealous-possessiveness thing.”

“Indy, you’re gonna have to get used to the fact that I’m the jealous-possessive type.”

Great.

I decided to change the subject. I wasn’t going to change how I dressed and he wasn’t going to start to like it. We were at a stalemate.

“Have you had dinner?”

“I grabbed something at the condo.”

His eyes moved to the bar and he lifted his chin and said to the bartender, “Fat Tire.”

Marianne still hadn’t materialized so I decided to broach a new subject.

“We need to talk about Eddie.”

Lee slid into the area between me and Marianne’s barstool, his hip pressing my knees to the side, he rested his forearm on the bar.

“Yeah, we do. From now on, you see Eddie only when I’m with you.”

My teeth clenched. “Okay, first we need to talk about you bossing me around all the time and how I really don’t like it.”

His eyes crinkled and I knew he thought I was being cute.

“I’m being serious.” I went on.

His beer came, he slid a note across the counter, took a pull and leaned into me. “This is how it works, I tell you how I feel, I’m honest about it, you do the same. A lot of the time we won’t agree but we’ll deal.”

I blinked at him.

Did he really think that was going to work?

Lee kept talking. “Obviously you heard our conversation. I know where Eddie stands, Eddie knows where I stand. If things are good between you and me, Eddie won’t be a threat. They start to go bad, Eddie’s movin’ in.”