“Let me gloat, McDermott.”
Kane shifted his attention back to his boss.
“After all these years, I’ve earned it. I’m this close to retirement…” Reid gestured with one hand. “And I never figured on going out on a case this big.”
Kane laughed at the excitement in his superior’s voice. “As soon as he heard the words murder charge, our pal spilled names, dates, hits—cases we never thought we’d solve and guys we never thought we’d nail.”
Reid grinned. “Amazing what the promise of the Witness Protection Program will do to a guy’s sense of loyalty.”
“He was loyal,” Kane countered. “To number one.”
“And what about you?”
Kane stood, shoving his seat backward so hard the chair hit the wall. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? You’re questioning my loyalty?”
Reid didn’t flinch. “Not to the department, no. But to yourself? Yes.”
Kane groaned and eased himself back into his chair. Father-mode had obviously kicked in again. “Tell you what. You worry about retiring on a high, and I’ll worry about myself.”
“Will you? I don’t think you’ve given a crap about yourself since the day your mother walked in front of a moving bus.”
Kane didn’t question where he’d gotten the information. His life was an open record to those who needed to know. But Kane never spoke of his past aloud. Not to anyone…except Kayla.
Reid might have taken a fatherly interest in Kane, but Kane had never confided personal specifics in return. “If you were anyone else, I’d take a swing for you bringing that up,” he muttered.
Kane wanted to walk out but since he’d had been a walking, miserable, bleary-eyed son of a bitch. He figured hearing Reid out couldn’t hurt. Hell, at this point, it just might help.
“Have you seen her?” Reid asked.
“Who?”
The captain rose from his seat. “Know what, McDermott? I have to meet the D.A. for lunch, and I don’t have the time to play who’s dumber with you. You want to live life alone, the way you have been, go right ahead. You want to let her walk out of your bed and into someone else’s…”
“Hey!”
“Hey, what? I just told you I’m through playing who’s dumber. You win that award hands down anyway.” Reid braced his hands on the desk. “The lady makes you a human being.”
Kane rolled his eyes. “Go play footsie with the D.A. I don’t need this crap.”
“No, but you need her.” Reid straightened. “By the way, you did a hell of a job on this case, Kane.” The older man’s voice softened. “You called it as something before even I believed the lady needed protection; you kept her safe and coached her good. I’m proud of you, son.”
Kane’s mouth grew dry. Before he could answer, Reid disappeared out the station door.
* * *
Closed. Kayla flipped the sign on the inside of the door so the word faced the busy street. Charmed! was no more. Kayla and Catherine had sold the business.
“What next?” Catherine asked.
“Beats me. Your tuition is paid in full for the year, so that’s not a concern,” Kayla said.
Catherine frowned. “It is to me. If I’d known back in September how this would turn out…”
“You’d have taken the money anyway,” Kayla insisted. “Don’t worry. I have a career to fall back on. Now you will, too.”
“Accounting?” Catherine scowled. “How can you even consider going back to number crunching after all the changes and excitement in your life?”
“Excitement is overrated,” Kayla said wryly. Excitement meant Kane, and he was gone. Time to move on, she thought, no matter how difficult. Despite how it sounded to her sister, Kayla didn’t intend to fall back into old Kayla mode. Not for long, anyway. “Accounting is practical and it’ll pay the bills.”
“The sale of the business will pay the biggest bills until we get back on our feet. Accounting isn’t you. It’s the woman you were before all this.” Catherine swept her arm around, gesturing to the expanse of the room. “It’s the woman who wore trousers and buttoned-to-the-collar silk blouses…” Catherine’s voice trailed off as she caught sight of Kayla’s outfit and winced.
The black knit slacks and the light blue silk top had been the least offensive things in her closet. “I own one pair of jeans and they were dirty. Cut me some slack.”
“Only if you go shopping, and soon.”
“When I can afford it,” Kayla reminded her overindulgent sister. They might have made a small profit on the notorious business, but there were loans, bills, and other necessities that made frivolous spending impossible.
“I can take a leave of absence from school; we can get back next semester’s tuition…”
“Not a chance. You’ll finish.”
Silence reigned for all of thirty seconds. “Okay. I’ll cook, you’ll count, until the school year is finished. Then we switch. I make the money; you go back to school.”
Kayla shook her head. “School, books, language degrees…I’m tired of those things. I just didn’t realize it until…” Kane.
Her sister smiled and tilted her head in a sympathetic gesture Kayla recognized immediately.
“Don’t worry about me, Cat. I’ll be fine.”
“I know. And as long as you’re free for the foreseeable future, I have an idea I want to run by you. For a new business. A catering business. We’ll start small and offer every kind of service imaginable—decorations, hors d’oeuvres, serving, catering, party-planning—we can use what’s left of the money for start-up costs.” She paused for breath. “And eventually I’ll get to use my cooking skills full time while your talent for organization will keep the business going. We’ll target small parties at first, and then try for the bigger clients once we establish a reputation. I thought…”
“Slow down,” Kayla said, laughing at her sister’s enthusiasm, though she had to admit she liked the idea of planning parties instead of crunching numbers. “It sounds ambitious…”
“But you love it. And get this name. Pot Luck.” Catherine emphasized each word with her hands. “Slogan, We Meet Your Every Need.”
Kayla rolled her eyes. “I think our family’s already been down that route.”
“Nothing wrong with capitalizing on innuendo and imagination. We weren’t involved. Hell,
