At Peace (The ‘Burg #2)(91)
Author: Kristen Ashley

The black man and his woman made noises, the man’s low, guttural, the woman’s high, almost sounding like a strangled giggle but Cal didn’t take his eyes from Vi’s parents.

“I… you… I don’t believe –” Madeline started, her eyes going from cold to furious in a heartbeat.

Cal cut her off. “You turned your back on her, her man and then those girls seventeen years ago, you should believe.”

Madeline’s eyes turned to slits and she opened her mouth to speak but Pete got there before her.

“We’ll steer clear,” Pete announced quickly, still staring up at him.

“Peter!” Madeline hissed and her husband leveled his eyes on her.

“We’ll… steer… clear,” Pete repeated in a firm, irritated voice.

Madeline’s head jerked back in shock and Cal got the feeling the woman didn’t often get spoken to like that.

It was too bad. Pete might have saved a lot of heartbreak if he’d brought her into line a long time ago.

“Appreciate it,” Cal muttered, said not another word, turned and walked away.

“Callahan,” he heard when he was five feet from Vi and the girls and Cal turned back to see the black man and woman had followed him.

“I know you?” Cal asked the man, his eyes moving to the woman and then back.

“Nope, but I know you. Alec Colton’s told me about you,” the man said.

“You know Colt?” Cal asked.

“Nope again, talked to him on the phone,” he stuck his hand out, “I’m Barry Pryor, Tim’s partner.”

Fucking great, the dead husband’s partner.

Cal took the man’s hand and shook it, Barry going for the gusto; Cal giving it back and then Barry broke it off, suddenly grinning.

“This is my wife, Pam.”

“I think I love you,” was her totally bizarre greeting.

Cal didn’t respond but took her offered hand and shook it too.

“Tim wanted to say that to them for, freakin’, ever,” Pam told him then went on. “Well, not that, what he wanted to say would’ve had a whole lot of f-words but that did the trick.” She leaned into him. “If I didn’t think I’d get stoned by all Sam’s friends, I’d have laughed myself silly.”

“They wouldn’t stone you, baby, Sam would retch at this scene,” Barry told his wife and then looked at Cal. “You told Sam he was gonna buy it, he’d tell you to cremate him, take his ashes to Rico’s or Hoolihan’s, pour a Guinness in it and dump it in Lake Michigan. That was, after everyone got blitzed out of their f**kin’ brains.”

Pam leaned to her husband and whispered, “Barry, don’t say f**k in a house of God.”

“Pam, this isn’t a house of God, it’s a f**kin’ funeral parlor.”

Pam gave Barry an irate look then rolled her eyes at Cal and Cal decided he liked Barry and Pam.

“Uncle Barry! Auntie Pam!” Keira cried loudly, rounded Cal and threw herself at Barry.

Barry’s arms went around the girl and he bent his head so his lips were at her hair. “Hey, little donut.”

“Auntie Pam,” Kate came around his other side and walked into Pam’s outstretched arms.

“Hey, shug-shug-sugar,” Pam whispered in Kate’s ear.

Violet, limping but trying to hide it, moved awkwardly to Cal’s side and stopped several feet away, standing, favoring her foot and waiting her turn. She got it after Kate and Keira changed arms then Vi moved in for a big hug from Barry then a longer one with some swinging back and forth from Pam.

Then she stepped back, Cal leaned in, caught her with a hand at her hip and pulled her into his side. Her head snapped up to look at him as her body pressed against his hand to get away but he held her firm and he held her close and looked down at her.

“Take your weight off that foot,” he ordered.

“Cal –”

“Weight off that foot.”

“Cal –”

“Buddy, take your f**kin’ weight off that foot before you tear the stitches.”

Violet glared at him and he heard Barry speak.

“What stitches?”

“It’s nothing,” Vi answered.

“Vi got emotional when she heard about Sam, threw around some shit, glass broke, she cut her foot,” Cal answered.

“Cal!” Violet snapped and Cal looked down at her, brows raised.

“Stitches? Oh Vi, does it hurt? You need to sit down, baby,” Pam advised.

“I’m fine,” Vi lied.

“Take a load off then, got a tall drink a’ water beside you, girl, use it,” Barry put in, nodding his head to Cal.

“Really, like I said, I’m fine,” Vi repeated.

“Stubborn,” Pam shook her head at Cal.

Cal didn’t reply and didn’t take his arm from Violet.

“Hey guys,” Melissa joined their group, sliding arms around both Keira and Kate. “They want to start. Let’s get his stupid head trip of Madeline’s over with so we can go to Hoolihan’s.”

“Mel, honey, I told you yesterday. We can’t go to Hoolihan’s with you, the girls can’t come in,” Violet told her.

“Oh yeah, right,” Melissa whispered, looking startled for a second that this hadn’t sunk in then she kissed the side of Kate’s head then Keira’s.

“I want you to come down soon, be with us for a weekend or for awhile, get away from here, get away from –” Vi started but Melissa interrupted her.

“Soon’s I can, Vi-oh-my.”

At Melissa using Sam’s nickname for his sister, Violet finally gave him her weight, so much of it, her hand came around and she clutched his shirt at his stomach to remain standing. Part of this was good, her doing it, part of it was bad because she didn’t notice she was.

“Good,” Vi whispered but her voice sounded choked.

Cal watched Melissa swallow and both Vi’s girls pulled in their lips.

“This sucks, doesn’t it?” Melissa whispered back to Vi.

“I still can’t believe it,” Vi whispered to Melissa.

“Wake up and reach for him –” Melissa stopped, Kate dropped her head but Pam pulled her in her arms as Keira moved around and hugged Melissa front-to-front.

Barry cleared his throat.

“Callahan, let’s get our girls to their seats,” Barry suggested to Cal, Cal nodded and they herded the women to the front row, opposite the aisle from where Pete and Madeline were sitting, the whole row to themselves. Sam’s friends clearly weren’t big fans of Pete and Madeline.