“Life’s too short, Luke. I’m through talking.”

Then I disconnected.

I ran to the front door and got the keys to my car from a black guy wearing greasy, blue coveralls. My phone rang while I did this but I ignored it and it stopped when the answering machine kicked in. No one left a message.

Then I ran upstairs, got dressed and shoved clothes in my workout bag. My phone rang again while I did this but I continued to ignore it.

Then I ran out to my Range Rover, tossed my bag in and took off.

* * * * *

I had a feeling Luke would come looking for me so I went to a different gym and paid for a day pass.

While working out I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.

However, there was no denying that we’d had several hot and heavy discussions about a variety of things and not once did he mention he had a “thing” with Jules, no matter how short.

Furthermore, not only was Roxie Luke’s first guess about who I thought he had feelings for, Roxie also thought that and I wanted to know why.

After my workout I showered, dressed, went and sat in the Range Rover and opened my phone.

I had seven missed calls. Two were from Luke, three from Ally, one from Shirleen and the last one from Jules.

So, of course, I called Daisy.

“Sugar, everyone is lookin’ for you. Where are you?” she answered.

“In my car, listen Daisy –”

She interrupted me. “Ally is freakin’ out. She let the cat out of the bag but, girl, it sounds a lot worse than what it was. Jules is upset. She wants you to understand what happened –”

I interrupted right back. “I want to know about Roxie.”

“Roxie is freakin’ out too! She likes you with Luke, we all do. This could get weird, like it was weird for awhile when Vance and Luke both were –”

I didn’t want to hear about Vance and Luke and Jules, I wanted to know about Roxie. “No, I want to know why Roxie thought it was her that I thought Luke had a thing for.”

“Pardon?” Daisy asked.

“Last night, when Luke and I were arguing about it, his first guess as to who Ren meant was Roxie. Ally told me Roxie thought I thought it was her. Why would both of them think that?”

Silence.

“Daisy, please, tell me,” I begged.

“Sugar, I know you’re lookin’ for a way to protect your heart. But you’re lookin’ in the wrong direction. I have to tell you the best way to protect your heart is to trust it to a man who’ll take care of it for you.”

Right. Like such a man existed.

I did not think so.

“Last night and this morning, Luke and I talked a lot,” I told Daisy. “He said a lot of shit to me, all of it I wanted to believe. The problem is, he declared he was through talking this morning and it seems there’s a lot he left out. I can’t trust my heart to a man who’d keep something from me. Especially if it’s about people in his life which will mean, if I stay with him, they’ll be people in my life. That means in the Rock Chick Hot Bunch tribe I’ll be the chump and I don’t want to be the chump. Can you understand that?”

Daisy said softly, “I can understand that.”

“Please then, tell me.”

She sighed. “First off, you have to know these girls are not your usual girls. The Rock Chicks are special and the Hot Bunch know that.”

I kept silent and waited.

“Okay then,” she went on. “Luke threw down with Roxie when he was playin’ her bodyguard. It wasn’t a big deal. He just told her he was interested if it didn’t work out with her and Hank.”

The news hit me like a blow.

Strike one.

“Then he kind of fell for Jules when they were trainin’ and workin’ together. That went a little further because Luke went for it after everyone thought Vance broke up with her and then went out of town so he wasn’t keepin’ his eye on things. Nothin’ came of it, mainly because Jules had already given her heart to Vance, but somethin’ special grew out of that for Jules and Luke. Ava listen to me, it’s somethin’ sweet and special and totally innocent that grew out of it. Vance and Luke are friends and –”

Strike two.

“Any more I should know about?” I asked, interrupting her. “Jet, Indy, anyone?”

“Sugar,” Daisy said softly and she sounded disappointed. “Don’t be like that.”

“So let’s play what if. What if Vance had broken up with Jules? Where would Luke be now?”

“What if is a stupid game. He didn’t break up with her, end of story.”

I knew where Luke would be now, I knew by his relentless, tough guy, macho man pursuit of me. He “fell for Jules” as Daisy put it. If Vance had broken up with her, right now Jules would be in Luke’s loft and he’d be contemplating when he would let his and Jules’s daughter date if she looked like Jules (likely it’d be at age forty if she looked like Jules).

Then it hit me, Jules was pregnant. Hell, if she was with Luke she would be pregnant with his baby.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, almost certain I was going to puke.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Daisy mumbled.

“I have to go,” I said again.

“Come over to my house, we’ll talk,” Daisy replied on a rush. “I’ll get the girls over –”

“Later, Daisy.”

Yeah, much later… as in never. To cut off Luke, I had to cut off the Rock Chicks completely. And I liked the Rock Chicks a lot.

And that was strike three.

“Wait!” I heard Daisy cry before I disconnected.

I tossed my cell into the passenger seat, put my hands on the steering wheel and rested my head on them.

You think she should talk to him now? Hear his side of the story? Listen to him explain about how he tried it on with half the Rock Chicks? How he broke it off with Sandra Whoever-she-was without batting an eye? How he didn’t mention any of this shit during his “straight talk”? Bad Ava taunted Good Ava.

Good Ava didn’t answer. She was too busy quietly crying.

* * * * *

I turned off my phone and went to a travel agent. I booked a last minute trip to an all-inclusive in St. Croix, leaving the next morning at oh-dark-thirty.

I went to a card shop, bought a card, paper and a pen and wrote Sissy a long note, explaining everything. Then I went to an Internet Café, e-mailed my clients and told them I had a family emergency that would mean I’d be out of town for two weeks and I looked up the address for Nightingale Investigations on the web. I posted the card to Sissy, care of Nightingale Investigations. Then I went to the mall and bought a bunch of new stuff for my trip, including luggage because mine was at Luke’s.