“Earth to Red,” he said, giving her hair a little tug.

She turned to look at him.  “I’d like to go with you when you go back to the club, but Jess and I are planning to hit some garage sales in the morning.”

“You aren’t going to stop worrying about this, are you?  It’s all good.  Stan agreed to let me in at six o’clock tomorrow morning, before the golf and tennis crowds make him too busy.  Tanner’s going to meet me.”

Ben might be the best criminal defense guy in town, but it was sometimes said that Roy Tanner was the man behind the man.  Roy was a retired Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO) homicide detective turned PI, whom Ben kept on retainer.  Ben had never lost a case, sometimes because Roy could ferret out clues when things seemed hopeless.  The restroom at the club would be in good hands.

Ben knew he had to tell Lane about his relationship with Lila Crane.  God, he’d never talked about other women with her.  Even when they were just friends he’d never talked to her about the women he dated, never mentioned so much as a name to her, unless they had run into each other when he was on a date.  He remembered their road trip over Memorial Day when Lane had told him about her unfaithful first husband. It was the tears in her eyes and the hurt in her voice that had been the catalyst getting him to take her in his arms and comfort her.  He still wasn’t sure where he’d gotten the chutzpa to finally kiss her that day.  What he knew was that he never wanted to be the cause of her tears.  But the thing was that his relationship with Lila was over; and if not for the murder investigation, he would never need to tell Lane about it.  He’d gone out with Lila a couple of times.  It was nothing serious. They’d had dinner once, met for lunch once and met once for drinks.  They’d first met about four years ago, on a case Lila was investigating. One of Ben’s clients had been a person of interest.  In early May, they’d run into each other; and since the case was ancient history, Ben had asked Lila to lunch.   Lila was a very attractive woman. They were both single. Why not?

“Why not,” he thought now, “Because now he was going to have to talk about it with the woman he loved.”

He took Lane’s hand and led her into the living room.  They sat on the sofa.  He put his arm around her shoulders and twisted a strand of hair around in his fingers.

“Ben, what’s wrong? Is it the case?”  Lane had never seen him so pensive.

“Look, I know you sensed something between me and Lila Crane this afternoon.”

“Here it was.” She thought, “The babe magnet about to break it off with the older woman.” She nodded but said nothing.  Let him work it through, she wasn’t going pave his way down whatever path he was taking.

He cupped her chin and turned her face toward him.  His whiskey colored eyes glistened as though he would tear up at any second.  “I went out with her a couple of times.  It was before Memorial Day.  Before you and me.  There was nothing to break off with her, I just stopped calling her.  I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you, Lane.  That was true even before we were a couple, but especially now.  I know how Gus hurt you.  Please believe me. Since Memorial Day, there’s been no one but you. I don’t want there to ever be anyone else. You know that, don’t you?  You know I love you.”  He ran his thumb across her lips.  He’d said it, he loved Lane.  Kids in the house or no kids in the house, he pulled her into a kiss he hoped made her believe he was telling her the truth.

She moaned a little before she rubbed his shoulder and pulled away. She moved her mouth to his ear.

She whispered, “Are you really telling me that some crazy detective is coming after me because you stopped calling her?” Then she leaned back and held his shoulders, as she looked in his tortured eyes and laughed. She let go, pulled her feet up under her and leaned back into him.  “God, I knew you were a babe magnet.  I just had no idea how strong your pull could be for some women.”

He wasn’t sure how he should take her reaction.  He’d just told her he loved her.  It was something he’d never told any other woman.  He sure didn’t expect laughter the first time he said it.

If Jess hadn’t yelled, “Where is everyone?” from the kitchen, he’d have asked if she’d heard him.  That whole speech and what had she focused on?

Chapter 3

Garage Sales

Even though she wasn’t an early riser, Lane woke up early the next morning.  Lane loved a good garage sale. She was particularly fond of the neighborhood sales.  You never know what you might find.  Some people look for antiques or hope to find a Picasso.  Lane liked to search for decent furniture that she could put in the bedroom once occupied by her son, Jake.  It also provided a great opportunity to look for old books, old or unusual teapots, and vintage jewelry for her friend, and coincidentally her ex-mother-in-law, Evelyn.  Jess, who was mostly along for the Mom and Daughter time, liked to look for vintage clothing.

She and Jess stopped at the drive-through for breakfast, on their way to the garage sales.  Jess had a list of neighborhoods doing community garage sales she’d printed from the internet.  They’d agreed on three neighborhoods and decided to start with the one furthest out and work their way back home with their loot.

They hit the first neighborhood and did a slow drive through, as they scouted for the garages that weren’t overflowing with baby items.  Lane had two cars.  A little Mercedes convertible and the Cadillac Escalade SUV that they were using today, just in case they came across any big items.  She parked the Escalade and they started browsing.

“Mom, look at this.”  Jess picked up a tray of jewelry and showed it to Lane.

Lane took the tray and used her finger to move things around, finally landing on a beautiful hinged bracelet made of crystals in shades of purple.  “It looks like amethysts,” Lane said as she held the bracelet up to the light.  “Do you think it’s real?”

It sounded so much like the question they’d heard nosey, petty people ask Evelyn about a necklace she often wore.  The questioner was really asking if the huge stone around Evelyn’s neck was actually a diamond.  They laughed and together they gave Evelyn’s pat reply. “Well, it certainly isn’t imaginary.” Lane rooted around to see if there were any matching or coordinating pieces, while Jess looked over the other merchandise.  Lane found a pair of dangly chandelier earrings that would coordinate well with the bracelet and made her purchase.

They made their way from garage to garage with no more success and moved on to the next neighborhood.  They’d browsed through several garages and yards, when Jess found a set of what appeared to be nearly new women’s golf clubs.

“Mom, didn’t you say that you were thinking about golf lessons?”

Lane, who was deep in jewelry perusal mode, absently said, “Yes.”  When in fact she wasn’t just thinking about taking golf lessons, she had signed up for a group class, offered through the company where she worked.  The classes started in only a few days.

“Mom,” Jess said with a bit more passion. “You need to look at these. They look new and the tag says they’re $50.”

Lane left the basket of jewelry and walked across the garage to look at the golf clubs.  They were a brand she recognized and they did appear to be new.  “Excuse me,” Lane said to the elderly woman sitting at the table.  “Is this price for both the clubs and the bag?”  The woman assured her it was. “Wow, that’s a great price. “  She took out one of the woods.  They were a great price, but if they were for left handed players, it would be $50 down the drain.  After trying both the wood and an iron, Lane said, “I’ll take them.”  Then she handed the woman the cash.