She was looking through his grocery bags. “Why do you have filled baby bottles?”

Redman held out his hand, looking satisfied. “Ten.”

Narrowing his eyes, David pulled out his wallet and smacked a ten-dollar bill into the old man’s hand. “Don’t gloat. Glenn bet me that the refrigerator in 2A wouldn’t last another week. I hoped it would last until I got the floor done.”

She pushed him gently out of the way and began putting the girls’ groceries in his fridge. “There are babies in 2A, I take it.”

“Damn revolving door,” Glenn grumbled. “Mrs. Edwards takes in unwed mothers.”

“He plays with the babies when he thinks nobody’s looking,” David said.

“You’ve got yourself quite a full house,” his mother said. “All those names on the mailboxes downstairs surprised me. I didn’t think I’d find anyone living here yet.”

David shrugged. “It wasn’t my plan either. But people needed a place. I have room. It didn’t seem right to say no.”

“Boy’s a damn pushover,” Glenn grumbled.

His mother smiled. “Where can I sleep, son? You don’t have much furniture.”

Just a bed. Because he’d really, really hoped Olivia would call. “I was waiting to let you pick everything out. You can have my bed. I’ve got an air mattress and-”

“David? David, are you here?” It was a new voice at his open front door, one that sounded abnormally upset. Moments later a tall, raven-haired beauty stood in his kitchen doorway, eyes narrowed. “I need to talk to you. Now. Please.”

His mother looked at Glenn, who shrugged. “Never seen this one,” Glenn said.

“Mom, this is Paige Holden. Paige, this is my mother and Glenn. Paige is from the dojo and is normally very polite.” David frowned at her. “Why aren’t you being polite?”

Paige drew a deep breath. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I’m sorry I barged in. I didn’t know David had company.”

His mother looked fascinated. “I’m always glad to meet my son’s friends.”

“And that’s all she is, Mom,” David inserted before his mother could get the wrong idea. “Paige and I are friends and sparring partners. She kicks my ass every Tuesday and Thursday when I’m not on shift.”

“So you’re a black belt, too?” his mother asked and Paige nodded.

“Yes, ma’am. David helps me with a self-defense class I teach. He’s our uke.”

“The attacker,” David explained. “Then her students get to kick my ass.”

Paige’s brows lifted. “One puts a great deal of trust in one’s uke,” she said meaningfully. “You trust him with your safety. You expect him to be honest.”

“I see,” his mother said. “You obviously have something on your mind, so Glenn and I will put this food away, and the two of you can talk.”

“Thank you.” Puzzled, David led her back to his empty spare bedroom and closed the door. “What the hell, Paige?” he asked, all pretense of politeness gone.

She jabbed her fists to her hips. “You used me. You jerk.”

“How did I use you?”

“Olivia came into the gym this morning. Really early, so she could avoid me.”

David winced. “It’s been a while since she’s been to the gym.”

“Which you know because you’ve been reading the sign-in sheets. Rudy told me. He also told me you’d asked about Olivia and that he told you we were old friends.”

“Rudy’s a weasel,” David muttered and her ruby lips twitched, but just once.

“That’s what Olivia said this morning because Rudy told me she’d come in.” Her expression darkened. “Goddammit, you know her. And I mean that in the biblical sense. You knew I knew her and you never said a word. Did you join my dojo just to use me to get to her?”

In the biblical sense. Based on his vague recollections, that was quite possibly the truth. “It’s not what you think.” He sighed. “I met Olivia at a wedding.”

“I know. Her sister Mia’s wedding two and a half years ago. After which the biblical knowing ensued.” Her voice rose. “After which you never called her.”

“Quiet,” he hissed. “My mother has ears like a damn bat. I met Olivia at the rehearsal dinner. I was sitting on the steps of the church, putting off going inside.”

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why?”

“Because it was one more wedding I’d leave alone.”

Paige’s look turned skeptical. “Now you want me to believe you have trouble getting a woman. You? Mr. Perfect, who’s too nice to possibly be true? Please.”

His laugh was mirthless. “Look at you. You’re gorgeous. You’re nice. Usually. Do you have a good man?”

Her shoulders sagged. “Point taken, thank you very much. But I’m fucked up.”

“Well, honey, you’re not the only one,” he said bitterly. “We all have our issues.”

She considered this. “Fair enough. So why did you glom onto me? Why me?”

“Evie took your self-defense class and she said you were good, so I came to the dojo to meet you. I liked it there, so I joined. I didn’t know you knew Olivia, not at first.”

“Olivia recommended my class to Eve,” Paige said and he could see she believed him. “So we’re caught up in a circle of friends. But then you went all spy-guy. Why?”

“I saw Olivia’s name on the sign-in sheet at the gym and was surprised, so I asked Rudy. He said she came in regularly, that the two of you are friends. So I let things go where they would. I kept an eye on the sign-in sheet and Rudy kept me filled in.”

Her brows lifted. “He really is a weasel.”

“I prefer ‘confidential informant,’” he said and her lips twitched. “What?”

“That’s what I said to Liv. So you met her at a wedding, were obviously taken with her, you two did the horizontal shuffle, and then you don’t call? That’s not nice, David.”

“She left me,” David protested. “I woke up and she was gone. No note, no nothing. And I did call, but the number I found in the online phone book had been changed.”

“She moved right about that time. You could have asked her sister for her number.”

David thought about Olivia’s sister, Mia, who was one of the few who’d known how hopelessly he’d fallen for someone else. “That was… complicated.”

“You slept with Mia, too?” she asked, her voice rising to a shriek.

“Goddammit,” he hissed. “Be quiet. I did not sleep with Mia, too. I may not even have slept with Olivia. Whatever happened between Olivia and me is our business. I hoped she’d call and figured when she didn’t that she regretted what happened.”

“Which she says she does.”

David lifted his brows. “And does she?”

“You’ll have to ask her. Why did you come to Minneapolis? I want the truth.”

He sighed. “Evie needed help fixing her roof. I’d been looking for some kind of… I don’t know, a sign or something. I get here and Evie gets attacked, then I get run off the road by that psycho and Olivia’s the cop on the case.”

“Hell of a sign,” Paige said.

“Yeah. I should have left Chicago a long time ago. There was a woman named Dana…”

Her mouth drooped sadly. “She died?”

“No. She met someone else.” And he’d thought he’d never live through it.

She sighed. “Been there, done that. And?”

“And nothing. Dana was happy with this other guy. She never knew how I felt, and she never felt the same. I walked away. Just not far enough. Our families are all… connected. Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. I had to see her all the time.”

“I know that name,” Paige said. “Dana was in the wedding, too. I saw her picture.”

“She was Mia’s matron of honor. I was glad I didn’t know Mia’s fiancé well enough to be asked to be the best man.”

“That would have sucked.”

Paige had a way with understatement. “True,” he said. “I’d been looking for a way out of Chicago for a while, but my job was there. My family. Evie gave me the shove I needed to make the move.” She’d dared him to stop hiding from the world, to stop watching other people be happy. And she’d been right.

“So after two years, you moved here. Why didn’t you call Liv for seven months?”