I ruthlessly stamped that foolishness out of my head and wondered how to respond to the advice my sister was giving me. Even when at the same time I felt totally unprepared to take it. The more time that passed without any real action from anyone in town, the more it seemed like it might come down to me. I also had the sinking feeling that my best would not come close to enough.

People like Patrice and Ari were looking to me to find the answers and all I had were bad questions.

Still, Emma was right. “I’m going to see Day tomorrow, and I won’t leave until he gives me a better answer than ‘I’ll deal with it.’ Because clearly he hasn’t. As far as running for DA, I’m considering it. I know you think I’m ready, but I’m still wondering about the politics side of it.” Cindy’s waffling in this situation had been disappointing in ways I hadn’t wanted to explore too closely, and I was not going to willingly go into a job where I had to choose “saving face” to acting on something.

Emma came in for a hug as she snagged the glass of champagne from my hand and took a sip. “I’m not going to get pushy, but I know you can handle this. Now let’s talk about your hot professor moving into the building.” Emma had a little house in town, but that did not keep her from being in my business.

But she and I were not new at this and I could hold her off for days. “You look great, sis, that green suits you.” Her expression at my comment said, “I know what you’re doing,” but she still looked down at herself, feigning like she didn’t even realize what she was wearing.

Emma was petite like my mom, but after years of struggling with never living up to my father’s exacting standards, she’d finally arrived at a place where she loved herself exactly like she was. She ran a hand over the front of her dress and smiled. “Thanks, bro, grandpa helped me pick it out.”

I cracked up at that image, as Emma and my grandfather looked very pleased with themselves. “You let her convince you to go shopping?”

This time it was grandpa who was a loss for words, then shook his head and pointed at the iPad I’d gotten him for Father’s Day. “We did it all on the tablet. She got me this sweater too.”

My chest warmed looking at them, preening for compliments. “You both look great,” I said with a smile, as the thought from earlier flooded my mind again.

Would I ever get a chance to introduce Patrice to Emma and Grandpa? Probably not. Not by how things went this morning.

“Boy trouble?” my grandpa asked, completely serious.