Blue Smoke

stepped over, kissed Gina’s cheek. “Thanks, pal.”
    “I never liked his sorry ass. And I know how that sounds now.” Ginalifted her chin, and her eyes continued to spark with anger. “But I didn’t, despite the fact that he was great to look at. Every time he opened his mouth it was all about me, me, me. Plus he was patronizing.”
    “What can I say? When you’re right, you’re right. I liked him because he was great to look at, good in bed, and he was needy. Let me be girly.” She shrugged. “Shallow—just like him.”
    “You’re not shallow. What, he do a mind fuck on you?”
    “Maybe. I’ll get over it.” She blew out a breath, studied herself in the mirror. The shiner was coming on strong. “Now I’ve got to go deal with my parents. And won’t that be fun?”
    Bianca beat eggs in a bowl with the focused violence of a middleweight champ doing the rope-a-dope on a contender. “Why isn’t he in jail?” she demanded. “No, no, first why isn’t he in the hospital, then in jail? And you!” A string of egg flew as she swung the fork to point at Reena. “You didn’t come to tell your father so he could put this miserable bastard in the hospital before you arrested him?”
    “Mama. I took care of it.”
    “You took care of it.” Bianca went back to beating eggs that were already down for the count. “ You took care of it. Well, let me tell you something, Catarina, there are some things, no matter how old you are, your father takes care of.”
    “Dad would hardly have gone tearing after Luke and pounding him into dust. He—”
    “You’re wrong.” Gib spoke quietly. He stood with his back to the room, staring out the window. “You’re wrong about that.”
    “Dad.” She couldn’t imagine her even-tempered father hunting down Luke, getting into a fistfight. Then she remembered the way he’d faced down Mr. Pastorelli years before.
    “Okay.” Reena put her hands to her temples, pushed back her hair. “Okay. But, family honor aside, I wouldn’t want to see Dad arrested for assault.”
    “You don’t want to see this bastard arrested for assault either,” Bianca snapped. “You’re very softhearted for a cop.”
    “I wasn’t being softhearted. Mama, please.”

    “Bianca.” Again Gib’s quiet voice silenced the room. But this time he turned, studied his daughter. “What were you being?”
    “Practical, I thought. Private, I hoped. The fact is, I was stunned. I’ve been going out with Luke for months, and I missed all the signs. I can see them now, hindsight. But when he hit me, I was so surprised. If it makes you guys feel any better, I can promise I hurt him more than he hurt me. He’ll be limping for days.”
    “Some consolation.” Bianca poured the eggs into a cast-iron pan. “But now he’s making trouble for you.”
    “Well, someone did torch his car.”
    “I’d like to make them a cake.”
    “Mama,” Reena scolded on a half laugh. “This is serious. Someone could have been hurt. I’m not worried, too much, about the investigation. As luck would have it, I have Gina to back me up that I was home all night. And there’s nothing to tie me to something like this except a fight with Luke. I’ll feel better when they find out who did it, but I’m not worried. I’m upset,” she admitted. “And I’m upset that I had to upset both of you like this.”
    “We’re your parents,” Bianca pointed out. “You’re supposed to upset us.”
    “Did he hit you before last night?”
    She started to say no to Gib’s question, then settled for the complicated truth. “Once, but I thought it was an accident,” she said quickly when Bianca cursed. “Honest to God, I thought it was an accident. He was gesturing, I stepped forward, and his hand slapped across my cheek. He acted so shocked and appalled. Hindsight,” she repeated, rising to take her father’s hand because it had balled into a fist. “Believe me. Look at me, and believe me, I’d never stand for anyone abusing me. You raised me to be strong and smart. You did a good job.
    “He’s out of my life.” She moved in, wrapped her arms around Gib. “He’s done, he’s over. And it taught me an important lesson. I’ll never try to be something I’m not, even on the little things, to placate someone else. Plus, I know I can stand up and take care of myself.”
    Gib rubbed her back, brushed a light kiss on her bruised cheek. “Took him down, did you?”
    “Two shots.” She stepped back,