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I wondered about whatever trouble would cause him to leave us, his family. His ex-wife causing pain? A kid he’d just found out he’d fathered?

Neither was beyond the realm of the possible, but I wasn’t going to push him. I said, “Okay, man, let’s just enjoy the night.”

He smiled, grateful for the reprieve, and Shoshana opened her big mouth.

She said, “He’s not leaving for a problem. He’s going to create a new one.”

Knuckles whipped his head to hers and said, “What are you talking about?”

And it dawned on me what he was doing. “You’re not going to DC, are you? There’s a reason Willow isn’t here, and it’s not because she’s busy.”

He fiddled with his napkin again, glared at Shoshana’s ability to read him, and said, “No. There’s a lieutenant in Rome who has some questions of me.”

I said, “You little man-whore. Lia?”

“Yes. Sorry, Pike, but I promised her a dinner.”