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“Y’know,” I said, “I think you’re right. It is a fine day.” And hopefully I’d get to see Devo again soon, so then it would be a fabulous day.

It had certainly been a fine evening, night, and morning.

I’d never had such a happy morning. Waking up to Devo’s face next to mine on my pillow was the perfect way to start my day. Her unruly hair had flipped out around her face while she’d slept, and when she woke, she kissed me and my heart soared.

After her long, drawn-out process of waking up—even the way she stretched was fine, back arched, lips pursed in a sleepy smile, hands in fists pushed up above her head as she flexed every inch of the soft and sexy body God had granted her—she lay there, watching me dress for work, making undeniably appreciative noises in the back of her throat as she got a good look at my ass in my work pants. And when I strapped my holster onto my hip and fitted my Glock in there, she growled at me and crawled toward the end of my bed to kneel in front of me so she could pull me down for another kiss.

The girl couldn’t keep her lips off me. I swore she’d kissed literally every inch of my body, even my dang toes, which had made me gag, but she just wiggled her eyebrows and kissed another one.

Her lips were fire. They were warm and soft, and the naturally darkened line around her bottom one was the most sensual thing I’d ever seen. I’d found myself leaning in to trace it with my tongue or nip it with my teeth. God, those plump pillows of sin were fucking magic on my cl?—

“I owe you an apology,” Red said, snagging my attention and focusing it back on his weirdness.

“Oh? You do? An apology for what?”

“Yes, I do. For a lot of things.” He sighed. “I haven’t been kind to you. I’m sorry for that. I’ve been an ass, and not just to you. I’ll be makin’ my rounds to apologize to many people, but it’s lucky you stopped by so I can tell you right off the bat that I’m sorry for bein’ rude, for insultin’ you and sayin’ you weren’t capable of doin’ your job.”

“Uh, Red, you didn’t say that to me.”

He smirked. “Not to your face.”

Oh. Well then. Good to know. I tried not to roll my eyes. “Okay. Thanks. I accept your apology.” I’d never been one to hold grudges, and truthfully, it was nice to hear. I’d never imagined I’d get to hear him apologize to anyone for anything.

“Thank you. I appreciate that. Oh, hey, can you come inside a minute?”

“Sure,” I said, holding the door when he opened it and following him into his store.

The place looked good, and I could see Devo’s influences here and there. It was in the tidy way the shelves had been reorganized, the way every surface shined because she had washed and dusted each one, and in the flow of the product displays.

The Red Wild Outdoors wasn’t such a clusterfuck anymore. Now there was a clear path from the door to the register, and each sport or activity had its own area in the big, open space. Hunting, gun racks, and the ammunition case had been moved to one corner, hiking and fishing products and poles to another, but camping took up the front and biggest area. Devo and Rye had even set up a tent and made a whole campout display, complete with a faux cardboard fire, which they’d encircled with stones, a blow-up bed and couch in the tent, and a decked-out campfire stove.

I laughed to myself, realizing how much she’d been up to over the last week. Red would definitely benefit from Devo’s presence in his store. There was no doubt about that.

As I looked around, he disappeared into the back room but quickly returned with a box in his hands. He hefted it on the counter. “Here. Take these.” Reaching around the box, he placed an open bubble mailer in front of it.

“What’s this?” I asked, stepping closer to have a look.

“I want you to take this box and these stickers and set ’em on fire. Burn them, bury them, or rip them up and use them for cleanin’ rags. I don’t care.”

Lifting the mailer carefully, I peeked inside. In it was four shrink-wrapped stacks of the LGBT stickers plus the loose ones I was guessing had been on display on his checkout counter a week ago.

I looked up. “Red, what’s gotten into you? What’s goin’ on? Not that I’m complainin’. These stickers are rude, but why the change of heart? I assume the T-shirts to match these stickers are in the box?”

“Yup,” he said. “I guess I’ve been realizin’ some things lately. I never had a problem with Ace’s House. It was more personal than that, but when I saw how Sylvie’s dad treated her, I realized I would never hurt my kid like that. I never want to hurt anyone like that, no matter who they love.

“And I suppose I can tell you. It’s a small town. I’m sure you’ll hear it on the grapevine soon enough anyway, but I’ve met a lady.”

“Uh, you mean Devo’s mama? Liluye? Didn’t you just meet her? Devo told me—” I had been about to say that Devo had told me Red and her mama met—and that it was weird—last night while we’d lay in my bed.

But even though Red seemed to have turned over some kind of monumental new leaf, I still felt my heart racing in the pit of my stomach at the thought of him knowing about me.

“Yes,” he said cheerfully. “Turns out, we have a lot in common. She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful soul. Did you know she’s an artist? She makes all kinds of clothing and accessories in the traditional ways of the Mescalero-Chiricahua Apache tribe. I offered to sell them here, but then an even better idea came to me. I told her she oughta open up her own store, and I offered her the use of the space next door.”

Looking at the wall to the left of the checkout counter, as if I could see through it to the space he was talking about, I was trying to patch together words to express how shocked I was at the stuff coming out of his mouth, but I had become a stuttering, blubbering idiot. All that came out of my mouth was, “Soul? Traditional—huh?”

Red chuckled, and I took a step back. Turned my head from side to side, looking around the store, trying to find the evidence. This was some kind of body-snatching thing, right? The dude in front of me looked like Red. Sounded like Red. But come on. Where the fuck was the real Red? Come on down. Show yourself!

“Um, Red,” I said slowly, still waiting for him to jump at me and holler, “Just kiddin’, I’m still a dick. Now get outta my store, little missy.” “I-I, well I guess I’m glad that you’ve, uh, taken an interest in life again?”