Donut appeared in the bay just as I was finishing up with the Mercedes Maybach. “Phone for you, boss. It’s your mom.”

A couple of snickers broke out behind me, but I ignored them. My mom had been in the shop more than a few times, and all the guys liked her. I could handle the ribbing because it was just part of working with a bunch of roughnecks like these guys.

Actually, it was part of just working with people.

Unless you wanted to work with a bunch of assholes who couldn’t get along. And I didn’t want that. I wiped my hands on the grease rag and tossed it down on the workbench before heading over to meet Donut in the doorway. He had the cordless from my office in his hand.

I had a rule about cell phones in the bay, and I stuck to it as well.

“Hey, Mom,” I said as I headed into my office. “What’s going on?”

“Sweetheart, it’s nothing urgent. It can wait but... well, the lights are out.”

“Your lights or everybody’s? Because if it’s everybody’s, I can’t help.”

She laughed. “Well, just mine. I thought maybe I’d forgotten to pay the electric bill, but that’s not it. I was using the microwave, and I went to turn on another light in the kitchen, and everything just went poof. No lights. The lights in my bedroom are working, but I don’t know if I blew something or what.”

She probably blew one of the fuses in her condo again. I bit back a sigh because I’d shown her how to fix it a time or two, but I’ve also shown her how to change her oil a couple of times, and I didn’t see my elegant mom doing that either.

Some people just didn’t mix with certain tasks. Me, I didn’t see myself ever sewing a button on my shirt or hemming a pair of slacks that were too long.

“I’ll be over there soon as I can.”

“Baby, you don’t have to interrupt your day at work. It can wait.”

“I’ll be over there as soon as I can,” I repeated. I wasn’t going to leave my mom wondering around a condo with half the lights off.

She probably would have been just fine. There were more than a few windows placed throughout that part of the condo, but I felt like a bad son not going over there to fix something that would only take me a few minutes, and it wasn’t like she was on the other side of LA.

It took thirty minutes in the mid-morning traffic, and it would probably take twice as long to get back since it would be during the lunch hour, but…well, I was the boss.

It only took a couple of minutes to deal with the fuse, and that included walking into the room where the circuit breaker was located.

Mom laughed as I came walking out of the room. “Well, don’t I feel silly? You made it seem so easy.”

I waved it off and smiled when I saw two plates out on the counter. “Was this just a con to get me to join you for lunch?”

“No.” She beamed at me. “But the lunch is your thank you for coming over. You might as well sit because you know you’ll sit in traffic anyway.”

“True enough.”

I joined her at the breakfast nook and helped myself to tomato soup and grilled cheese, the kind of food she’d made me growing up. Still the kind of food I often made myself on the weekends.

“You will never guess who I got an invitation from,” she said, smiling at me as she dipped her spoon into the bowl.

“Oh, I bet I can.” I crooked a grin at her and dipped a bit of the sandwich into the soup. “And now the real motive comes out…you’re really just wanting to grill me about girls again, aren’t you?”

I was right. One of my friends from high school was getting married to a girl he met in college. Which wasn’t new. Almost all my friends from school had settled down. A few of them had married and settled down two times over as a matter of fact.

She laughed at me. “Don’t take that tone. I’m just wondering if that’s ever going to be you.”

“Mom, I’m twenty-eight. I’m hardly about ready to roll over in my grave.”

She frowned at me. “But you never seem to be serious about anybody. It’s hard for you to settle down with one girl when none of them seem to catch your eye.”

I don’t know what pulled it out of me, but I found myself saying, “My eye gets caught on occasion.” I thought of Suria, and without thinking about it, I said, “Actually, I met a girl. This club the other day. I liked her. A lot.”

To be honest, like didn’t quite touch what I felt when it came to Suria. Liked, wanted, wanted again. And again.

But I struggled to keep a casual smile on my face as my mom clasped her hands together and leaned forward. “Oh really, what is she like?”

Shit. I should have kept my mouth shut. I didn’t know enough about Suria to know what she was like. “She’s funny. Likes to dance,” I said, improvising as quick as I could. “She’s got a cousin.” That slipped free without any real, conscious thought because I barely remembered her mentioning the cousin.

“A lot of people have cousins, baby,” Mom said, looking amused.

I made a face at her, while mentally, I thought, Shut up. If I didn’t stop soon, I would end up floundering, and Mom would figure something was up. Or worse, she’d push, and I had the hardest time telling her no.

I didn’t want to tell her I’d taken this girl to a hotel after dancing with her a couple of times.

“Are you serious about this girl?” Mom looked hopeful. “I love her name. What kind of name is Suria?”

I fumbled a bit and went with the truth because I hadn’t asked. “I’m not sure.”

“Are you going to see her again?”

“I’m not sure,” I repeated. Then I grinned at her. “But I want to.”

“Well, then you need to ask her out again.” She gave me such a mom look, I almost started squirming.

I’d love to, I thought sourly. But I sort of hadn’t gotten around to asking for her number. I just shrugged instead of saying anything.

Mom laughed and waved a hand. “You know, I don’t know who I am to be giving relationship advice to anybody. It’s not like I’ve got a stellar history behind me, now do I?”

“Mom…” Covering her hand with mine, I squeezed.

“I’m not feeling sorry for myself,” she assured me. “I’m just stating a fact.” Her eyes sparkled, and she leaned forward. “Since you’re being so closed-mouthed about this new girl, let me tell you about my plans for the week. A friend of mine recommended this new psychic…I’m going to try her out. I’ve got a good feeling about this one, Kian.”

She rubbed her hands together.

Sitting across the table from her, I had to fight the urge to rub my eyes and tell her not to. I understood why she kept chasing after answers. Losing her brother so mysteriously had forced her to live a lifetime with nothing but questions. I just knew she wasn’t going to find the answer with some charlatan.

But she was happy.

She continued to chat, unaware of my misgivings. “You know my friend, Lois? Well, her mother’s cat got out and was lost. She tried everything to find the poor dear, rewards, calling the pound, you name it. Then she goes to this psychic and what do you think happens?”

“The psychic tells her where to find the cat,” I said, fixing a smile on my face.

“Yes!” Mom patted her heart. “And you wouldn’t believe how quickly she did it. It was poof...like magic.”

I swallowed my groan, because I knew it was nothing of the sort, but I wasn’t going to crap on my mother’s happiness. She wasn’t going to move past this…thing. If she hadn’t by now, she wasn’t going to.

Some part of her just believed she would be able to reach out and find her little brother, talk to him, somehow. Maybe not physically, but to his ghost or whatever was left. Find him in the beyond or whatever line they handed people like her. It pissed me off that people could take advantage of a person’s grief, but I didn’t know what to do about it. “That’s good, Mom. I hope it works out okay. But…be careful.”