Jo laughed. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“How about I order up a couple more hamburgers?”

“How about we eat right here and have a steak?”

Wy cocked an eyebrow at Bill, who shouted a cancellation through the pass-through to the kitchen. Dottie, her fry cook, growled an acknowledgment and slammed the burger patties back into the fridge.

“Let me call Tim.” Wy went to the pay phone in the corner and dialed her home number.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, Tim.”

“Hi, Wy.”

He had been calling her Mom right up until the first time she’d admitted Natalie to their home. “Jo’s here, and her brother, Gary. We’re going to have dinner at Bill’s. I’ll be there in ten.”

She hung up and turned to Jo, standing just behind her. “Don’t worry; he’ll come. The combination of his favorite auntie and one of Bill’s steaks will offset having to sit next to me.”

Jo followed Wy out to her truck. “What’s the problem with Tim?”

Wy sighed. “It’s not just Tim.”

Jo went very still. “Liam?”

Wy nodded.

Jo bristled. “What’s that prick up to now?”

Wy turned. “Why do you always automatically assume the worst about Liam, Jo?”

“Let’s just say I stand on his record. He’s always beating up on my best friend.”

“He doesn’t beat up on me.”

“Emotionally he sure as hell does.”

Wy was silent. Jo’s fierce loyalty to the people she loved was one of her best qualities. It could also be one of her worst.

“What’s wrong this time? His wife is still dead, isn’t she?” Jo said in sudden suspicion. “He didn’t go and get married again just so the two of you could have another hopeless love affair?”

“No, no, no,” Wy said. “Cut him some slack, Jo, Jesus.”

“He hurt you,” Jo said. “What hurts you, hurts me. When I get hurt, I get pissed off. When I get pissed off, I get even. I’m not square with Liam yet.”