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things that had attracted her to him in the first place. She quickly turned her attention to her food.
    “Did he give it back?” Seth asked.
    Kat blinked.
    “The coin that rolled under the table,” Athens clarified.
    “I did,” Rome answered.
    “But a few weeks and several games of chance later, I gifted it to him. He needed it more than I did.” It had been an impetuous act, one she later regretted because she knew the coin meant more to her than him. Unlike her, he’d never produced the coin for luck, just stowed it somewhere. God knew where it was now. “Not that he’s superstitious.”
    “Interesting,” Athens said, trading a knowing look with Seth.
    Puzzled by the exchange, she added, “At least he didn’t used to be.”
    “Speaking of luck,” Rome said, seizing her attention. “How’ve you been faring at the tables lately?”
    “Luck has nothing to do with how I fare at the tables,” she said by way of avoidance. “Skill is on my side.”
    “Your confidence is reassuring,” Athens said.
    Only she wasn’t confident. She hadn’t participated in an actual game since purchasing the Star Saloon. Preferring not to talk about her present life, she steered the conversation back to the Garretts. “Speaking of skill, how’s London? Still dazzling the city and turning an impressive profit at the Gilded?”
    “London recently relocated to Phoenix,” Athens answered.
    “I’m surprised he trusted someone else to run the opera house in his absence. I recall him being a controlling man.”
    ‘You recall correctly,” said Seth. “Bossy. Domineering.”
    “Sounds like you don’t like the senior Garrett, Sheriff Wright.”
    “Like him fine. And, please, call me Seth.”
    “I expect Seth’s right fond of London seeing he hurried along his marriage to Emily,” Rome said. “I still can’t believe that sweet kid fell for this arrogant SOB.”
    Kat scrunched her brow. “We’re not talking about your sister’s friend, are we? Not Emily McBride. The preacher’s daughter?”
    “That’s my girl,” Seth said. “She’s with Paris now. Helping her to prepare for the arrival of her first child.”
    “Paris is expecting? But she’s so young.” She remembered Rome talking about his baby sister, a girl with spunk and a talent for music. Of course, they were all older now. Still, Kat’s recollection of Paris was rooted in the stories Rome had relayed, those of a mischievous, eccentric kid.
    “To our dismay,” Athens said, “she’s grown and married.”
    “To a good friend of mine,” Seth said. “Josh Grant.”
    “Small world,” Kat said. She looked to Rome. “Didn’t Emily fancy--”
    “She did and she doesn’t. My loss,” Rome said.
    Seth toasted him with his glass. “Good answer, Golden Boy.”
    Sensing a tethered animosity between those two, Kat stepped away from further talk of Emily. “So Paris is married. Given her musical aspirations, I take it Mr. Grant is artistic?” “Hardly,” Seth said. “Although he did inherit an opera house. Primarily, Josh is a lawman. These days he sheriffs a mining town in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains.”
    “Not far from Phoenix,” Kat said.
    “That’s right.”
    “So the Garretts have transplanted from California to Arizona.” Same as her. What were the chances?
    “First Paris,” Rome said, “then Athens and his kids. The rest of us followed. Nothing more important than family.”
    Kat’s stomach tightened. She felt the same way, in her own way. A way Rome wouldn’t understand. Not that she needed his approval. She eyed the decanter of wine. She hadn’t had a taste of liquor in years. But she remembered how it altered her mood. How it made her giddy and brazen and numbed negative emotions. She also feared it had contributed to her faulty memory that fateful night. She sipped coffee instead.
    “Your niece,” Rome said out of the blue. “How old?”
    “Frankie’s five,” Kat answered without making eye