as a firefighter, but you haven't been here to see for yourself how Abuelita Delfina has been getting more and more forgetful ever since her accident. It's like her short-term memory is completely shot. It breaks my heart, because she can't even really hold a coherent conversation when I go to visit her." Tina's voice sounded ragged now, as if she were fighting tears. "I go to her house every day, but this morning, she mentioned how she hasn't seen me in a long time, and how nice it was that I finally came by for a visit again."
"Why didn't you say anything sooner, Tina?" Steve asked, appalled.
"I was really hoping that she would get better before you came home for the holidays. Plus, there's nothing you could have done," she replied. "Oh, Stevie, it's breaking my heart to see her slipping away like this. Now she's getting angry a lot, and paranoid, too. The nurse told us that it's pretty common for people with dementia, but it hurts when she accusing us of stealing from her because she can't remember where she put something. She's even started telling the home-care nurses that Aarón and I are holding her prisoner and drugging her!"
Steve listened to his older sister's recital with a sinking heart. Doubts began to stir. Had he been wrong to believe his grandmother?
But even with Tina's explanation, every instinct was still screaming at him that something was very, very wrong about this whole situation.
"I know that you don't get along with our brother," Tina finished. "And I've had my issues with him as well. But I'm confident that Aarón would never do anything to hurt Abuelita Delfina. And he's been doing a great job managing our family's business since her accident. In fact, he's volunteered to become our grandmother's conservator and to manage her affairs to give her the best possible quality of life."
Now, that seriously pinged Steve's bullshit detector.
"You remember what Aarón used to do to me," Steve said. "You know what kind of person he is. Why are you on his side now? Tina, I'm begging you—even if Abuelita is really suffering from dementia, don't let our brother become her guardian. Find someone else. Anyone else."
"Okay, how about you, Stevie?" Tina asked, bitterness tingeing her tone. "Are you willing to quit that precious smokejumping job of yours to come home and care for Abuelita? Or are you expecting me to do it, because I'm the girl?"
Steve closed his eyes in pain as he thought about how hard he had worked to become a smokejumper, with the physical demands and training sessions that were grueling even for shifters. Every part of him screamed in denial of giving up the career he loved.
His hesitation betrayed him.
"I didn't think so," Tina snapped. Then her tone softened. "Look, Aarón and I have everything under control here, and we're getting Abuelita the best care that money can buy."
"I just want to help her," Steve said, hating how helpless he felt.
"Hey, I know that you're doing important work as a firefighter. Just trust me, okay? I love our abuelita, too."
After ending the call, Steve sat in the smokejumper's lounge, with its collection of battered, mismatched second-hand furniture, stacks of worn paperback novels, and giant TV, and tried to figure out what to do.
Part of him urged that he should just believe Tina and trust her. She'd always had his back, and she would have Abuelita Delfina's back, as well.
But with Aarón neck-deep in all of this, and with so much to gain if he managed to wrest control of the Vicario-Lopez Development Corporation away from their grandmother…something just felt wrong.
Steve went down the limited list of his options.
He stewed for a while, then decided to kill two birds with one stone. He needed money, and he wanted a chance to court Maggie. All he had to do was swallow his pride.
Maybe I'm a fool to court a woman who isn't looking for a mate, he told himself. But I have to try.
* * *
Thai-Tanic Restaurant, Denver
Not daring to hope, Maggie hit Answer as she passed the hostess stand and pushed open the restaurant's heavy glass door.
"Hi, Steve," she greeted him, trying to beat down wild hope the way she'd doused flames during her firefighting days back home in Bearpaw Ridge. Her heart was pounding like she'd just completed a 500-yard sprint in this high altitude. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you again."
"Uh, yeah, about that…" He sounded uncomfortable, which only fueled