days on the fire lines looking forward to seeing her again once they returned to base.
Because he and his inner jaguar both wanted to get to know her a whole lot better.
The other smokejumpers had postponed lunch in favor of hitting the showers and throwing a week's worth of dirty, sweaty clothing in the base's washing machines, so he and Thor were the only ones sitting at the picnic tables scattered around the courtyard. A cooler filled with smoked sausages, hamburger patties, and chicken breasts sat next to the big stainless steel gas barbecue, and Thor had set out bags of buns, squeeze bottles and jars of condiments, and a bagged salad mix.
Thor's brows shot up in surprise at Steve's question, then he grinned.
"She's single and available, as far as I know." Thor's hazel eyes gleamed with irritating amusement as he spoke. Then he added, "But last I heard, she lives in San Francisco."
"But she just moved to Denver?" Steve asked. "I mean, she mentioned opening a bakery here."
"Cacao is a chain," Thor informed him. "My sister-in-law Annabeth used to work for Maggie at the original Cacao location in San Francisco. I heard that Maggie's business really took off after she was featured on that Food Network show. Since then, she's opened a bakery in Los Angeles, too." He paused to think.
"So she's only going to be in Denver for a short while?"
"Yup," Thor confirmed. "So if you're planning to ask her out—"
"—I'd better move fast," Steve finished, grinning.
A plan was already forming in his head. Tomorrow was her bakery's Grand Opening. He intended to ask her out to dinner afterwards.
Thor nodded with an approving expression. "Oh, and when we were kids, she always hated dill pickles and potato salad."
"No deli dates, then," Steve said. Not that he'd been planning on taking her to one. "Got it. And thanks."
"Good luck," Thor told him.
Steve had just bitten into his hamburger, topped with a thick slice of melted cheese, plus sliced onions and tomatoes with a generous sprinkling of hot sauce, when his phone rang.
He didn't recognize the Caller ID.
Maybe Maggie Ornelas found my number somehow?
Highly unlikely, but worth the possibility of talking to a telephone scammer. He tapped the Answer icon. "Hello?"
"Estevan, you have to help me!" Steve's grandmother said urgently, her voice low, as if she were afraid that someone might overhear her.
"Abuelita, what's happening?" Steve asked. "And why are you calling from this number?"
"They took my phone and my—my—computer-thing!" Abuelita Delfina's voice was low, almost a whisper, and she sounded frantic.
"Who is 'they?'" he asked, alarmed now.
"They're trying to put me away in a home!" Abuelita wailed, her voice rising in distress. She immediately shushed herself. "Oh, ¡Dios mío! I can't let them hear me!"
Steve's instincts went into red alert. His grandmother was normally calm, controlled, and in charge. Now she sounded like a completely different person.
He looked up at Thor, who was frowning at him. "Sorry, I've got to take this."
"Good luck," Thor whispered with a sympathetic grimace.
Giving his rapidly cooling lunch a regretful glance, Steve pushed back his chair and rose.
As he headed across the courtyard in search of privacy, he said, "Abuelita, I want to help you, but I need to know what's happening right now. Are you in danger?"
Denver was a long way from his grandmother's home in San Diego, but he was ready to phone local first responders if necessary.
"I—" There was a long, worrying pause on the line. "I haven't been feeling right. Your sister and your brother keep telling me that the pills will help me feel better, but they never do."
Aarón's mixed up in this?
Aarón, who had always been the clan's Golden Child…and the bane of Steve’s childhood existence.
Aarón, who had made Steve's childhood a living hell with his relentless bullying.
Back then, Steve's abuelita had been the only adult who believed his accounts of his older brother’s abuse. His parents hadn't wanted to believe that there was something wrong, and they had dismissed Steve's complaints as childish exaggerations of normal sibling spats.
Aarón—who had risen through the ranks at Abuela's Vicario-Lopez Development Corporation to become the Chief Operating Officer after Dad's Cessna crashed while he and Mom were on their way to a family gathering in another state.
Aarón—who was next in line to become CEO if Abuelita stepped down.
Which she had shown no sign of doing when Steve had last seen her, at his parents' funeral last year.
At that time, Delfina Lopez had still been energetic and still firmly in control of