He was crying and it was obvious he had been for quite a while. "She's gone, Honey," he told me.We stood there holding each other, giving what little ...omfort we could provide. We had been a group of three for the past seven years. I was the one who was supposed to grow up and leave the family, although none of us had been looking forward to that day.We all took her death hard. Rocky would still be alert, listening for her car in the driveway about the time she got home for several weeks. I. He wants to see me in his office this morning." Uh-oh," Phil says. "If you get shitcanned, I'm getting that souped-up computer of yours." Fat chance. Jess has already called dibs on it." That bitch." Bitch who?" Jessica says from the next cubicle over."Uh, nobody, dear. Just talking about Nick's momma here." I'm not sure he has one," she says. "They took the stuff that ran down his daddy's leg, put it in a Petri dish, and slapped a suit on it when it turned twenty-one."Phil chuckles, and I look. I'm thinking Mike and I can ride through town and make a point of being seen. That ought to torque the police chief's jaws." Yeah, I imagine by now, he has had the GBI in his face," I agreed.That's how Gwen and I ended up together. She kept trying to interview me about everything I bought. I wanted to tell her to shut the fuck up, but I resisted, I kept reminding myself that I was making a hell of a lot of money to put up with her shit."So why are we in the sporting good section?" she asked."I. She and her boyfriend Rick had just broken up and she said she would be alone for the holidays. “Not like I have such a sexy husband to come home to like you do.” She had said. That got me thinking. I gathered up my cour- age and asked her to help me plan his holiday present. She was a little surprised at first but after I told her why I thought it would be so perfect for Mark – and especially at this point in our lives – she quickly agreed. .