I found myself thinking of how enjoyable it was to be with my mother and other family members again, even though the occasion was a somber one. The cl...seness of family felt good. It felt right. It was something that was missing in my life. I wanted to feel good again. I longed for it. No matter all the successes in my professional life, there was a large, gapping hole in my personal life. There was no one to share it with. There was no family to come home to every night. There was no one to. I put her into restraints and then went to get the weapons. I looked at the three bodies on the floor and shoved the two prisoners to the aisle with Jacob, “Jacob?”I came around the end to see him curled up in a puddle of blood. I growled as I shoved the two prisoners, “move and you are dead.”I knelt and glanced at the shelves to see a round had punched through a bag before it hit him. I checked the wound and then leaned back to look at the chemist, “call for an ambulance.”Jacob groaned and. ’ That’s what she says.” (She said that in a great, breathy, innocent Marilyn voice imitation.) “How can you be…? I mean… You’re acting like nothing special just happened. How did you? What happened to the motorcycle? Who were…” I said to her, the incredulity obvious in my voice, as she nonchalantly grabbed my arm and began walking back in the direction of her apartment. “It’s OK,” Simone said simply. “Don’t worry about it.” I began to say something to her, but she put a finger against my lips,. Alex's flirting with Sandra was proving not only pleasant but fruitful. Sandra had invited him to several parties, widening Alex's circle of acquaintances, and most recently, set him up with a date with Rachel."Look, she's a prodigy like you. She is probably as young as you were when you started college," Sandra raised an eyebrow at Alex. Alex refused to tell her his age, and it had become a bit of a humorous struggle between them. Sandra would ask innocent-sounding questions related to his.