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wouldn’t be home from work until well after midnight.
    She slowed to ease through the gated entrance to Euphoria. Images of Luke flitted across her mind as if she were watching a movie on the big screen. Since the moment he had stepped into her condo, she had tried not to think of him, but often failed. They used to talk for hours without running out of topics. What they had shared had been special. She would never understand why he threw it away.
    After turning onto the private road, her mind wandered back to that night’s meeting. She wondered what Luke had said to the cowboy to calm him down. How a mild-mannered, diplomatic man like Luke could work for Harry was beyond her comprehension.
    Pressing the remote that triggered the garage door, she heard the initial grinding of gears. The door rose two feet before it stopped.
    “No!” She pressed the button again. The door lowered. She pressed it again. The door lifted two feet off the ground, then stopped. “NO!”
    She climbed out of her Mustang and began searching for a quick way to force it to lift. Nothing. Not inside the garage, not outside the garage. Fixing the door was beyond her capability.
    “Not now!” She screamed as she kicked her tire. “If I don’t move my car inside, that jerk is going to fine me for not parking in the garage.” She tried again. The door lowered, then rose two feet . . . and stopped.
    “No, no, no, no, no!”
    Hideous laughter rose behind her. She twisted around and a flash lit the interior of a dark sedan. Camera in hand, Harry leaned out his car window while driving slowly past her garage. “You and that tramp sister of yours don’t belong here in Euphoria. You’re both leaving; one way or another!”

* * *
    “Can’t you get here any sooner?” Andi leaned against the counter, listening to the receptionist for Bob’s Fix-It apologize for the third time. “All right, my sister will be waiting here on Thursday between noon and three for your repairman.” She dropped the receiver into its cradle, moaned, and returned to work mixing sugar-cookie batter in the stainless steel bowl.
    Jessie read the latest violation letter left in the screen door early that morning. “Since we already received two warning notices, the association will now be fining us fifty dollars a day for not parking in the garage. That’s outrageous!”
    “The repairman can’t fix the door until Thursday.” As Andi’s anger brewed, her movements quickened. Batter threatened to fly out of the bowl.
    “That’s two days from now.” Jessie opened a can of orange soda and cursed when the spray caught the top of her skimpy cheerleader outfit. Tuesday was Sports Night at the diner. She swiped at the soda dots on her top with the back of her hand. “That’s what, a hundred and fifty dollars in fines?”
    “Two hundred dollars. They’ll get me for last night, today, tomorrow, and Thursday morning.” Andi glanced at the mail on the dining room table. She couldn’t afford to pay both the fines and her utility bills. The electric bill had to come first. No electricity meant no oven, no oven meant no baking, and no baking meant her blood pressure would skyrocket. Andi sighed. Paying the utilities on time would mean she would be late paying the association fines and she’d be assessed an extra fee. There was no winning.
    While Jessie carried her soda into the dining room, Andi focused on her cookies. She haphazardly tossed flour onto the countertop, dumped the cookie batter on top, and reached for the rolling pin. For a moment, she considered borrowing the money from their father. It took only a second to realize he would just remind her how many times he had told her she wasn’t financially secure enough to purchase her own home. Nothing like an “I told you so” to make you feel warm and cheery all over.
    She ran the rolling pin rough and fast over the dough, the way a runner might sprint to release pent-up emotions. Her thoughts traveled back to