3 years later...

I looked around my spick-'n-span living room. Ahhh... a proud mother I am.

"Melly, come in here for a min,"

"Yes mother." My 6-year-old spawn of bat child sauntered into the living room, and did a double-take.

"It's clean, my eyes," Melly said in mock horror, covering her browny-black eyes with both hands. For a 6-year-old, Melly's a pretty good actress.

"Oh, get over yourself," I said, smiling at ma lil' actress. Damn baby hormones. "Anyway, sweetie, I've gotta go to work, so can you go to Auntie Rosario's after school?" Auntie Rosario wasn't really Melly's Aunt. When we first moved here, Rosario, a proud 32-year-old Mexican, took us in to her glorious mansion. Yes, that's right, mansion. Rosario would've made us stay (she luuurves Melly: what can I say? Melly has that effect on people), but we - yes, we - decided it was time for some independence. Besides, if my angry ex decides to mysteriously come to California, I didn't want Rosario dragged into this.

"Yay!" Mel exclaimed. She stuck her stick arms around my (surprise, surprise) thinning waist (as in 30kg - you can't go on beaches in bikinis if you're fat) and kissed my stomach with her perfect bow-shaped mouth. "Do ya think Auntie Rosie will cook da chocolate chip cookies again?"

"I know she will. Now off to school." With a last stroke of her silky black hair, I shooed her out the door. Me, a mother. And a skinny one, too. There are no traces of stretch marks, and my face is wrinkle-free. California had done great things for me. Except...

Except I still missed Ranger. Not Morelli, Ranger. After Morelli's lil' incident with a certain Terry Gilman (which he will NEVER know I know about, and that is a GODDAMNED fact), he doesn't deserve to be missed. But Ranger, well, I have no idea, but I just don't feel like going back to Trenton. Psycho exes will do that to you... hmmm.

And so I sat on the maroon couch, and for the first time since I left Trenton, I wanted to cry. Being a bounty hunter trains you to capture FTAs, but not to ignore someone, and not to suppress tears. So the tears flowed freely, and I felt more alone than anyone could possibly imagine.

Ahhh, the price to pay to be pretty in California.