But the look she was giving Joe after what I told her made me think she might not be so good at picking men.

This was confirmed when she asked curiously, still checking out Joe, “You know how he got those scars?”

“Nope. Don’t know much about him. We didn’t talk.”

She looked at me and grinned. “Action man?”

More like Superman but I didn’t tell her that, I just said, “Yeah.”

She leaned into me. “My advice, though you didn’t ask for it, I’m still givin’ it to you, enjoy it for what it was. It was obviously good and a girl needs to get her some. Nothin’ wrong with that.” Her eyes went back to Joe then came to me. “He reopens that door, Vi, walk through it and take what you want. You find another man who’s good to you and wants more, you can walk away. But that was my booty call and he lived next door?” She paused, her head having jerked toward Joe and she grinned again. “I wouldn’t waste that opportunity.”

This idea was so preposterous, I laughed out loud.

She laughed with me and when we were done laughing, she lifted her margarita glass.

“I’m dry, babe, you want another?”

I handed her my glass. “That’d be cool, thanks.”

Her eyes slid across the yard to the grill again and she went on. “I’m thinkin’ I want a brat.” She looked back to me and her look was wicked when she suggested, “Maybe you wanna come with?”

I shook my head.

“You look hot in that tank,” she encouraged.

“Joe’s seen the tank. He was at my house this morning and he was with me when I bought it.”

Her head tilted to the side in confusion. “He was at your house this morning?”

“He’s installing a security system at my house, not by my choice.” I sighed when she looked even more confused and explained, “It’s complicated.”

“I thought you said it was a couple night thing. He took you shopping?”

“Shopping was after he was done with me, before the security system.” When she just stared at me, I finished. “It’s a long story, also complicated.”

She nodded and got up, saying, “I’ll get our margs and my brat then come back and you can tell me.”

“It’s not interesting,” I warned.

She looked down at me on the grass from her slut shoes, high-heeled height and remarked, “Known a lot of men, mostly assholes and players, so got some experience, so much you could pretty much say I’m an expert. Don’t know a single player who takes a woman shoppin’ and installs a security system in her house after he’s done with her.” She leaned down a bit and smiled, saying, “So, babe, gotta say, this complicated business sounds all kinds of interesting.”

Before I could reply, she walked away, somehow managing to walk through grass in high, spiked heels without looking like a fool and I decided Cheryl was very cool.

“Momalicious!” I heard shouted from beside me and I turned to see Keira running into the yard, her arms wheeling, her hair flying, her face in a full-on smile.

She threw herself at me and I caught her because I had no choice and went down on my back. She slid off my side and got up on a hand to look down at me.

“Get this!” she shouted.

“Hello, my darling Keira,” I cut her off and my eyes went up to see Heather, Keira’s friend (who, incidentally, looked exactly like a Heather, petite, tons of curly-to-frizzy red hair and about seven million freckles all over her body). I came up on both elbows and said, “Hey Heather.”

“Hi Miz Winters,” Heather smiled at me.

“Mom!” Keira called my attention to her. “Guess what?”

“What baby?”

“Heather’s dog had puppies!” she shrieked.

Oh fuck.

Keira had always wanted a dog, always. She’d been at Tim and I since the minute she knew dogs existed and she could speak intelligent English. Tim had wanted a dog too. It was me who held back because I loved dogs and my Dad got me one when I was nine and she’d been run over when I was fifteen and that had been the worst day of my life, losing my dog (until two years later, when I found out I was pregnant and Mom and Dad had thrown me out of their house). I didn’t want that for my daughter (or Tim, for that matter), the inevitable day when your beloved family pet would go away. I wanted to shield Keira whose heart, like mine and her sister’s, was too big for her own good, from that hurt.

Now it seemed ridiculous, she’d lost something far more precious than the family pet.

“They’re all white and so fluffy and cuddly and Heather’s Dad said they’ll give us one for only two hundred dollars!” Keira went on.

I stared at her.

Two hundred dollars?

The money situation had settled, mainly because Bobbie still hadn’t found anyone part-time and she didn’t seem to mind paying me overtime. It was high season for her (outside of Christmas, Bobbie put on a whale of a Christmas at her shop, her displays were extravagant and you could buy anything Christmas there, she was known for it, people came from neighboring states just to shop at Bobbie’s for Christmas crap or simply to wander around). I was getting five to ten hours a week on time and a half which helped loads.

But she could find someone and things would change. I didn’t need an extra mouth to feed, even a canine one and especially a canine one that cost two hundred dollars.

“That’s a lot of money for a dog,” I told Keira.

“They sell them for a lot more than that, he’s gonna give us a deal,” Keira replied.

I was acutely aware of Heather standing there so I said to my daughter, “Let’s talk about this later, honey.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” she told me. “But we can’t have the puppy for a couple of weeks and I thought I could save my allowance until then and talk to Kate. She and I can go halves.”

There was no way in hell Keira was going to save her allowance for however many weeks it took to wean a puppy.

Kate saved her money and spent it frugally. She got the job at the Custard Stand for the summer for extra cash and because it was the cool place to work. It was a coup she got it. Everyone who worked there did it because most of the kids hung out there so she was essentially making cones and sundaes during a summer-long party. But with Dane carting her everywhere her Fiesta barely ever left the drive, she was depositing her money in her account and not even paying for gas.

Keira, on the other hand, went through money like water. With my overtime and Kate’s work, Keira’s household chores had increased. She’d complained but she did it because I upped her weekly allowance from ten dollars to twenty. But it was a wonder, with the way Keira was with money, that her allowance didn’t go up in a poof of smoke the minute I handed it to her.

“We’ll talk about it later,” I repeated.

“Mom –”

I lifted up a hand and put my fingers to her lips, saying quietly, “Later, baby.”

She emitted a heavy sigh and said against my fingers, “All right.”

I moved my fingers from her mouth to slide into her hair and I pulled her forehead to my lips and kissed her there. When I let her go, I knew there were no hard feelings because she lifted up and kissed me back the same way.

God, I loved my daughter.

Her head turned, her eyes caught on something, her face went bright and she shouted, “Joe!”

I looked across the yard and saw Joe, Cheryl holding a brat in a bun standing next to him, watching us.

My stomach again tied in knots.

Keira scrambled up, jumped over my body and grabbed Heather’s hand. Then she dragged Heather across the yard straight to Joe.

Okay, so I loved my daughter but she was a nut and I hoped she didn’t have some kind of teenage girl crush on Joe. That would suck, for Keira and for me.

“I have got to take a load off,” I heard Feb say from my side and I tore my eyes away from Keira skidding to a halt in front of Joe, bringing Heather up beside her, tipping her head back and saying something to him. Mostly, I had to admit, I tore my eyes away from Joe dipping his chin to stare down at my daughter, his face going soft when he did.

I looked up at Feb, who had a Diet Coke in one hand and baby Jack at her hip. I sat up and lifted my arms.

“Give him to me.”

She handed Jack over to me, mumbled, “Thanks,” and collapsed into the grass beside me.

I settled Jack into my lap or, more aptly, I let Jack squirm and play in my lap. The kid was active. Feb pulled her hair out of her face and lay back on an elbow.

“How’re the wedding plans goin’?” I asked her and her eyes came to me.

“Something I’ve learned,” she said. “When a man tells a woman he wants the wedding big, the biggest, the woman should tell him he has two choices, either he plans it or she’ll buy the tickets to Vegas on the internet.”

I smiled at her. “Hard work?”

Her eyes went to baby Jack doing baby squats in my lap while holding onto my hands then they moved to Colt who was smiling at Morrie while Morrie told a story then they came back to me and she grinned.

“Not really.”

I looked at Feb then I looked at her yard which was filled with food and drink and sunshine and people she cared about. She and Colt had been through the ringer, even made national news and here she was with her baby and her man and her family and friends, living a good life.

Hope. There was always hope. Losing Tim, I’d lost sight of that. I’d thought I’d found it, stupidly, but then I’d been played by Joe and made too much of it. My daughters were healthy and happy and moving on to boyfriends and dogs. Tim was gone but there were still sun and friends and life.

“You need any help,” I said to Feb, “I’m right across the street.”

“Thanks but with Mimi, Dee and Jessie in the mix, I got all the help I need,” Feb replied, baby Jack lurched forward and grabbed onto my hair, yanking hard. “God, sorry, Vi, he’s strong like his Dad.”

I extricated his baby fingers from my hair and smiled at her. “Not a problem at all, forgot how this was,” I looked down at Jack. “Sounds stupid but, remembering, it feels good.”

“Only a Mom would say that. He pulls Jessie’s hair, she freaks.”

I kept smiling at her and as I did so, I watched her face change.

“Gonna say this quick, Vi, don’t wanna fuck up the day. But you know I know how it feels to have some creepy psycho messin’ with your life. You need to talk, you need anything from Colt or me, we’re here. Anytime. We know how it is and we don’t like that you’re across the street with your girls, alone. It’s messin’ with Colt’s head, thinkin’ this guy could come anytime, fuck with you and he might not be around. So he messes with you or you get freaked or you just want company, don’t think about it, you just call. It’d make Colt feel better, you do. He prefers doin’ somethin’ rather than hangin’ around worrying. Yeah?”

I didn’t know whether to feel bad, considering that my situation was messing with their heads, or to feel good that I lucked out and moved across the street from such good people.

I decided to feel good.

“Thanks Feb, that’s sweet.”

“Don’t tell me it’s sweet, honey, tell me you’ll call.”

I nodded and pulled her son close to my chest, wrapping my arms around him to give him a squeeze. Then I dropped my head and kissed the top of his dark-haired, soft, fuzzy baby one.

“I’ll call,” I mumbled against Jack’s baby head.

“Good,” Feb said softly and I took in a breath, nuzzled Jack’s baby head and he squirmed, not thrilled about his captivity so I let him go and took his hands, allowing him to bounce in my lap again when Feb muttered, “Matchmaker.”

I looked up to see Keira, Heather and Joe under the sideless tent. Keira had my plate of cupcakes in her hand and she was shoving them at Joe.

Shit.

“She’s social,” I told Feb and watched as Keira pointed at me, pointed at the cupcakes and then rolled her eyes and let her head fall back in a “Mom’s cupcakes are to die for” gesture.

Shitshitshit!

My cupcakes were good even I had to admit that. Another recipe I’d fiddled with, yellow cake with crushed up bars of gourmet dark chocolate baked in them and vanilla bean frosting that was simply orgasmic. So much so it was a wonder any made it to the cupcakes since I ate most of it while icing.

But it wasn’t that Keira wanted to share the bounty of my cupcakes. It also wasn’t that my daughter had a crush on Joe.

It was that she wanted him for me.

Shit!