Although I liked his choice, I still glared at him.

“You don’t like that plan?” he asked.

“I’m trying to be helpful.”

His arm around me slid up until his hand was in my hair. He used it to bring my face closer to his and said, “You are, baby. We’re gonna take a nap right about now and after comin’ hard with you ridin’ me hard and fast, I’m gonna sleep fuckin’ great.”

I perked up.

“We’re going to take a nap?”

“Yep.”

I could use a nap. We’d left the club after one in the morning and I was up at five thirty to shower, dress and get to the gym.

“I could nap,” I told him and he smiled.

Then he rolled me, kissing my throat before he lifted his head. “Right. Nap. Up. Shower. Lunch. Then I gotta get to the gym to make sure no one came in and cleaned me out.”

Again, I was alarmed. “Is that a worry?”

He chuckled and said, “No, babe.”

“Oh,” I replied. Then I told him, “I’ve already taken a shower.”

“You’re gonna take another one.”

“I don’t need another one.”

He pressed into me, his face got close and his voice got low. “You’re gonna take another one.”

“Oh,” I repeated. “Okay.”

“Okay,” he replied, then commanded audaciously, “Now shut up and sleep.”

My eyes narrowed. “Telling someone to shut up is rude.”

“Babe,” he returned.

“And ordering an adult to sleep is preposterous,” I went on.

“Babe.”

“Babe?”

“Babe.”

“Is that your response?” I asked.

“No, my response is, babe, shut up and sleep but I already said that so I condensed it to just babe ‘cause that’s easier to say and might not piss you off.”

“I can’t read all that in babe, Jake.”

“You’ll learn to read my babes.”

Annoyingly, I was looking forward to doing that.

I didn’t share that with Jake.

I kept glaring at him.

His eyes were smiling when he bent in and kissed me, not a mouth brush this time, it was deeper, sweeter and much, much longer.

Jake ended it having turned us to our sides. We were pressed close with legs tangled in a delicious way. And after he ended it, he pulled me down and pressed my face into his throat.

“Now, babe, sleep,” he ordered.

“All right,” I gave in.

He kissed the top of my head.

I cuddled closer, held on tighter and within moments, I slept.

* * * * *

I was sitting on the counter watching Jake warm up a can of soup when my phone in my purse rang.

Jake twisted, grabbed my purse off the counter of the island, twisted back and plopped it in my lap.

I dug out my phone on a murmured, “Thank you, darling,” and saw the call was from Amber.

My eyes went to his.

“Amber,” I told him, taking the call, looking at my purse in my lap and putting the phone to my ear. “Hello, sweetheart,” I greeted.

Instantly, I yanked the phone from my ear when she shrieked, “You’ll never guess what just happened!”

When I felt it was safe, I put my phone back to my ear and asked, “What?”

But I heard nothing but strange muffled noises and my eyes shot to Jake.

His brows drew together.

“Amber?” I called.

“Hey, Josie,” boy Taylor said. “Amber’s busy hyperventilating and we don’t have a lot of time since lunch is over and we have to be in class, but she wants you to know that Alexi sat with us at lunch today.”

My heart skipped a beat.

It had been a long time but I remembered how that felt.

And how it felt was wonderful.

“He did?” I whispered.

“The entire time,” boy Taylor told me.

“Really?” I asked.

“Totally,” he answered. “And you should know she was totally cool. Sweet and nice to him, a little shy, but she waited to screech and hyperventilate until after he was long gone.”

I smiled at a Jake who still had brows drawn. “Tell her I’m proud of her.”

“Will do,” he replied. “Gotta go, though. We have to get to class.”

“Okay, sweetheart. Have a good day,” I said.

“You too. Later.”

“Later.”

He disconnected.

Jake asked, “What?” the instant I took the phone from my ear.

My heart skipped another beat for an entirely different reason.

Uh-oh.

“Well…” I began and trailed off.

“What?” he repeated.

“Um…”

He leaned toward me and said a warning, “Josie.”

“Alexi sat with Amber at lunch today.”

Instantly, he tipped his head back and muttered, “Christ almighty.”

“She’s quite excited,” I told him.

He tipped his head forward and scowled at me.

I lifted a hand and curled it around his neck, leaning close and sharing, “She’s happy.”

“He asks her out and comes on that bike to pick her up, I’m shooting him.”

I dropped my hand and leaned back, my brows lifting. “You own a firearm?”

“No,” he answered, turning his focus back to our soup. “But today, I’m buyin’ one.”

I let out a little giggle that I swallowed before it could bloom when Jake’s eyes cut to me.

“I’m not joking.”

“Okay, darling,” I said soothingly.

He looked back at the soup, muttering, “Fuck me.”

I jumped off the counter and put my purse back on the island, stating, “I’ll get drinks. What do you want?”

“Coke,” he answered.

I didn’t get him a Coke.

I moved to him, fit my front to his back, wrapped my arms around his stomach and put my chin to his shoulder blade, whereupon I whispered, “You’re a good dad.”

I gave him a squeeze, kissed his shoulder blade through his shirt, let him go and got him his Coke.

But when I turned away from the fridge, I saw he didn’t look quite so aggravated anymore.

And thus, I figured I’d appropriately handled my man.

So I smiled.

* * * * *

“And he was all, Combat Raptor is lame. So I was all, and Zombie Mayhem wasn’t? And he was all, Zombie Mayhem was the bomb. And I was all, there’s no such thing as zombies. And he was all, like men can turn into jets? And I was all, duh, Transformers…? And he was all, Transformers are robots.”

This was coming from Ethan who was, for some unknown reason, lying upside down on Gran’s couch, his feet over the back, his head dangling over the seat.

Amber was painting her nails in Gran’s armchair.

We’d just had dinner (and dessert) that I’d prepared, but for some reason, Conner was in the other armchair eating the chips and salsa Ethan told me I had to buy when we took Pearl on the excruciatingly long (I reminded myself she did walk with a walker) trip to the grocery store that afternoon.

And by the by, I was right. Ethan knew Pearl. They liked each other a great deal and our afternoon was quite enjoyable (sans the excruciatingly long trip at the grocery store, of course).

Conner not only had chips and salsa but also a textbook opened on his thigh to which he was paying scant attention.

As for me, I’d been planted in the couch between the upside down Ethan and the right side up Jake.

The pre-game show for Monday Night Football was on the television. This was because Jake had programmed my DVR (I didn’t even know I had one or, indeed, what one was) to “Tape Project Runway anytime it shows, even the reruns, so you can watch it whenever you want and Amber can come over and watch that shit with you.”

As this was acceptable to Amber and me, Monday Night Football it was.

Ethan kept rattling on as Jake slid an arm around me and tucked me close to his side.

I rested my head against his chest, pulled my legs up, tucked them into the seat beside me and studied the commentators.

When Ethan took a breath, I noted, “That tie the bald fellow is wearing is extremely unbecoming.”

“I know, right?” Amber agreed.

Jake’s arm gave me a squeeze as a soft chuckle escaped his mouth but I heard it come from there and from his chest and I felt it.

All three were very nice.

“Jesus,” Conner muttered.

Without disconnecting from Jake, quietly and cautiously I said to Conner, “You really shouldn’t take the Lord’s name in vain, honey.”

Conner grinned at me and replied, “You really shouldn’t talk trash about a Football Hall of Famer’s tie.”

“Is this a rule?” I queried.

“Absolutely, “Conner replied.

I rolled my eyes and when I rolled them back, he was still grinning at me.

“Whatever,” I muttered.

Then I burrowed closer, wrapped an arm around Jake’s stomach, he lifted his stocking feet to Gran’s coffee table, crossed his ankles and we watched Monday Night Football.

* * * * *

On my way to the gym the next morning, I approached The Shack which I was highly surprised was open at that early hour. But I’d seen the cover gone from the window as I drove by the wharf and remembered the excellent coffee there so I’d stopped.

The window was open, however beyond it was dark and cavernous, so I called a tentative, “Hello?”

“Josie, watcha need?” was called back.

I blinked at the empty window.

“Tom?” I called.

“Right here. You want coffee or coffee and omelets for you and Jake?’

Word most definitely got around.

“Just coffee, Tom,” I answered. “Two.”

“Comin’ right up,” the disembodied voice said just as my phone in my purse rang.

I took it out, looked at the display, took the call turning my back to the window and announced, “I’m uncertain I’m talking to you.”

“Josephine,” Amond said quietly.

“You knew he was coming,” I said huffily.

“Had no idea he’d can your ass,” Amond replied.

I said nothing.

“Henry’s in a bad way, girl,” he told me and I closed my eyes against the pain.

I opened them and shared, “I’ve met someone, Amond.”

It was his turn to say nothing.

So I did.

“I’m also quite angry with you. You could have no idea, of course, how things would play out. But I’ll tell you, it was unpleasant for all of us and perhaps wouldn’t have been that way if I’d known he was coming.”

“He wanted it to be a surprise,” Amond replied.

“Well it was that,” I returned.

I heard a sigh before, “I’ll talk to him. His new boy, Daniel, is okay but he’s not you and everyone’s freaking about Henry losing his muse. They think, without you, he’ll lose his touch.”

His muse?

Oh God, was I Henry’s muse?

My mind harked back and noted that he took an inordinate amount of pictures of me. In fact, on every shoot, he’d aim the camera at me at some point, even if I was simply sitting and talking on the phone.

I always thought he was being playful.

But now I knew he was not.

As beautiful as this was, as much of an honor as it was, all of this coming to me at a time when it was gone was too much to bear.

Therefore, I shook it off and said to Amond, “Don’t talk with him. A great deal has changed and I was going to speak with Henry and ask if I could slow down anyway. I like being here, in Gran’s house, life being less hectic, and as I mentioned, I met someone.”

To this he declared, “I’m there the minute this shoot is over.”

My hand tightened on the phone for I had the feeling that this meant Amond was coming to check Jake out. And there were very few people who could be a threat to Jake but Amond was one of them. He not only was also quite tall, large and fit, he was not someone you messed with. He further spoke his mind at all times. If he didn’t like Jake for me, he’d let me know it.

And Jake.

And Jake might not like this.

“Amond, that isn’t necessary,” I said quickly.

“Two weeks and you’re givin’ up Henry and your life for Maine and this guy, it absolutely is.”

“Amond—”

“Me showin’ up won’t be a surprise. I’ll let you know when to expect me and you got room in that house of yours, I’m in it.”

“Amond—” I said louder.

“Later, Josephine,” he said and I heard the disconnect.

I took my phone from my ear and snapped, “God!”

“Coffee’s up,” Tom declared from behind me.

I whirled and again saw a dark window as well as two white paper coffee cups sitting on its ledge.

But no Tom.

“How much do I owe you?” I asked into the vacant window.