“Hey,” I whispered as I moved to him.

“Hey,” he replied, distracted.

Oh man.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“We’ll talk later,” he muttered. “Where’re the boys?”

“Downstairs.”

He nodded, his eyes going down the hall, he lifted his hand to my neck and after a short, preoccupied squeeze he walked down the hall and disappeared through the door to the basement.

I watched.

And while I watched it was not lost on me in any way that not once, not even in the beginning when he was Jake and he was undercover and all sorts of shit was going down, had he ever been distracted and preoccupied with me. I always had his full attention. Always.

Then I helped the girls do the dishes. Then Elvira said good-byes to everyone, gave her thanks and I walked her to her car.

“Your bad boy is hot,” she stated bizarrely, standing with me at her driver’s side door.

“What?” I asked, having walked with her while in my head and finally focusing on her.

“Your bad boy is hot,” she repeated. “She instigated a play.”

“Sorry?” I asked, feeling my brows draw together.

“Tess, hon, her ex-bad boy, ex- hot boy just hooked his star to a brand new, bright and shiny moon. He’s into his new moon. He traded up. He likes it. He’s gonna stay awhile. She knows this probably from her boys. She don’t like it. She instigated a play. Looks of her, she’s got a big playbook. She may not want him but doesn’t want anyone else to have him or she thinks she’s all that and never thought he’d move on and doesn’t like it that he has, it shook her awake and she’s finally lookin’ around and sees what she’s missin’. I’ll give it to her, it was a good play, drama, tears, family as an audience. But if he got shot of her ass, he’ll see through it. You just need to keep your chin up.”

I stared at her wondering if it was actually true that people did that kind of thing.

So I asked, “Do people actually do that kind of thing?”

“Uh… yeah,” she answered.

“They have children,” I told her.

“Right, Tess, and head’s up, right now, to her, whatever her game is, those two boys just stopped bein’ boys and they became pawns.”

Oh my God.

“She wouldn’t,” I whispered.

“Mark my words, girlfriend, that bitch has got bitch written all over her. You got your hands full, hon. Lucky for you, you got your posse and his family at your back. After she made that play, they were all whispering, worried about you. Not him, they know your boy sees it for what it is, they were worried about you ‘cause they know her for what she is and they know this is play one and right now she’s got her nose in her playbook, decidin’ what to do for play two. Chin up. He’ll see her play for what it is and he’ll be on the lookout for her next one. You just gotta ride that wave.”

Kentucky for the first time in awhile was looking good again.

This time, though, I was packing up Brock, Joel and Rex to take with me.

I said good-bye to Elvira, walked back to the house and was struck by Ellie Lightning the minute I made it through the door.

“Tangled! ” she screeched, I pushed aside my thoughts and smiled down at her.

“Tangled, ” I agreed.

And thus I found myself up in Fern’s bedroom lying across the foot of the bed with Ellie in her princess dress tucked in front of me.

Kalie and Kellie wandered up too and camped out on the floor. Jill and Fern came as well and lay behind us in the bed. Lenore and Laura were with the boys watching football.

Tangled turned to Beauty and the Beast which was one of my favorite movies ever, animated or not.

Still, I’d just had Thanksgiving dinner and it was Thanksgiving Law to pass out shortly after consumption of said dinner therefore I zonked out in the middle of it.

Therefore when I heard Ellie whisper loudly, “Uncle Slim, she’s sleeping, ” I woke up.

I blinked my eyes, surprised that I drifted off, to see Mulan playing behind Brock who was crouched by the bed and my eyes opened right before his hand curled warm around my neck.

“Time to go, sleepyhead,” he said softly to me. “Gotta get the boys home.”

Home. To Olivia’s.

I nodded, pushed up from the bed after giving Ellie a brief snuggle, tried to pull myself together through hugs and farewells and then found myself in the passenger seat of my own car, Brock driving, the boys in the back, the same arrangement as we arrived.

They chatted about football.

I stared out the window.

We drove into the elegant drive of a big house in Cherry Hills Village which meant that when Brock said Olivia’s new husband was loaded, he actually meant loaded.

“Later, Tess,” Joel said to me.

“Later, honey,” I said to Joel, turning to the backseat.

“Later, Tess, thanks for the pecan pie and the pumpkin pie and the cheesecake I ate during football,” Rex shared his gratitude.

I smiled at him.

“I was in the mood for cake, so thanks for the three pieces I ate,” Joel put in so I smiled at him.

“Anytime, baby,” I said softly. “See you guys later.”

They waved and got out.

“I’ll be back, babe,” Brock muttered, waited for me to look at him and nod and he got out and followed his boys.

I watched.

Olivia met him on the front step.

I kept watching.

Joel and Rex gave their Dad hugs and disappeared inside. Olivia didn’t look once at the car as she engaged Brock in conversation. Brock started to look my way but didn’t get his head fully turned when her hand came up and curled around his bicep and she stepped in closer so his head turned back to her.

I stopped watching.

I was staring out the side window when I heard him get in, put the idling car in gear and reverse out of the drive and I kept staring out the side window as he pointed us home.

About ten seconds later, his fingers curled around mine, pulled them to his thigh and he asked quietly, “You okay?”

“Just tired,” I lied. “Too much food.”

“Right,” he muttered, giving my hand a squeeze and saying no more but not letting my hand go.

He took us to my house, we both got out, walked up, I let us in and I shrugged off my coat and took it to the hall closet. Brock shrugged off his and threw it on the sofa.