“We did,” he cuts me off. “I promised—”

“No.” I shake my head quickly, and he snaps his mouth shut. “I mean during your marriage. I’m sure you two talked during your marriage about how we lived before our mom met Chaz.” Realization fills his eyes. “We resented our mom for dragging us into her and our dad’s failing marriage then divorce.”

“Mimi.” His expression gentles.

My throat gets tight, because I’m reminded why I used to like him, but I fight through the pain and refuse to let him off the hook. “Don’t do that to your girls, Mike. They don’t deserve that. They love you and their mom. It’s hard enough that things have changed for them. Don’t make it harder.”

His gaze stays locked with mine, and he swallows as the sound of the girls coming down the stairs fills the house. When he nods, I release the breath I was holding.

“Daddy!” Kate shouts first, and Ruby’s happy shout follows. I turn to look for Lola, wondering if she’s still upstairs, and then I spot her behind her sisters, walking slow.

When I see a look on her face that fills the pit of my stomach with unease, I go to her and get down on my knees so we are face-to-face. “Hey.” I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Are you okay?”

She quickly glances over my shoulder toward her dad before dropping her eyes to the ground. “I’m okay, Mimi.”

Pain fills my chest as I remember being where she is now, overwhelmed, hurting, and confused, because the world as I knew it was ending and there was nothing I could do. “I love you, sweet girl,” I whisper as I wrap her in my arms. I wish I could hide her from this. “I promise it will be okay.” I kiss the side of her head and stand after she nods.

When I turn toward Mike, pain and understanding is stark in his expression, but he wipes it away and places a smile on his face. “Hey, honey,” he says gently to Lola, reaching out to hug her. “I’ve missed you.” I hear her say she’s missed him too then he lets her go and takes her bag, grabbing Ruby and Kate’s too. “We have a busy night of pizza, ice cream, and movies, so we should go,” he tells the girls then looks at me. “Thank you, Mimi.”

I lift my chin then give each of the girls hugs before stepping out on the porch and watching them load into their dad’s car. When they pull away, I go inside and shut the door, hoping like hell I got through to Mike. I hope he realizes by my reminder and Lola’s demeanor that he can’t use his girls as pawns unless he wants to lose them. And that loss will be the worst of his life, because it won’t be immediate. It will be something that happens slowly over time as Kate, Lola, and Ruby begin to see their father isn’t trying to protect them like he should be, but instead using them to get one over on their mother, who they love.

_______________

I flip on my signal and turn into a dirt driveway. The two-story red wooden house not far off the main road surrounded by trees is eye-catching, with an entire room made up of nothing but windows that must be twenty feet high. With my heart picking up speed, I park next to Talon’s truck and shut down the engine to my seven-year-old Subaru Legacy, a car that was necessary when I lived in Montana but somewhat out of place here in Tennessee, where it hardly snows.

I glance at my reflection in the mirror as I drop my keys into my bag, and my stomach bottoms out. When I got home from work, I changed into bike shorts and a T-shirt, took off my makeup except my mascara, and tied my hair up into a ponytail. I never went up to change or fix myself up after Mike came. I didn’t think about it, my mind so consumed by what happened with Lola and letting Cece know, and then my mom called to say she and Chaz were on their way. Now… Now, I look like I didn’t even bother, which I didn’t but it wasn’t on purpose...

“What the hell am I going to do?” I mutter, unhooking my seatbelt before I grab my bag. At the bottom, I find a tube of cheek and lip stain and quickly apply it before sliding the elastic from my hair and running my fingers through my dark locks, feathering it over my shoulders. I look a little better than I did, but as my nerves kick into overdrive, I debate running home to change into a dress or something cute. “No, no, no. It’s too late,” I mumble to myself as I pick up the pink box holding some of my favorite cookies and miniature cakes from Julia’s, a local bakery, off my passenger seat. With my hands full, I turn to the door and squeak when I see the cause of my anxiousness standing a few feet away with a grin that clearly states he’s been there awhile and witnessed me being an idiot. Great.

Before I can open the door, he does, and I tip my head back to see his still smiling face.

“Please tell me that you haven’t been out here long,” I beg as embarrassment makes my cheeks feel hot.

“Babe.” He reaches out toward me, taking the things from my hands. “You’re cute when you’re nervous. I really thought for a minute that you might decide to take off.”

“I would have been back,” I mumble as I get out of my car, and he laughs.

“Come on.” He takes my hand. “I was just about to start the barbeque.”

I let him lead me toward the house, the size of the glass room seeming even larger up close. “Is this your house?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s beautiful, and this property is gorgeous.”

“I didn’t plan on buying anything, but this land came on the market, and I knew I had to have it. I should prepare you though, because the house isn’t much.” He opens the front door, and the moment we step inside, a black cat jumps down off a thin table and circles our feet while meowing.

“You have a cat? You never told me that you have a cat.”

“Soma’s not exactly mine. I’m fostering her.” He shrugs. “Her kittens are in the laundry room.”

“You have kittens?” I don’t even try to hide my excitement as I smile up at him.

His eyes drop to my mouth, and he smiles back. “They aren’t mine. At some point, they will be adopted, but yeah, there are kittens in the house.”

“Why are you adopting them out?” I ask as I squat down to pet Soma, who purrs as I run my hand over her silky fur.

“My cousin is a vet. Soma and her kittens were dropped off to her not long after the kittens were born. She tried to take them to her house, but her cat wasn’t having it, so she asked me to help her out until they’re old enough for her to find homes for them.”

“So you don’t plan on keeping her?” I ask, scratching Soma behind her ears.

“I didn’t.” He gets down next to me, and Soma loses interest in me and goes right to him, lifting her front to paws to his jean-clad thigh and beginning to purr loudly. “She’s grown on me, even if she has ripped the shit out of my furniture with her claws.”

Could this man be any more perfect?

“You should get her a scratching post; that might help.” I rub her head then turn to look at him, finding his face inches from mine. “I always wanted a cat, but my sister and mom are allergic. Then I got Mercury and Retro, and by the time I thought about it again, I was moving here,” I end on a whisper.

“Hmm.” His gaze drops to my mouth, and overwhelmed by my own emotions, I clear my throat.