“But, she’s alone, Cory hasn’t been back for ages and she’s –”

He interrupted me. “A woman who needs a lesson.”

“Joe –”

“Vi, beer.”

I studied him and I knew enough to know Joe had made up his mind.

Therefore, I sighed, walked in my house and got my man a beer.

* * *

It was dark, the girls were asleep and I was cuddled into Joe’s side.

“Joe?” I called.

“Yeah, baby,” he answered.

“Scales are even,” I told him on a whisper.

“What?” he asked.

I closed my eyes, pressed closer, opened my eyes and kept whispering. “Missed Tim, missed a lot of things about him. One of those things was knowin’ there was someone who’d look out for me, the girls.” I pressed my lips together and bit them both as I felt his body grow tight then I continued. “Remember that night we met? I had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to ask Kenzie to turn down the music?”

“Baby –”

“Tim would have done that. I wouldn’t have had to put on those boots and go into the cold.”

“Vi –”

“I wouldn’t have had to leave our bed.”

He rolled into me, murmuring again, “Vi –”

“I wouldn’t have had to tromp through the snow, get cold or even get angry.”

His hands started moving on me under his tee as he whispered, “Shut up, buddy.”

“Tim always had our backs, he never let anything like that touch us. Never.”

“Vi, shut it.”

“You won’t either.”

“Shut it, Vi.”

“We had everything. Everything. Tim gave it to us. Having Nicky, you had a lot, Joe, but you never had everything so you can’t know how much it hurts to lose it.”

Joe was silent.

I kept talking. “Having it back, you giving it to us, the scales are balanced.”

He didn’t tell me to shut up again. He kissed me, not hard and greedy and demanding. No, it was long and tender and beautiful.

When he was done, he tucked my face into his throat and held me.

“Love you, Joe,” I whispered to his throat.

“Love you too, buddy. Go to sleep.”

“Okay. ‘Night, honey.”

“’Night, baby.”

It took awhile for me to sleep. It took longer for Joe. I knew this because I fell asleep before him.

It was strange I got to sleep because my mind was focused on wondering what was on his.

But I got to sleep.

And I again slept the night through without the nightmare.

* * *

The check was in the box the next morning well before nine.

Tina was a bitch but she was no fool.

Joe looked annoyed. I was relieved.

The girls were both up early. Kate had her last shift noon to four at the Custard Stand before quitting to go back to school on Monday. Keira had a full day of sunbathing and pool frolicking ahead of her at Heather’s, her last hurrah before school started. I’d gotten them up because I needed to give them instructions before I left and they started their days.

“Keirry, baby, can you clean your bathroom before you go to Heather’s?” I asked, though I didn’t expect an answer, I just expected her to complain about it then do it, so to avoid the complaining I hurriedly turned to Kate and went on. “And can you vacuum and dust before you go to work? I’ll mop the kitchen after dinner tonight but I’ll be late because I have to do the big shop for Gramma and Grandpap before I get home.”

Before Kate could agree and Keira could bitch, Joe said, “Make a list, I’ll swing by the store after I deal with the yard.”

All three pairs of Winters girls eyes went to Joe.

It was me who spoke.

“Deal with the yard?” I asked.

“Tim’s folks’ll be here tomorrow, buddy. Can’t have that word bleached into the lawn,” Joe answered.

This was true but a quick fix was virtually impossible unless you, say, killed all the grass around the letters. This was an option which held merit since I didn’t want Bea and Gary to see the lawn like that and worry. But after the care I’d taken with my lawn, it wasn’t one I liked overly much.

“How are you gonna deal with it?” I asked with curiosity.

“Dig it out. I’ll be at the garden center sometime late mornin’ to pick up some rolls of sod.”

I hadn’t thought of this option mainly because that was a lot of work, it would take a lot of time and it would cost some cake. The first one I could do, the second one, no way (making, for me, the task impossible, but not for Joe), the last one, since Joe was paying for everything, was also doable but I wasn’t used to having leftover money yet so it didn’t spring to mind.

I had thought of watering the hell out of the yard to drain away the bleach and sprinkling grass seed then watering the hell out of the yard again. This would mean the word “bitch” would be in my yard for weeks, maybe months, which sucked.

Joe’s solution was so much better.

Before I could tell him that, Keira piped up. “I’ll help you!”

My mouth dropped open. So did Kate’s.

Keira giving up sunbathing and pool frolicking to help Joe in the yard was a miracle. Such a miracle, if I was a Catholic, I’d notify the Vatican, no joke.

Again, before I could say anything, Joe, who was sitting on a stool next to Keira (Kate was behind the counter with me), reached out and wrapped a big hand around the back of her neck. Then he gently swayed her side to side.

“You’re with me, honey, we’ll have it done in no time.”

Keira beamed at Joe. Kate turned startled eyes to me. I wished I had time to lead Joe to our room and rip his clothes off.

Since I had to go to work, instead I said to Joe, “Walk me to my car?”

Joe’s eyes came to me, he nodded, gave Keira one last sway with his hand, let her go and walked me to my car.

I unlocked it, opened the door and stood in it as Joe came to stand in front of me.

Then I bunched his tee in my fist, pulled him closer, got up on tiptoe to get close to his face and whispered, “Anything you want.”

His head jerked slightly and he asked, “What?”

“Tonight, payback for the yard, payback for makin’ Keira smile like that, anything you want. You name it, I’ll do it.”

A slow smile spread on his face as his hands went to span my hips.

“That’s quite an offer, buddy.”

I got closer, both my body and my face to his and I kept whispering. “Be creative, baby, don’t know when I’ll be feelin’ this generous again.”

“Oh, I’ll be creative,” he whispered back and I felt my nipples get hard.

My hands slid up his chest and around his neck and I laid one on him, my brand of a hard and demanding kiss and Joe liked it. I knew this because his arms wrapped around me and he growled in my mouth.

“Love you, baby,” I whispered against his lips when I was done kissing him.

“Yeah, me too,” he touched his mouth to mine then said, “You get a break, make a list for the grocery store. I’ll pick it up when Keira and I come ‘round to get the sod.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll grill some brats tonight.”

“Okay.”

“We’ll get store bought shit to go with the brats. Don’t want you cookin’, you’ll need to conserve your energy.”

I shivered at what his words meant then repeated, “Okay.”

He grinned and it hit me he was grinning a lot lately. Smiling too. I liked this so I smiled back but I suspected my smile was a lot like Keira’s beam. I suspected this because Joe’s eyes dropped to my mouth, his face got intense and then he kissed me, hard and demanding.

He did it better.

* * *

When I got home that evening, the yard looked like a yard. No yellow-brown “bitch” in the middle of it. Joe and Keira did such a good job you could barely see the sod lines. And the rest of the yard had been mowed.

I walked into the house, seeing it clean and tidy. Even the kitchen was sparkling, including the floor.

I knew why when Keira came running from her bedroom, a boy band playing loud so she shouted over it, “I cleaned the kitchen!”

I smiled at her. “I can see, baby.”

“And the bathroom,” she went on as I put my purse on the counter.

“Thanks, honey.”

“Kate vacuumed and dusted and I put the pictures back in the frames,” Keira continued, pointing to the pictures which were in the frames and back on our shelves.

I looked but I didn’t look closely. I wanted them back where they were but I wasn’t ready to see pictures of Sam just yet.

Keira finished with, “Joe wanted you to put your feet up when you got home.”

I bet he did.

At this, my smile widened and the back sliding glass door opened, Joe coming through it followed by a prancing Mooch. He looked sweaty and hot seeing as he was sweating while wearing nothing but a pair of cutoff jeans and running shoes. He didn’t even have on socks.

My mouth went dry.

“Joe mowed the yard,” Keira kept the information flowing.

“Mm-hmm,” was all I could get out seeing as my eyes were still glued to a sweaty, hot-looking, cutoff jeans wearing, bare-chested Joe.

Joe came to me, curled his hand around my head and pulled me up, giving my mouth a touch with his.

“Gotta shower,” he muttered then he turned away, nabbed Keira the same way as he walked by her but he kissed the side of her head.

Keira beamed up at him. Joe grinned down at her. Then he went to our room.

Keira looked back at me. “Joe says I’m the best assistant he’s ever had. He’s gonna teach me security!”

I was trying to listen to my daughter but mostly I was thinking of Joe in the shower.