“That’s great, honey,” I muttered as I walked to the fridge and opened it in order to open a bottle of wine, thinking I should put my feet up and relax starting now. Joe probably intended to be energetic but even if he didn’t, I did.

Then I stopped and stared in my fridge which was so packed full of food, it was a wonder it didn’t explode.

“What the…”

“Oh, yeah, forgot to say, Joe and me, we went a little crazy at the grocery store,” Keira told me and I turned stiltedly to her to see she was walking back toward her room. “He said to put anything I wanted in the cart and anything you or Kate liked. So I did.”

“Keira, honey, it’ll take us a year to get through this much food,” I called after her, she stopped at the entry to the hall and turned back to me.

“Yeah. So?”

Oh Lord, she was sounding like Joe and I had no idea if this was good or bad.

I also had no reply.

Fifteen minutes later, Joe was out of the shower, dressed in tee and jeans and in the kitchen getting a beer. I was sipping my wine, waiting for him to get a beer so I could sit out on the deck while he grilled. The boy band music was gone and Keira was on her back on the couch, marathon texting some boy (or, considering the number of beeps from her phone, half a dozen of them). And Mooch was gnawing a dog toy to shit when Dane’s yellow pickup hit the drive.

Dane always took Kate to and picked her up from work. She’d been off work for over an hour and a half but this wasn’t unusual, they’d often dink around, doing their thing (what that was I did not want to know) or meeting with friends before he’d bring her home.

Therefore I wasn’t paying much attention when I heard the pickup in the drive. I was watching Joe twist the top off a beer and then toss it in the bin.

Then the front door opened and it slammed, hard and loud.

Joe’s head shot around to the door and I turned on my stool to see Kate stomp in, stop, take us all in then shout, “Never! I’m never speaking to him again! If he calls or comes to the door, I do not want to talk to him and I do not want to see him. Ever again!”

Then she burst into tears and ran to her room, slamming the door.

“Oh shit,” I muttered, my eyes going to Joe who was looking at the hall then his head swung around to the window and he watched the pickup speeding away.

I put my wineglass down, slid off the stool and announced, “I’ll go talk to her.”

I went to Kate’s room, knocked once then opened the door.

She whirled on me, face red, wet and heartbroken and screeched, “Get out!”

I walked in, murmuring, “Honey –”

“Out! Get out! Out, out, out!” Kate shrieked.

Deciding my daughter needed some alone time, I started to back out but hit solid Joe.

“Come here, girl,” Joe ordered, his voice quiet.

Oh shit.

Kate didn’t tell Joe to get out. She just glared at him which was both smart and brave.

“Katy, come here,” Joe called gently.

She took a shaky breath then walked woodenly to Joe.

He moved around me and put a hand to her neck then bent to get his face close to hers and I held my breath.

“First, don’t talk to your Mom that way. Ever. You’re pissed at Dane, we’ll talk about that in awhile. But you’re pissed, you be pissed at who you’re pissed at. You don’t take it out on your Mom or Keira or me, yeah?”

I was still holding my breath. Joe was continuing to talk in that gentle voice but I wasn’t sure he’d been around long enough to tell the girls what to do. Not that I minded, it would come to this eventually might as well be sooner rather than later. However, now he had his hand on the neck of a teenage girl in the throes of her first big fight with her first real boyfriend (or, though I hoped not, her first breakup). I was thinking now wasn’t the time to go all Dad on her.

Nevertheless, at this juncture I had to keep my peace. Tim and I had a pact, even if we disagreed with what the other was saying, we never contradicted each other in front of the girls. That talk would come later.

Joe hadn’t said anything I disagreed with so that talk wouldn’t come later but I still needed to keep my peace. He’d waded in. I just had to hope he could handle it.

Kate took a big breath, it hitched half a dozen times while she took it then she surprised me when she collapsed into Joe’s body and cried, “He’s a jerk. A total asshole! I hate him!”

I pressed my lips together and bit them as Joe’s arms went around a now sobbing Kate and his eyes came to me.

“Let’s go, honey,” he said to Kate, his eyes not leaving me.

She jerked her head back and swiped at her face. “Go? Where?”

Joe tipped his head down to look at her. “Time for you to ride in the ’68.”

“I don’t… Joe…” she took another stuttering breath and she said, “I don’t wanna take a ride, Joe.”

“Let’s go,” Joe repeated.

“Joe –” Kate began.

“Honey, let’s… go.” He was still talking gentle but this was mingled with his “I’m not going to repeat myself” tone.

Kate looked at me then at Joe then, wisely, she nodded.

He slid an arm around her shoulders and led her to the door.

“We’ll be back for me to cook the brats. Do not cook them yourself,” Joe ordered as he walked by me.

I didn’t know if he ordered this for me to conserve my energy or because he didn’t want me to ruin them. It didn’t matter either way since my mind was on the fact that I was obviously not invited on this ride in Joe’s Bullitt car and even though he seemed to be doing okay, I wasn’t sure Joe had the skills to handle this volatile situation without me being mediator.

“Joe,” I called as I followed them.

“We’ll be back in awhile,” Joe said but he didn’t look back at me as he guided Kate down the hall.

“Joe, I think –”

He looked back then and he did it to say, “In awhile, buddy.”

I bit my lips again. Then I nodded.

I stopped in the living room, my eyes following them through the windows as they walked to Joe’s house and Keira got close to me.

“Where they goin’?” she asked

“No idea,” I answered.

“Is Katy okay?” she asked.

“Nope,” I answered.

“I hope she doesn’t break up with Dane. He’s the hottest guy in school and he’s nice. That means you both have the hottest, nicest guys in school and in town. This means good things for my future because I’m up next.”

I stopped worrying because I started laughing.

Then I looked at my last born and kissed her cheek.

Then I said, “They may be hot and they may be nice but they’re also men. And men can be idiots. So it isn’t smooth sailing, honey, and it never will be.”

“I can handle it,” Keira blithely assured me, so ready for her first boyfriend it wasn’t funny.

I, on the other hand, was not ready for Keira’s first boyfriend. If my sweet, quiet, mellow Kate could throw a scene like that, Keira’s first drama would probably blow the roof off the house.

“I hope so,” I muttered then said, “let’s sit on the deck. Summer’ll be over soon, we need to get our deck time in.”

“Yeah, let me get a pop,” Keira replied.

She got her pop and her phone and I grabbed my wine. We sat on the deck and she told me about the possible boyfriends she had lined up for freshman year. She did this while she texted, lining up those possible boyfriends, multitasking.

While she did this I sipped my wine and fretted about Joe and Kate.

Thirty minutes later, the sliding glass door opened, I twisted in my seat and saw Joe with Kate tucked close to his side walking through. Her face was still red but it was dry.

Kate disengaged from Joe and came to me, bending down to give me a hug, she whispered, “Sorry, Mawdy. I was ticked.”

“That’s okay, baby,” I told her, hugging her back.

Then she let me go, threw herself in a chair and I looked at Joe.

“It’s cool,” he said calmly and walked to the grill, ordering, “Keirry, babe, help me out, yeah? Go get the brats.”

“Sure, Joe,” Keira replied, jumping up, eyeing Kate but doing as Joe asked.

“Joe’s car is the bomb,” Kate told me when the door slid closed behind Keira.

I ignored the comment and asked, “Are you okay?”

She looked away then back at me then she said, “Yeah.”

“Sure?”

She shrugged, looked at Joe who was standing by the grill, eyes on Kate, hands on hips. Then she looked at the yard.

“He messes things up with me, his loss,” Kate told the yard then sighed and looked at me. “And he loses, he loses huge.”

My eyes went to Joe, he shrugged and said, “They may be in high school, buddy, but not a lotta girls like Kate in this world. Dane doesn’t get that, he’s fucked. He’ll spend the rest of his life thinkin’ ‘bout the one who got away.”

For longer than was necessary, I stared at Joe after he finished speaking.

And I did it thinking, Fuck, but I love this man.

I sighed through that thought then looked back at my daughter.

“What’d he do?” I asked, Kate’s breathing hitched again, my eyes slid to Joe and Joe shook his head. “Forget it, I don’t wanna know,” I finished quickly.

Kate nodded and looked at the yard.

Keira returned with the brats. Joe cooked them while Keira brought out plates, cutlery, buns, condiments and bowls of store bought macaroni salad and chips.

We ate on the deck.

Tina didn’t attempt to spy which I thought was an added bonus to having a man who could be threatening and in your face (could and would).