Truthfully, Mike wasn’t sure either. He was an only child. His Mom and Dad were functional. Good, solid parents he loved and respected who gave him a working moral compass and a decent upbringing. Great grandparents who doted on their grandchildren in a way that only skated the edges of spoiling them rotten. They had his back through the divorce with Audrey and they had his back when he fought for full custody but they didn’t have it in a way they were in his face. He just knew they had it which was all they needed to do. His family didn’t have dramas. Just lots of love and good times.

And, with the shit Dusty told him that came out of Debbie’s mouth, it was clear Debbie had cast herself firmly in the role of the black sheep of the Holliday family. This included a variety of imaginary slights and insults most of which she figured were delivered by Dusty all because Dusty was being Dusty.

It didn’t take a family psychologist to study the Hollidays and see that Debbie’s career drive was her being hell-bent to earn the respect of her family. Or she was simply different than them but instead of just finding herself and going on to find happiness, she wanted it all and was pissed they wouldn’t shoehorn her into their world where she simply didn’t fit.

Mike was thinking the latter. The last twenty-four hours he’d spent more time with Dusty than Debbie since he broke up with her two and a half decades ago. But she’d been his girlfriend for two years. What Debbie Holliday wanted, she found a way to get and she was perfectly willing to expend a goodly amount of energy and her considerable brainpower conniving a way to get it.

Frankly, in the end, he couldn’t wait to get quit of her but he’d never told that shit to anyone. Before he hooked up with Debbie, Darrin was a friend and remained a friend after their breakup. He respected the Hollidays too much to talk trash about their daughter. And then there was Dusty.

“Right,” Dusty broke into his thoughts, “I gotta go take off my shoes and prepare to be strip searched because I’m a blonde and they’ll need to use someone to prove they aren’t racial profiling and it’s my luck they always use me.”

Mike grinned down at her even as his arms got tighter.

Then his grin died as his eyes moved over her face.

Fuck, she was beautiful.

“I’ll call,” she whispered and his eyes came back to hers to see hers weren’t smiling anymore. The light was gone but the warmth, as ever, remained.

“I will too.”

“I’ll fix another visit home soon,” she promised.

“Good,” he muttered.

“Hunter will take care of me,” she went on and his arms got tighter.

“I know.”

She stopped talking but didn’t move. She stayed pressed tight to him, her arms wrapped around his back.

Then a smile curved her lips she didn’t commit to and she remarked, “Seriously, glad you’re a dick, babe.”

He smiled back the same way and whispered, “Me too.”

Dusty tipped her head to the side and asked, “You gonna order me to kiss you so I can get all tingly or are you just gonna stare at me?”

He knew his smile hit his eyes when he muttered, “Kiss me, honey.”

Her arms moved from his back to wrap around his neck, she got up on her toes and did what she was told. He took over and they went at it like teenagers.

He pulled away first and whispered, “Go.”

She nodded, eyes bright and he fucking loved that, how she let it show she didn’t want to go.

Then she broke away and walked to the security line.

He watched her show her tickets. He watched her take off her belt, coat and shoes. He watched her go through the metal detector. And he grinned when he saw them pull her from the line to have a female pat her down. When they turned her to do her back, she caught his eyes, rolled hers and Mike started chuckling.

Then he watched her put on her shoes, belt and coat and start to walk down the terminal.

And he watched her when she stopped, turned back and threw him a kiss. It was a grand gesture, dramatic, attention-getting but she didn’t give a fuck anyone was watching. It was all for him.

Then she smiled huge, lifted her arm and waved hard.

He lifted a hand and flicked out his fingers.

Then he watched her turn and walk away until he couldn’t see her anymore.

Then he turned and walked away thinking, fuck me, forty-three years of life, I finally find The One, I’ve known her for two and a half decades and when we finally connect, she lives in fucking Texas.

He was belting himself in his SUV when his phone at his ass rang. He pulled it out, looked at the display, grinned, hit the button and put it to his ear.

“Angel,” he muttered.

“Told you I’d call,” Dusty replied.

Mike burst out laughing.

* * *

Clarisse walked out of her room to go to the kitchen to get some chips.

On bare feet, she walked down the carpeted halls but stopped dead when she heard her Dad’s voice sounding funny talking on the phone.

“You home safe, Angel?”

Angel?

Who was Angel?

“Good,” Clarisse heard her Dad say softly. “What?” he went on. “Yeah. They’re home. Got home about fifteen minutes ago. You settled in?” A pause then another weird, soft, “Good.” Silence for a while then a slightly surprised, “You’re gonna work now?” Pause then, “What time is it there?” Another pause then, “You do that a lot?” Pause then a low chuckle and, “It clears out your head, darlin’, then do it.” There was some silence before more soft chuckles then, “You come back, you do that, honey. But I’ll expect you to bring a large-sized vase, not try to fork some of that medium shit on me.”

That was so her Dad. He got ticked when she cursed but she heard him do it all the time when he didn’t think she was listening.

Her ears pricked up when he kept talking.

“In a bit, gotta help No with his homework. You want, I’ll call you later.” Pause then low, soft and really weird, “That’s a definite plan, sweetheart.”

“Jesus, Rees, you eavesdroppin’ on Dad?”

Clarisse whirled and saw her brother standing behind her staring at her like he always stared at her. Like she’d been beamed there from a different planet.

She narrowed her eyes, put one finger to her lips and with her other hand in his chest she shoved him down the hall, turning him into his room. Once she got him inside, she closed the door behind her.

Then she turned back to her brother and hissed, “I think Dad is talkin’ to a woman.”

No blinked at her.

Then he asked, “So?”

“So?” Clarisse asked back.

“Yeah? So?” No mostly repeated.

“Dad’s talkin’ to a woman!” she exclaimed but quietly.

“Uh…he is a single guy,” No informed her of something she already knew.

“So?” she shot back.

“So, Rees. Shit. Seriously? You think he’ll be cool spendin’ the rest of his life with you and Scary Movie Friday Night until you get married or something? I mean, he’s a guy. Girls at school say he’s a hottie. Hotties nail babes. It’s the way of the world.”

Clarisse’s torso swung back and suddenly her mouth tasted funny and not in a good way.

No grinned. “I hope he’s gettin’ himself some.”

Clarisse leaned forward and hissed, “Don’t be gross.”

No crossed his arms on his chest and his grin got bigger.

“You know, Dad nailin’ Mom is how they got me and you.”

“Ick! Don’t be gross!”

“It’s true.”

“I know it’s true, No. That doesn’t mean we have to talk about it.”

“Bet Mom’s shit in bed. All bitchy and uptight,” No muttered and Clarisse didn’t know a lot about these things but she still reckoned this was true. This was because their Mom was bitchy and uptight.

Then a thought occurred to her.

“What if this woman Dad’s talkin’ to is bitchy and uptight?”

No shook his head. “No way. Dad is not stupid.”

“He picked Mom,” Clarisse pointed out.

“This is true,” No muttered then stated, “Still, he dated Keira Winters’s Mom before she got married to Mr. Callahan and I’ve met her. She’s totally cool.”

It was Clarisse’s turn to blink before she whispered, “What?”

“Dad dated Mrs. Callahan before she was Mrs. Callahan.”

“He did not.”

“He so did.”

She couldn’t believe this.

“How do you know that?”

No shrugged. “Dylan saw them together at Frank’s. Told me. I thought it was cool. She’s a Mom but she’s still pretty. And she’s gotta be cool because Keira’s totally cool. Not to mention, she nailed down The Lone Wolf and made him a family man and everyone knew that was impossible. Dad bein’ in there before Mr. Callahan is also totally cool.”

Clarisse stared at her brother.

Unfortunately, he kept talking.

“And Brittany’s Mom is single now that her Dad took off with his secretary and lives in Atlanta. And Brittany’s friend Kayla told me Brittany heard her Mom tellin’ her friend she would kill to date Dad. Says she goes to J&J’s all the time just to see if she can catch his eye.”

“That’s crazy,” Clarisse breathed and No stared at her.

“It isn’t crazy, Reesee,” he said quietly. “Half the single Moms in town go to high school basketball games and it isn’t because their sons are playing. They don’t have sons playing. It’s because Dad never misses a game.”

She leaned in deep and hissed, “That’s crazy.”

“Rees, it’s true. Totally. He’s a guy. He’s single. He’s tall. Trust me, girls like tall guys, I know this for a fact. And Dad’s tall. And girls tell me he’s hot.” He grinned and finished, “I wouldn’t know, seein’ as I’m a guy but I look like him and I’m smokin’ hot so he’s gotta be hot.”