Mitch set the mugs down and I grabbed the coffeepot and filled them. No one said anything so I latched onto something Mitch said and when he returned to me with the gallon jug of milk, I asked, “What do you mean, Billie was cool before the second dose?”

He splashed milk into two mugs and then set the jug aside, answering, “Set the alarm like I said I’d do. It woke me up, I checked her and she was good.”

At his words, forgetting my audience, I stared at his handsome profile as he grabbed a spoon from the drawer and then reached out to the sugar bowl.

Then I asked, “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“No need, she was cool,” Mitch answered, spooning sugar into the milky mugs.

“But why didn’t you wake me?” I repeated, Mitch’s head turned and his eyes caught mine.

“There was no need, sweetheart,” he repeated with variation. “She was cool, you were both out so I just went back to sleep.”

I felt my brows knit. “You just went back to sleep?”

“Well, yes and no. I got up, turned out the lights, locked the front door and then I came back to bed and went back to sleep.”

I stared at him, lips parted.

He woke up to check Billie, found she was okay, got out of his bed not to go sleep on the couch but instead he turned out the lights, locked the front door and came back to his bed, a bed I was in with Billie.

Why would he do that? Why?

He turned and handed coffees to his mother and sister while I watched and they, I noticed vaguely, watched us and they did this closely. Then he turned back and grabbed his which he took black. Then he lifted it to his lips. Then I opened my mouth to speak.

“Hey,” I heard Billy mumble and my eyes jerked to my little cousin who was walking out dressed for school in a pair of new jeans and one of the new tees I bought him, hair combed, looking like the perfect child.

“Hey there, you must be Billy,” Mrs. Lawson grinned at him. “I’m Mitch’s Mom, Sue Ellen, and this is my daughter, Mitch’s sister, Penny.”

“Hey,” Penny smiled.

“Hey,” Billy smiled back then climbed up on a stool and looked at Mitch. “Can you do oatmeal again, Mitch?” he asked.

“Sure, Bud,” Mitch muttered, put his coffee mug down and went to a cupboard to get a glass.

“Cool, thanks,” Billy muttered back.

Okay, this was weird. This was insane. This was nuts. But I couldn’t cope with any of that now. My life was on its head, as it would be considering I was now in charge of two kids, my cousin was in jail and the Russian mob, amongst others, wanted him dead. And my apartment was a crime scene. And my mother and aunt were in town. And me and my two new kids were essentially living with my hot guy neighbor I’d secretly been in love with for years. I needed to focus and not on Mitch, Mitch’s apparently nosy sister and equally nosy Mom.

I grabbed my coffee mug, took a fortifying sip of caffeine and walked to stand across the counter from Billy.

“Billy, honey, Billie got sick last night so she’s going to stay home with me today,” I told him.

“She did?” Billy asked, his face suddenly awash with concern but he looked strangely like he was hiding something.

I couldn’t ask or pay too close attention because Mitch took all of it when he stated firmly, “She is not.”

I turned to him in surprise to see his words weren’t the only thing that was firm. His face was firm too and this made me even more surprised.

“Yes, she is,” I told him.

“She’s fine,” he replied, coming to my side and putting a glass of milk in front of Billy. “Fever broke. She’s good.”

“She puked her guts out last night, Mitch,” I reminded him.

“She did?” Billy asked and I looked at him.

“Yes, buddy, she did. She’s okay now,” I assured him. “But I want her to rest today.”

“She’s good, Mara,” Mitch butted in. “And she’s missed enough school, something I learned yesterday when I talked to her teacher. Apparently, her Dad didn’t make her go. But now she’s fine and she’s going to school.”

My head turned to Mitch. “Maybe she’s fine but she might have a relapse and I don’t want her at school when she has a relapse. I want her at home and I want to be around if she does.”

“She has a relapse, the school will call and you or I’ll go get her,” Mitch returned.

“That would be a waste of time,” I replied. “What wouldn’t be a waste of time would be if she had a relapse and she was already home.”

“She’s goin’ to school, Mara,” Mitch declared and I felt my blood pressure ratcheting higher.

“She’s not, Mitch,” I declared right back then I thought of something and I looked at Billy. “Maybe you shouldn’t go to school either.”

I watched my cousin’s eyes light with delight at the thought of missing school but I heard Mitch speak.

“Why the hell not?” he asked and I looked back at him.

“What if he has her bug?” I asked back. “It came on fast, Mitch. She was fine one minute, though she was grumpy and didn’t want to go to bed. Two hours later she was throwing up on the living room carpet and had a temperature of one hundred and three. That could happen to Billy and if it does, I want him right here.”

“Bud gets sick, the school calls and you or I go get him,” Mitch fired back.

Yes, my blood pressure was definitely ratcheting higher and that was why I put my hands on my hips, leaned into him and snapped, “That would be a waste of time too.”

“Baby, they’re both going to school,” Mitch announced.

“Honey, they are not,” I decreed.

Mitch glared at me. I glared back.

Then he said, “Just for the record, sweetheart, I’ve decided I like the Mara who lives in her own world and ums and uhs and doesn’t hand me attitude. Let’s go back to her.”

After that, I replied, “Just for the record, honey lumpkin, I know why you like the Mara who lives in her own world because that Mara lets you have your way. But when I’m worried about my kids, and you disagree with me, we’re not going back to her. And, by the way, I’ll remind you, yesterday you promised we’d be a team and talk about decisions regarding the kids.”

“Uh…baby,” he looked around and my glare heated when I noted he was looking around sarcastically, then his eyes hit mine and he stated, “That’s what we’re doin’. We’re talkin’.”

Luckily before I exploded, at this point Penny butted in and she did this by saying, “Can I just say, I freaking love this.”

“Not as much as me, sweetie,” Mrs. Lawson added and my eyes snapped to them to see they were both smiling huge.

Before I could freak out that I forgot my audience, Mitch spoke.

“Maybe one of you can make yourself useful and go wake up Billie so she can shower and get ready for school,” he suggested toward his mother and sister in a way that it was no suggestion at all.

“Please don’t,” I put in quickly. “She needs her rest and, not to be rude, she doesn’t know either of you and I don’t want her to be alarmed.”

Mitch’s eyes sliced back to me and he growled, “Mara.”

I couldn’t growl but I tried my best and returned, “Mitch.”

“How about I make myself useful by being the voice of experience and saying, sorry, Mara but Mitch’s right, she’ll probably be okay,” Penny stated, I bit my lip and her eyes went to her brother. “But I’m more sorry, Mitch because Mara’s more right. She’ll probably be okay but if it was one of my kids and they were puking their guts out and had a fever, no way they’d be in school the next day.” Then her eyes turned to Billy and her face gentled. “And even sorrier for you, honey, because, if you were my kid, I’d make you go and come get you if you got sick.”

“That’s what I’d do too,” Mrs. Lawson agreed.

“I’m good with going to school,” Billy chimed in and my gaze went to him because his eyes not five minutes ago lit with delight at the thought of missing school and anyway, what kid was good with going to school?

“That settles it,” Mitch decided and I looked back to him. “Sorted,” he finished, turned to the cupboard and pulled out the box of oatmeal while I watched and as I processed what was happening in my head, I realized I was also seething.

Then I asked Mitch’s back, “Did our discussion yesterday about teamwork penetrate…” I hesitated for emphasis before finishing, “at all?”

He put the oatmeal box down and turned to me. I glared into his dancing, beautiful, fathomless, dark brown eyes then suddenly found myself crushed to his long, hard body, his strong arms caging me in.

In my ear, he muttered his answer. “Yes but also kind of no.”

“I didn’t think so,” I returned acidly, my hands at his waist pushing back.

His head lifted up, he smiled down at me and asked, “You want oatmeal?”

I glared up at him and I really wanted to say no and there were a lot of other things I really wanted to say. But I couldn’t because firstly, his mother and sister were there and secondly, I’d had his oatmeal yesterday, he squirted maple syrup in it mid-nuke and it was really good.

“Yes,” I snapped.

His smile got bigger, he gave me a squeeze, let me go and turned to the oatmeal. I turned to my coffee mug which was sitting in front of Billy. That was when I saw Mrs. Lawson and Penny, still smiling huge, and Billy, his eyes going from me to Mitch and back again, his expression again fifty years older than he was.

I decided to ignore all of this and concentrate on caffeine.

It was the best decision I’d made all morning.

Chapter Nineteen

Harsh, Bright Light of Mara World