I clenched my teeth and my arm around Mike’s waist got tight.

“Did you take any of those calls?” Mike asked Fin.

Fin shook his head.

“It’s rude not to take a call,” Rhonda put in and I looked at her.

Seriously, no backbone. I loved her to pieces but she had two boys. I didn’t know how but I had to plant a backbone seed in my sister-in-law and coax it to grow. She only had a year and a half with Fin. He was mostly man already, Darrin saw to that like my Dad saw to the same with Darrin. But there was still a ways to go. She had to help me with that. She had to help Fin with that.

I opened my mouth to speak but Fin got there before me.

“It’s rude to call a woman who’s lost her husband and get in her face about important stuff, Ma.”

Rhonda looked up at her son. “I guess so, honey, but –”

“No buts,” he cut her off. “It’s just rude. She shouldn’t be callin’ you about that stuff. Not now. Not next week. Not the week after. Mr. Haines is right. You need a spell. She isn’t givin’ it to you. But you need it and you’re gonna take it.”

Okay, maybe there wasn’t still a ways to go to make Fin a man.

“Fin’s right, Rhonda. It’s rude and you need some time. I asked for that and she didn’t give it. That’s rude too,” Mike stated and Rhonda looked back at him. “If you think you can’t do that because you’re polite then you let your son keep your phone and you let Dusty or the boys answer the one in the house. Finley will give you any messages you need and Dusty or the boys will pass the phone to you if it isn’t Debbie.”

Rhonda’s eyes were working and I settled in because I was used to this and it took time. I didn’t know if we had a reservation or if Mike’s kids were hungry but I hoped the answer was no to both because we were going to be late for the first and his kids were going to have to wait to assuage the last.

Mike, being a good guy, waited. Finley, I saw, was less patient with his Mom and I saw this because he was staring down at her and his impatience was barely concealed.

This was beginning to concern me because I hadn’t been around for long but I’d already noted this on several occasions not to mention during Fin’s phone call.

With Darrin there providing guidance on how to deal with Rhonda, neither of his boys showed frustration with her quirks. Kirby definitely not. Whereas Finley got everything about my brother that screamed man! Kirby got the gentle, sweet parts of him. Kirby had all the time in the world for his Mom. Finley, without his father there to show the way, was losing it.

Finally, Rhonda came to a decision, “I’ll let Fin keep my phone.”

Finley heaved an audible sigh.

Mike muttered, “Good call.” His eyes moved to Kirby and he asked, “You on board, Kirb?”

Kirby looked to Finley, Finley gave him a nod then he looked back at Mike and mumbled, “Yes, sir.”

“Right,” Mike murmured. Then his arm gave me a squeeze and he said, “Thanks for giving us time and now we probably should go.”

“I know!”

This was Clarisse piping up and Mike shifted, taking me with him so we could look at her.

“Why don’t the Hollidays come with us?” she suggested like this gracious thought just popped into her head when in absolutely did not. I nearly burst out laughing.

She didn’t want Rhonda and Kirby at our dinner table.

She wanted Finley there.

“We couldn’t,” Rhonda murmured politely.

“I already had a sandwich,” Kirb stated which wasn’t exactly the truth. He’d had three. Still, he could probably consume a four course meal but he was taking his mother’s lead.

“I could eat,” Fin said nonchalantly and I couldn’t help it. I made a sound like I was being strangled.

Mike looked down at me and raised his brows. I shook my head. He tipped his to the side. I grinned. He shook his head and looked back at Fin.

“Get your coat, Fin.”

Fin tipped up his chin and moved, shooting a quick glance Clarisse and No’s way but I knew his eyes hit Clarisse.

Mike missed this because he was moving us to the door.

“Make sure you get her home at a decent hour.”

This was Kirby, following and being what he was, cute and dorky.

I turned to him and asked, “Am I grounded if I’m not home by midnight?”

Kirby’s eyebrows shot up and he said, “Midnight? Your curfew’s ten.”

“Not fair, Kirby,” I shot back.

“Okay,” he grinned, “Ten thirty.”

I rolled my eyes. His grin got bigger and I liked seeing that from my Kirby. He’d lost his Dad, the shadow of pain was in his eyes even with that grin but it mingled with humor and I was pleased as hell I put it there.

We were in the foyer. I disengaged from Mike, moved to my nephew and payback was me grabbing his cheeks like I did when he was a kid and kissing him back and forth until he shouted, “God! Stop! Gross, Aunt Dusty!”

“Honey, you shouldn’t take the Lord’s name in vain,” Rhonda muttered distractedly and it was Kirby’s turn to roll his eyes and he did this to me.

I grinned at him, playfully shoved his face away then moved to the chair in the hall where my kickass sheepskin coat was. It hit me at the waist, had a slant zip and built-in belt, a super high collar and wide sheepskin cuffs. I shrugged it on, zipped it up and grabbed my huge slouchy suede bag.

Finley met us at the door and Mike, doing a macho Dad move that was still hot, stood with his hand high at the side of the door holding it open for all the kids to wander through. Then his eyes came to me as I was about to wander through too and I stopped. He grabbed my hand, let the door go, I went out calling farewells to Rhonda and Kirby and he followed me out.

The kids were already at Mike’s car in the lane and Mike dug his keys out of his pocket, lifted his arm, the lights flashed as the car beeped and they started piling in.

“Hmm…” I muttered under my breath, eyes on the car watching the kids arranging themselves. “Clarisse is climbing in the middle. That means she’ll be pressed next to Fin in the back.”

“Caught that?” Mike muttered under his breath back.

My eyes slid to the side and up, “You did too?”

“Hard to miss,” he was still muttering just like me.

“Yep,” I agreed.

“Shit,” he kept muttering and I chuckled.

“History repeating,” I also kept muttering.