Her eyes semi-focused on Devin.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I fell asleep.”

“No problem, girlie,” Devin whispered back.

She looked at Layne then climbed over him, got to her feet and Layne rolled off the couch right behind her. She lurched toward the stairs, Layne got close and put his hands to her hips, guiding her while calling behind him, “’Night, Dev.”

“’Night, boy.”

They got to the stairs, Rocky bent double, mostly crawling on hands and feet up them while Layne tried not to laugh. She lifted up at the top and staggered into the bedroom. He let her go, closed the door and turned to see she was at her side, reaching under her pillowcase. He watched as she tugged her clothes off, put on his tee, threw back the covers and did a face plant in the bed.

Layne changed, joined her there and turned out the light.

Rocky shifted into him.

“’Night, baby,” she mumbled into his chest.

“’Night, sweetcheeks.”

Her arm tightened for half a second around his stomach and then she was out.

Layne stared at the dark ceiling while his hand moved, sifting into her hair, he pulled it out of her face, off her shoulder and neck, so it all fell down to the bed and on his arm.

Lying there, it occurred to him that life was now just life.

Therefore Tanner Layne smiled before he closed his eyes and fell asleep with his lips tipped up.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sheer Evil

Saturday, 1:37 p.m., two weeks later

“I can’t believe Gram’s movin’ back here, that is so cool,” Tripp remarked from the back of the Suburban. He was sitting behind Layne, Keira was in the middle, Jasper behind Rocky.

They’d just seen Vera off at the airport. She was going home to put her condo on the market and sort her shit out. When she came back, she was taking over Rocky’s rental because, even though The Brendel had a waiting list, they were not fond of letting people out of their rental agreements. To get out, Rocky would have to pay through the nose. The market was good in Vera’s area but she wasn’t going to wait it out, just sort her shit, put the stuff she couldn’t pack in at Rocky’s in storage and she was going to take her time finding a place to settle in the ‘burg. The Brendel’s rent was a little steep but Layne was going to help until the agreement ran its course and Vera was in her own space.

Rocky was moving in the minute Vera returned, sooner, if Layne could talk her into it. She, however, didn’t want to move in until she’d signed the divorce papers, an event that was scheduled to happen late next week. He could see why she wanted that which was why he was letting her make that play.

Layne’s eyes went to the rearview mirror to look at Tripp then they looked out the back window to see the Calais peel off. Devin had followed Vera to return her rental car and driven her to the airport where Layne and his family met them, Vera checked in, they had a drink and they all waved her off as she headed through Security. Now, they were still on I-465.

Layne had no idea where Devin was headed and he’d probably never know. Though it wasn’t home to Ohio. Devin had stayed put on Layne’s couch for the last two weeks and helped Layne with some of his cases. He seemed in no hurry to head back to Cleveland. Layne expected there would be a conversation later on down the line considering Vera and Devin had grown tight but he was glad that conversation had not yet happened. Things were settling. Roc was seeing a therapist twice a week. She liked her. The good life was shifting to beautiful and Layne didn’t want anything to rock that boat, such as having his best friend and mother officially hooking up.

“Your Gram is cool,” Keira noted. “One of my Grams is really shy, the other one is not very nice but Joe’s Aunt Theresa is totally awesome, a complete blast. When your Gram gets home, I should call Aunt Theresa and ask her to come down. They could have, like, a bake off or something.”

Layne’s eyes slid to Rocky to see she was smiling at the windscreen.

“I thought girls weren’t supposed to like to eat because they didn’t want to get fat,” Tripp stated, Layne rolled his eyes and Jasper exploded.

“Tripp, don’t be a dick!”

“What?” Tripp asked.

“Joe says skinny girls don’t do anything for him,” Keira put in, obviously not offended in the slightest. “He says for a woman to be a woman, she’s gotta have curves.”

“Joe’s right,” Layne muttered and Rocky’s hand shot out and she flicked his bicep with the backs of her knuckles.

“What’d you say, Dad?” Tripp asked.

“I said,” Layne said louder, “Joe is right.”

“Layne!” Rocky hissed.

“Baby, a woman without a great ass?” He shook his head.

The trio in the back laughed but he felt Rocky’s glare.

“Don’t know why you’re pissed, sweetcheeks,” Layne told her over their laughter. “That’s precisely how you got your nickname.”

“Layne!” Rocky repeated on a hiss.

“What was that, Dad?” Tripp asked.

Rocky’s head whipped around to look in the backseat. “Nothing, Tripp, your father is being tactless.”

“What’s tactless?” Tripp asked.

“Indiscreet,” Rocky answered.

“Indiscreet?” Tripp sounded confused.

“Rude” Rocky said, putting great stress on that one word and Layne chuckled.

“Dad’s never rude,” Jasper put in, “he’s just honest.”

“I think boys think rude is honest and girls think rude is rude,” Keira proposed.

“Exactly,” Rocky muttered, turning to face forward again.

Layne found himself rethinking his desire to give Rocky a daughter because by the time she reached Keira’s age, his boys would be gone and he’d be outnumbered and he was still rethinking this when his cell phone rang.

He pulled it out of his inside jacket pocket, looked at the display and saw it said, “Ryker Calling”. He flipped it open and put it to his ear.

“Yo,” he answered.

“Alexis is gone,” Ryker growled in his ear and Layne’s neck muscles contracted.

“Come again?”

“Alexis. She’s gone. Lissa had a half day shift at the restaurant, got home at one and Alexis was gone. No note, no nothin’. She’s just gone.”

“I take it she didn’t have plans?” Layne asked.

“Yeah, her plans were to get her chores done, which means stayin’ at home, cleanin’ the house and then when her Mom got home, they were goin’ shoppin’ and to a movie.”