It takes about half an hour or so, but Lily finally is ready for bed again. I give her and her mom my bedroom and sleep on the sofa. Bree says she’s happy to stay out in the living room, but since I called her a bitch and did it within earshot of her only child, the least I can do is give her the comfy bed.

Once they are both tucked in, I set up some blankets and pillows on the sofa and try to block out the horrible night I just had. It’s crazy how sometimes the people that make life the hardest for you are the ones that say they love you.

I’m not saying my sister is a bad person. She has done so much for me and has made me feel like family since the first day I came into their house. But I really didn’t need her coming over, uninvited, to judge me. And I have enough doubts about my situation with Wyatt, I don’t need help in that area. There’s no use in talking to her—it feels like she’ll never get it. I’ll always be the little sister she feels she has to protect. My cell vibrates and I look at the screen.

“You okay over there? Or do I need to come over with lights and sirens?” Wyatt texts.

“My sister and I haven’t killed each other yet, but the night is young,” I reply.

“What were you two fighting about?”

“Oh, you know, the usual.”

“The delicate state of nuclear arms agreement as it pertains to North Korea?” he says.

“And pie.”

“Let me guess, she’s more of a blueberry girl and you’re one for strawberry?”

“Yes, it’s a deep-seated issue that’s divided our family for years.”

“Seriously, bright eyes, what was that shouting match about?" he pushes. I don’t reply because I don’t want to get into it and I also don’t want to lie to him.

“Do you want me to call you?” He texts again after an unsettling amount of time has passed by.

“Thanks, but I don’t want to wake them up, texting is better. Although I can’t stay long. Work in the morning.”

“I get the feeling breakfast is off.”

“Yeah…”

“*Knows he’s a grown man and can’t send sad face emoji so he sucks it up and sends the dark and brooding “K”*”

“Aw, well here you go :( ”

“Thx! When do I get to see you?”

“Lunch doesn’t look any better. Work promises to take over.”

“Is this a new version of you ditching me to run for the hills? If it is, I admire the footwork. But I can think of so many other ways for you to spend your energy,” he says.

“No, I want to meet with you—and I will. How about dinner?” I ask.

“Great, I’ll make it for you. My place at eight,” he says, sending me his address.

“You cook?”

“I told you my sister, Rose, used to force me to go through a cookbook with her.”

“Yes, but I didn’t know you were good at it,” I admit.

“I might not be. For all we know tomorrow night could be your last meal,” he warns.

“I’ll risk it to see you,” I text back. He doesn’t reply for a few minutes, which feels like hours because it’s the first time I ever really intimated that I like him—out loud anyway.

“Are you there?” I ask.

“Yeah, I was just waiting to see if you would take back your last text. It sounded like you were saying you kind of…like me.”

“Well, I do. So, there. Wait, is that okay?” I ask, losing my nerve.

“Gorgeous, it’s more than okay.”

“Good night Wyatt.”

“Good night babe.”

***

It’s my turn to bring the coffee for my morning chat fest with Jana. I usually try to be good and get us small cups so that we’re not overdoing it on the caffeine. Jana hates that. I once brought us tea instead of coffee and she threatened my life. So now I stick to coffee but today I need an extra boost, so I get us each a large with an extra shot. I place them on the table along with two whole wheat toasted and buttered bagels.

“You only get a large when something’s up, so start talking,” she says as she adds sugar to her coffee.

“Before we get to personal life drama stuff, I need a favor. I want to make sure Carlos is going to class today. Do you still hang out with that truancy officer?” I ask.

“Mr. Goodbody? Hell yeah.”

“Good, can you get him to stop by the group home? Before I dropped Carlos off yesterday, I warned him that I would have eyes on him to make sure he went to school today.”

“I heard about his new friends. I’ll help in any way I can,” she says as she texts her hookup.

“Do you think that will be enough to get him to back off this gang thing?” she asks, sounding as worried as I feel.

“No. I’ll go by his school when it ends, pick him up, and drive him here. I don’t want to let him out of my sight.”

“Winnie, you know you can’t keep an eye on him forever, right?”

“Yeah, I know. I just need to keep him out of trouble long enough to get some sense into him. I wish I could help him get adopted. I really do. It’s just so hard to place teens. Watching his little brother find a home hit him really hard. He’s trying to act like it doesn’t matter but it does. I know that’s what’s making him act up.”

“Okay, my friend will go by the group home and do a courtesy check. It’s on his route anyway,” she says after checking the text on her cell.

“Thanks, Jana.”

“Sure! Now, talk to me about last night. Why are we swimming in a pool of coffee? Not that I mind,” she says, then takes a bite of her bagel and sips from her cup. I tell her what happened and how Wyatt came just as our argument was heating up.

“Damn, that’s crazy. Bree could fuck up a wet dream,” she concludes.

“It does seem to be a talent of hers,” I admit.

“How did it go this morning with you two? Did she go for round two?” she asks.

“We were polite. She’s right, though; I haven’t been in touch like I should. Butter lost another tooth!”

“Aw, she’s racking it up with the tooth fairy.”

“I know. She proudly stated this morning that another one of her teeth is starting to shake.”

“Knowing her she’s trying to push that sucker out as fast as she can.”

“Yes! It’s all Bree can do to stop her from getting a hammer and knocking them out for herself.”

“I like a girl with a plan.” Jana laughs.

“Me too. They went back home. I wish we’d had a better time. Bree can be fun, just not when it comes to my love life. It makes sense I guess.”

“Don’t worry about Bree. She has the perfect life with the perfect ‘cookie cutter’ hubby. She doesn’t get to judge you. That’s my job,” she says with a big grin.

“Jana, she warned me about Danny, like she’s warning me now.”

“That’s different. She had already met Danny. She hasn’t even laid eyes on Wyatt. And I also warned you about Danny. Now, do you see me warning you about Wyatt?”

“No.”

“Exactly. And another thing, even if Wyatt was like Danny—which he’s not—you’re not the same woman you used to be. You wouldn’t put up with that crap now because you know what I know.”

“And what is that?”

“You’re fucking awesome. True story.”

***

I park my car across the street from Carlos’s school, twenty minutes before the last bell rings. I want to make sure I don’t miss him coming out. Thanks to Jana, we ensured that Carlos did in fact get to class. Now, I just need to get him to the center and at least I can breathe easy knowing that for today he’s safe.

While I wait for Carlos, my mind drifts. It takes me to the place I seem to go a lot recently—to Wyatt, or should I say his bed. It makes no damn sense that he could be both an expertly chiseled monument to hotness and a good guy. I get why Bree thinks it might be too good to be true. I think the same thing sometimes. But when we’re talking and hanging out, it doesn’t seem so impossible.

I have never looked forward to anything the way I’m looking forward to meeting up with him for dinner. In truth, there’s a good chance his cooking will suck and we’ll end up ordering pizza, but I couldn’t care less. I get to see him. When I’m anywhere near him, I lose far more control than I’m comfortable with, but he makes me want to surrender to him, if not for his “proof that God is real” body, then for his large heart.

Hmm, I wonder if he’s large everywhere…

I’m taken out of my thoughts by the sound of kids laughing and talking as they burst though the double doors of the school. I try hard to spot Carlos in the sea of faces. It takes a while but I finally find him. I beep my horn but he doesn’t turn to me. He’s talking to a group of guys, just outside the school gate. They are somewhere in their early twenties with multiple neck and face tattoos. I get out of the car and run over to him. When he sees it’s me, he’s in shock. He rolls his eyes in frustration and groans.

“Aw, c’mon, Ms. Bennett,” he pleads.

“Get in the car,” I reply.

“Who the fuck is this bitch?” a guy with a tattoo of a skull on his face asks.

“She’s nobody,” he says. He then faces me and begs, “Ms. Bennett, go. I got this.”

“Yeah, Ms. Bennett, get the fuck outta here,” “Skull” guy says mockingly. I glare at him but don’t address him.

“Carlos, let’s go,” I order.

“Nah, he gonna hang with us,” a guy says, smiling so I can see all the bling he’s had placed on the front row of his mouth.

“I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” Carlos tells me.

“Look, get in the car or I will scream so loud, I will bring every cop to this block. Is that what your friends want?” I demand, knowing that it’s all a bluff and I could very well get my ass kicked in broad daylight.

“Bitch, you know who you talk’n to?” one of them says as he steps from behind the “bling” guy and towers over me.

“Yo, Murder, it’s cool. I got this,” Carlos replies.

“You best get this bitch out of my face,” Murder warns.

“Gladly. Carlos, car. Now,” I demand.

“Okay, okay. I’m going.” I’m not sure if he’s afraid of me or what his crew will do to me; either way, he starts to come with me. I hand him the keys and I tell him to go ahead. He hesitates to leave me alone with the guys, but I insist. He walks across the street and gets into the car. I address the fine group of gentlemen.

“You leave Carlos alone. He’s not joining—ever!” I vow as I start carefully walking away.

“Bitch, we can have him anytime we want! He wants to be with us. And you can’t stop him,” “Bling” guy says.

“I see you all for what you really are: a nest of vile serpents who feast on the souls of lonely and innocent kids. You won’t stop until you have inhaled all the light around you. You want to plummet everyone into the darkness you came from. Well, fuck you and your kind. This kid is mine. And you can’t have him!”

I want to run like hell to the car but I make myself take calm, deliberate steps, knowing the next step isn’t guaranteed. It feels like a year before I get to the car, but I finally make it. I take the keys from Carlos and drive off. I’m shaking so badly, I have to pull over a few blocks later.

Carlos sits next to me, not sure what the hell just happened. I force myself to control my breathing so that he sees I’m relaxed and okay. I’m not relaxed and I’m very far from okay, but now is not the time to give in to it.

“Um…Ms. Bennett, you just cursed out the Street Kings,” he says in disbelief. I pull out my cell and call my sister.

“Hello?” Bree says.

“Tell Lily I owe her a lot of ‘swear jar’ money.”