When Beth invited us to breakfast, I’d been half suspecting we were meeting up with a group of other parents, something which would have required me to smile and be polite and pretend I hadn’t shed a few more tears on the drive to the restaurant. The only reason I wasn’t particularly embarrassed about the emotional breakdown was the fact Abraham sniffled as he navigated the unusually busy streets to the steakhouse, which apparently did a special ‘back to school’ breakfast for parents. After he pulled the car in to a space on the side of the building and killed the engine, he said, “I have so much respect for people who do that every single year without losing their mind.”

“I still don’t know why I’m crying.” I yanked the visor down, sighing in frustration when I saw my reflection—splotchy face, red eyes, streaky mascara. It would take a lot more than the few supplies I had in my purse to make me look as if I was a put-together adult. “Conway was perfectly fine. He was busy talking with Dana’s son—who shocked the hell out of me by manning the school desk and being polite on top of it—and couldn’t have given two fucks that I was leaving him there with strangers.”

“I wish Dolly had been as stalwart.” He grabbed a few more tissues from the pack Beth had given us, blowing his nose before balling them in his fist and turning to glare at me. “She was just chattering away, talking about giraffes, happy as a lark, and then we got to the classroom and you’d have thought I was dropping her off at an asylum where she’d have to spend the rest of her days.”

“Oh, God.” I couldn’t help myself. Something about the way he was describing the situation had giggles welling up from deep inside. “She didn’t fall to her knees and wail, did she?”

“No, but she did wrap herself around my legs so tight I thought she was going to accidently break a bone or two.” He narrowed his eyes, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “I really hope you’re not laughing at me or the situation.”

“Not you.” I tried to swallow another bout of giggles and failed. “Just the picture of Dolly crying and begging you not to leave her and poor Mrs. Sheriff Pete doing her best to get everything under control before Dolly sets of the other kids in the classroom.”

“Again, you’re laughing but by the time I managed to pry Dolly off me, there were another half dozen kids having hysterics. The couple of parents who came in after me gave me the dirtiest fucking looks imaginable, as if I’d purposefully tried to start a riot of miniature sized people.” He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the seat. Reaching over, he rested his hand on my knee and squeezed. “I really wanted to take you back to your house and fuck some of the stress away but I’m not ashamed to admit I’m not feeling it right this second.”

“So you’re not immune to the tears of women.” I slid over, resting my chin on his shoulder and kissing his cheek. “I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future.”

“Very funny.” He sighed again before turning to face me, rubbing the tip of his nose against mine and laughing when I squealed and jerked back. “Let’s go eat breakfast like the other parents, see if I can recover some of the energy those tears sucked out of me. The tears of women, especially little ones, are like kryptonite.”

“Well, that’s okay. I’ve always thought dating Superman would kind of suck for the other person.” I got out of the car, shrugging in to my lightweight jacket, using my hip to close the door. Rounding the front of the car, I waited for Abraham to join me on the sidewalk before continuing. “Aren’t you going to ask why?”

“I was thinking about it.” Much like I’d done with Conway, Abraham tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, smoothing the lines of my jacket in to place. “Okay, I’m curious. Why would dating Superman suck?”

“He’s faster than a speeding bullet.” I paused a beat, lifting my brows and widening my eyes when he stared at me, his expression completely deadpan. “Come on. Tell me you get it.”

“I get it.”

“Then why aren’t you laughing?”

“Maybe it wasn’t funny.” Even as he spoke, one corner of his mouth twitched upward for the briefest of seconds before he repressed it. “Are we waiting for Beth or going inside?”

“You’re trying so hard not to laugh you’re gonna wind up hurting yourself.” I poked him in the ribs, snickering when he jerked away. “Uh-oh. Don’t tell me you’re ticklish.”

“Fine, I won’t tell you.” Before I could poke him again, he grabbed me and wrapped me in a bear hug, rocking me from side to side. “By the way, you owe me big for this morning. I’m thinking costumes. Maybe handcuffs.”

“Well, hell, sounds like y’all are having a better morning than me.” There was enough of a drawl in Beth’s laughing comment to keep it from being snide or sarcastic but my spine still stiffened almost automatically. Abraham’s response was to tighten his grip, as if he had some psychic inkling I was going to try and pull away. Stopping on the sidewalk next to us, she used the flat of her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, studying me for a moment before saying, “I’ve got a few of those makeup remover wipes if you want to finish getting rid of the mascara. Won’t do a thing for the red but since about half the parents in there are going to look the same it won’t matter.”

“That would be great, thanks.” I waited while she dug in her oversized purse, taking the wipe from her and scrubbing my face ruthlessly until I was certain there were no traces of makeup left. Balling it up and shoving it in my pocket, I said, “Better?”

“Honey, if I looked as good after a bout of crying as you do, I’d cry every minute of every day.” She pried me out of Abraham’s grip, linking my arm with hers and half steering, half dragging me to the front door of the steakhouse. “Now, do you want me to introduce you to a few of the other parents whose kids are in class with Conway or Dolly or do you want to get liquored up on cheap champagne and orange juice from concentrate?”

“Most definitely the latter.” I glanced over my shoulder at Abraham, following a few discreet feet behind us. “Liquored up, right?”

“Please and thank you.” He jogged ahead, opening the door and holding it for us, offering an over the top bow as he ushered us inside. “Ladies, I insist.”

“If you can manage to hold on to your sense of humor after the first day of school drop-off, you’ll do just fine.” Beth patted my hand and shot me a sympathetic smile. “Now, keep that steel spine of yours in place for a few more minutes.”

Before I could ask her what she meant, the horde descended on us.

To be fair, the group which swamped us was more interested in Beth than they were in me, although more than a few went out of their way to introduce themselves before plowing full steam in to a conversation about cheerleading or marching band or debate or drama club or.... I tuned out after that, nodding and smiling while Beth answered questions or set up meetings or in general ran the entirety of the school without so much as a notepad in front of her. I looked around for Abraham only to find him already occupying a booth, three questionable looking mimosas on the table in front of him. If I’d been able to slip out of Beth’s iron grip, I would have joined him and chugged down all three. As it was, I had to wait until Beth answered enough questions to put a politician on the campaign trail to shame, all but collapsing against Abraham when we finally made our way to the booth.

“Sorry, I didn’t think it would take even close to that long.” Beth plopped down opposite me, snagging one of the cloudy champagne flutes and knocking back the contents in one long swallow. All but slamming the glass on the table, she leaned back in her seat and sighed. “Lord but did I need that.”

“I’m sorry but I have to ask—what exactly do you do?” When she blinked once in obvious question, I continued. “I mean, for work. Because if the last five minutes were any indication you have the organizational skills of a computer ran by NASA and I really hope you’re putting them to use in some way.”

“Honey, that has to be one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me and coming from someone as smart and driven as you it’s even more of a compliment.” She pulled off her hat, a nifty little beret I’d been admiring since I saw her in the parking lot, using one hand to fluff her hair while flipping open the menu with the other. “Well, Ben and I got married right out of high school and then he went to work for his daddy selling cars over in Slisdel and I know it’s going to sound hard to believe but he is so good at it. I swear, Ben could talk a starving man out of his last crust of bread.”

“He managed to talk me in to donating bartending services for the silent auction the school did a few years back to raise money for new uniforms for the football team.” Abraham draped his arm over my shoulders, slouching down in the booth some. “Still don’t know how, if I’m being honest.”

“Which is why I always send him after the super hard to crack nuts, so to speak.” Beth paused when the server bounced over, beaming up at her. “Last week before college starts up again. Trying to get a little extra money for boys and keg parties?”

“Oh, you know I’ve got too much going on to worry about either of those things.” If the no-nonsense set of her mouth and the firm grip she had on her pencil was any indication, the younger woman meant what she said, even if her gaze did wander to Abraham for a split second. “They don’t hand out engineering degrees like cookies.”

“Allie Mae is Suzie Q’s younger sister—she’s going to school over at Georgia Tech.” Beth nodded sagely, as if the information was somehow going to influence my opinion of Conway’s teacher. “Allie, I think I’ll do the special, poached, and just keep the mimosas coming.”

“I have no idea what the special is but I’ll the same, over easy, and so will she. Same for the mimosas.” Abraham handed Allie Mae our menus before picking up his glass and nodding at mine. “We deserve a good boozy breakfast after the shenanigans of the morning.”

Which was how I ended up spending close to three hours listening to Beth talk about her husband and her kids and the myriad of school activities they were all involved in and the car dealership—which Ben had taken over a few years ago and which Beth managed with an iron fist—and more gossip about more people than I could ever possibly hope to keep straight. I’d compared her to a politician earlier and I found myself having the thought again, so much so that when she took a breath in the middle of a story about the high school Drama Club’s performance of Our Town, I blurted out, “Why haven’t you ran for mayor or county commissioner or something? Lord knows you have the connections and brains for it.”

“You keep showering me with compliments like that and my head is going to get too big to fit through a door.” She dragged a bit of pancake through a pool of syrup, holding up the fork and watching the viscous fluid drip on the plate for a moment before popping it in her mouth. She took a moment to chew and swallow before saying, “I told you before, I was a regular little shit in high school. Getting married, having kids, having responsibilities... well, that helped me grow up some but it was really going out in the real world, so to speak, which gave me a good, solid kick in the ass. I’ve done my best to atone for the sins of my youth but it’s a simple fact that for some people I’m always going to be one of those girls who shoved Billy Bob Becker buck naked in a locker in the girl’s shower room.”

“Oh, I remember that.” And remembering, couldn’t quite hold back a hiss and a wince. “That was horrible.”

“It was horrible and if either of my kids ever did anything even remotely close to that, the only thing they’d do outside of go to school and church would be sit in their room and pray for forgiveness.” Beth clucked her tongue and shook her head, pushing her plate away and reaching for her seemingly bottomless mimosa. “The first time I caught my oldest, Carol, being ugly to one of her classmates, I sat her down and we had a come to Jesus talk right then and there. I’m guessing it’s stuck because it’s been damn near five years and I haven’t had to repeat myself on the subject.”

“Is Carol the one on the cheerleading squad?” When she nodded, I said, “Is she going to this sleepover thing at that girl Dominique’s house?”

“She’s going but she’s not staying.” Beth frowned and shook her head. “Ben is a little old-fashioned about wanting his kids sleeping in their beds and only their beds although I’m thinking some of it has to do with knowing what cheerleaders get up to at sleepovers.”

“Oh, God, please don’t tell me any of that because I already told Tammy she could stay the night.” I scrubbed my hands over my face and sighed. “Never mind, I can’t stand the suspense. What happens at cheerleader sleepovers?”

“If what Ben told me is true, there’s lots of pillow fighting and prank phone calls and hair braiding.” Abraham nudged his mimosa toward me, chuckling when I snatched it up and knocked it back like a shot. “And if it makes you feel better, rumor has it Lynn keeps her daughter on a fairly tight leash.”

“In this case, rumor is damn close to the truth. Apparently Lynn doesn’t want her daughter repeating her own mistakes.” Beth winced. “Oh, that sounded bad. Lynn is still a horrible person who won’t hesitate to throw a person under a bus if it would benefit her in even the smallest way but she loves her daughter more than she loves herself, which is something I would never have thought possible.”

“Where’s Dominique’s father?” I closed one eye, squinting at my empty glass and trying to decide if I needed another drink. “Or Dana’s son’s father? Jamie?”

“Lynn has never said but if my understanding of the length of pregnancy and my recollection of prom night is correct, it would have to be Emily Grace Lancaster’s cousin who was visiting from New Orleans.” Beth cocked her head and pursed her lips, drumming her fingers on the table. “As for Dana, it was some traveling salesman—wandered in to town for a few weeks and wandered right back out.”

“That’s sad.” And to my surprise, I felt more than a small pang of sympathy for Dana, whose life eerily mirrored Loretta’s, although with a lot less children. “So that’s why she works two jobs.”

“Well, her parents disowned her because the salesman wasn’t white.” Beth snorted and rolled her eyes. “Which has to be one of the most backward things ever, in a town which isn’t exactly known for being forward thinking.”

“Something Pastor Neil and his wife have been trying to undo almost since they made the announcement but so far it’s been like shouting at a pair of brick walls.” Abraham shifted restlessly next to me and I glanced over to find him scowling, his face in harsh lines. “Haven’t spoken to Dana in years, have never formally met their only grandchild, but still have the nerve to show up to church every Sunday and sit front row, center, like it’s gonna be enough to get them in to heaven.”

“Maybe whenever we get that drink—because this doesn’t count—we should invite Dana.” I twisted my hands in the hem of the tablecloth brushing my lap, my knuckles cracking in protest. “Tammy or Kitty could probably babysit and it would be good for Conway to make friends in his class.”

“We can certainly extend the offer, although you shouldn’t take it personally if she says she’s busy.” Beth shrugged. “She’s got a lot of pride and she gets upset if she thinks people are doing something because they feel sorry for her.”

“Gee, I wonder what that’s like.” I couldn’t hold back the sarcasm but I could sigh and say, “Sorry. That was bitchy when there was no need to be.”

“Honey, I’m bitchy about half the day, whether I need to be or not. Keeps me in shape for when I actually do have to be bitchy.” She stood, wobbling on her heels for a moment before tugging down her dress. “You’ll have to excuse me for a minute. All those mimosas are making the bathroom something of a requirement.”

As soon as she was out of earshot, I turned to Abraham. “You okay?”

“Peachy keen.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Why?”

“All that talk about Dana’s parents.” I hesitated before adding, “I thought it might make you think of yours.”

“It does but now I also have the memory of you putting the fear of God in my father so that almost makes up for all the shitty things they did.” He brushed his lips over mine, light and teasing. “Now, as much as I’ve enjoyed watching you relax and socialize and make a friend, I’d really like to take you home and fuck you without worrying about the kids walking in on us.”

I pulled back, glancing over my shoulder. “Where’s the server?”