I stood at the foot of the bed and looked at it. It was a full. There was no way we could sleep in that bed and not touch each other. I looked at the floor on the side of the bed and cringed. It was a hardwood floor without any rug. After the work I did with April’s dad that day, I needed to stay off the floor.

She walked in from getting ready in the bathroom and looked at me. “What’s the problem?”

“Do you remember how small your bed is?”

“Oh, yeah.” She looked at the bed. “I don’t care. I’m too tired to worry about it. Get in first and I’ll get in.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I pulled the covers back and got in.

“Yeah.” She turned the light off and got in next to me. I opened my arms for her to lay her head on my chest. “I love listening to your heartbeat.”

“You do?”

“It was always my favorite thing about bedtime.”

“Wow, that’s what every guy wants to hear.” She slapped my chest as I laughed.

“I said bedtime, not sexy time. I preferred to hear it after we had sex. It was so fast and so strong.”

“I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.”

“I told you I’m tired.” I felt her yawn against my chest.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, but you’d better do it fast before I fall asleep.”

“Why did you think I told you I hated you?”

She tensed under my arm. “Because you did.”

“When?” I reached over and turned the side table light on. “I don’t remember ever saying that to you.”

She propped herself up on her elbow and looked at me. “It was in your office after we lost the baby. You kept pulling away from me. I tried to remind you what Emerson Bishop said about not blaming ourselves or each other and you screamed it at me.”

I cupped her face and ran my thumb against her cheek. “I never said I hated you. I said I hated what you were doing to me. I didn’t want to feel. I had been feeling hurt for far too long and I couldn’t do it anymore. I needed my feelings to shut off for a while, but I couldn’t shut them off around you. I could never hate you.”

“Oh.” She laid her head on my chest again. “I guess that’s how I took it.”

“I’m sorry.” I stroked her hair as I debated about asking the next question. I had to know. “If you had it to do over again, would you make me listen when you were trying to tell me about the baby?”

She didn’t say anything. I sat up a little to look at her, but she was already out. Her mother probably worked her as hard as her father worked me. I leaned over and turned the light out before stroking her hair again.

I had my own confession to make, and her being asleep made it easier to say out loud. “If I had it all to do over again, I would’ve loved you better.”

* * *

“Frank, you haven’t fixed that leak yet.” Marcella was a little more anxious than she normally was since the party was less than twenty-four hours away. We still had a lot of work to do, but Frank wasn’t in any hurry to get it done.

That was one huge difference I noticed about them from the beginning. Marcella was the type to make sure everything was done early, and Frank was a little more laid-back than that. They bickered until whatever project was done, but the moment everything came together, you could see the love. You could see the frustration, too, but the love always won out.

They had five sons who were all exactly as their father was. April was more like her mother, but she wasn’t as bad. She liked to get things done early, but she also knew there was plenty of time to do it. She didn’t believe in putting it off.

Her brothers were Christopher, Matty, Franky, Tony, and Nicky. Christopher used to be Chrissy, but when he got older, he put a stop to that. I’d yet to see any of them on this trip. They’d probably roll in the morning of when everything was done and act as if they did all the work themselves. I didn’t mind. I was there for April, and she knew what I’d done for them.

“I’ll get to it. I’ll get to it.” He came in from the other room. “You’ve got me doing a hundred other things. Is anyone going to be looking under our sink? I think not. I’ll get to it.” He stepped out of the room.

Marcella called out after him. “You’ve been saying that for weeks.”

He didn’t bother coming back in. He yelled from the other room, “I’m well aware, Marcy, because you’ve been nagging me for weeks.”

April and I looked at each other. Her mother hated to be called Marcy. It wasn’t her name, but when she pushed too much, April’s dad always shortened it to Marcy. He’d say he didn’t have time to say her full name because she was keeping him too busy.

I wanted to help calm them both down. “I can look at it for you.”

“You don’t mind? I don’t want it to explode when the guests are here tomorrow.” She had the cabinet doors open and the tool chest on the counter before she finished.

“No, I don’t mind at all.”

“April, dear, go help your father. I just saw him go into the backyard to hang lights. Make sure he follows that plan I gave him.”

“Okay, Ma. I’m going.” April glanced at me to see if I was okay with being left alone with her mother. I nodded.

I rubbed my hands together. “Let’s see what the problem is with this.” I climbed under the sink. “When does it seem to be leaking? Is it all the time, or only when you use it?”

“I think it’s only when I use it, but that could be only when I notice it. I don’t look under there normally. I just hear the drip after it’s on.”

I took the flashlight and shined it under the sink. “Can you turn the water on for me?”

It took only a few seconds after she turned the water on, but it started to drip onto my chest. “Okay, that’s good. You can turn it off. Thanks.”

Until the water had finished running through the line, it continued to drip on me. At least it was clean water. I was happy to see an easy fix, too. I wished all things in my life just needed tightening. The fixes I needed were too complex.

“What’s the word down there? Do I need to get a plumber out here? Do you know what that’s going to cost on a Saturday?”

“No, you don’t need a plumber.” I made sure all connections were tightened and there weren’t any other issues before coming out. “It should be good to go. If it starts leaking again soon, we may need to replace the P-trap.”

“I don’t know what any of that means, but if you fixed it, I’ll love ya forever.” She handed me a towel, grabbed my face, and pulled me down to kiss both of my cheeks. “I’ll love ya forever anyway. You know that, right?”

I gave a half-smile and nodded. She wouldn’t love me after April and I told her the truth after the party the next day. “It was nothing. I tightened the compression nuts, but you’re not at risk for it to explode tomorrow.”

“The what?” She waved her hand for me to ignore her question. “All I know is I’ve got a set of nuts of my own I’d like to compress.” She motioned to the backyard where her husband was.

That pulled a full smile out of me. “I’m sure he would’ve done it.”

“Yeah, but before the floor rotted through?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You saved the day and I’m grateful to you. You know, I’m glad you were able to get off work and give the controls to Hank yesterday.

“He’s a nice kid, but I’m not so sure he could’ve done that. I don’t mean to stereotype or anything, but he just doesn’t seem to be the kind of man who would know about compression nuts or whatever you called them. Other nuts, sure.” She laughed at her joke and then stopped. “Oh, that’s bad. I shouldn’t say that. He’s a great guy.”

“Is it because of the suit? I’m not sure I follow the stereotype you’re referring to. And, he’s a therapist, but we don’t deal with crazy people, and we don’t call them nuts.”

She stopped wiping the counter down and looked at me. “I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing here.”

“Well, I know a lot of white collar guys who handle their own home repairs. I wear a suit sometimes myself.”

“Now I know we’re not talking about the same thing. His collar is more of a rainbow than white, if you catch my drift.”

“No, I really don’t.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Do you not talk to the man? How could you not know what I’m referring to?”

“He’s April’s, uh, friend. I work with him, but I’m not on friendly terms.”

Her face softened and she smiled. “You’re jealous of their relationship.”

I grabbed the toolbox and looked around. “Where does this go?”

“It’s going to go up your ass if you try to change the subject again.” She took the toolbox from me and put it on the counter. “Is this why you’ve been having problems? Don’t tell me you haven’t. It took me calling you directly to guilt you into coming here.”

“I didn’t come here out of guilt.”

“Come on. What’s going on with you two? She comes alone, forgets her engagement ring every single time, and never calls you once while she’s here. A mother knows things. She won’t tell me, so fess up.”

I leaned my back against the counter and crossed my arms. “It really should come from her.”

“You think there’s something going on with her and Hank?”

I looked away. “It’s kind of obvious.”

“Baby, the only thing obvious is you’re blinded by your jealousy.” She stood in front of me, held my face, and made me look at her. “My daughter loves you with everything she has. I can promise you she isn’t seeing Hank the way you think she is.”

“I’m sorry, but you’re not there. You don’t see what I see.”

“No, I don’t. But, you’re not seeing the truth.”

I never yelled at her mother, but I was getting close to losing it. “You have no idea what has been going on the past few years. You have no idea what we’ve been through or what we’ve said to each other.”

“Does any of that matter? Does any of that make you stop loving her?” She stepped back when I walked to the other side of the room. “I didn’t think so. Look at her father and me. We’ve been married for over forty years and have fought every single day.

“Some have been bad fights. Here it’s just bickering. It means nothing other than the passion is there. And believe me, six kids? The passion is there.”

I widened my eyes quickly and looked away. I didn’t need to hear about passion. “That isn’t the problem. That was the only thing we were good at.”

“That isn’t the only thing. Why are you here if you’re not together anymore?”

“I didn’t want her to tell you alone.”

“Are you sure you didn’t come to try to stop her from telling me? Maybe you thought you could show her how good you two are together again.”

I crossed my arms and looked down. “You’re forgetting one thing.”

“Ah, yes. Hank.” She walked over and rubbed my arms. “If I could tell you without a doubt she is not seeing Hank, would that make a difference?”

I shrugged.

She held my face and made me look at her again. “Listen to me. The only man my daughter has had any interest in since she moved out there is you. Do you think she’d be afraid to admit you had broken up if she had another man she was interested in?”

“That doesn’t prove she isn’t dating Hank.”

“Baby, Hank is gay.”

“What?” I shook my head and narrowed my eyes. “No, he isn’t. They’re dating. He’s told me himself.”

“Those exact words have left his mouth.”

“Well, no, not those exact words, but he’s said he’d have no trouble taking her away from me.”

“He doesn’t mean it that way. I promise. Has he brought anyone around work?” She raised her eyebrows.

“There used to be this guy Seth, but that’s it.”

“Yeah, Seth is his ex.”

I stood up straighter at the possibility. “So, she isn’t dating Hank? They haven’t slept together?”

She laughed and went to put the toolbox away. “God, no. I think he’d rather sleep with you.”

“Where—”

“I just saw her go into the gardening shed.” She winked as I ran out the door.