"Sorry?" I asked, feeling my brows draw together.
"Tess, hon, her ex-bad boy, ex- hot boy just hooked his star to a brand new, bright and shiny moon. He's into his new moon. He traded up. He likes it. He's gonna stay awhile. She knows this probably from her boys. She don't like it. She instigated a play. Looks of her, she's got a big playbook. She may not want him but doesn't want anyone else to have him or she thinks she's all that and never thought he'd move on and doesn't like it that he has, it shook her awake and she's finally lookin' around and sees what she's missin'. I'll give it to her, it was a good play, drama, tears, family as an audience. But if he got shot of her ass, he'll see through it. You just need to keep your chin up."
I stared at her wondering if it was actually true that people did that kind of thing.
So I asked, "Do people actually do that kind of thing?"
"Uh... yeah," she answered.
"They have children," I told her.
"Right, Tess, and head's up, right now, to her, whatever her game is, those two boys just stopped bein' boys and they became pawns."
Oh my God.
"She wouldn't," I whispered.
"Mark my words, girlfriend, that bitch has got bitch written all over her. You got your hands full, hon. Lucky for you, you got your posse and his family at your back. After she made that play, they were all whispering, worried about you. Not him, they know your boy sees it for what it is, they were worried about you 'cause they know her for what she is and they know this is play one and right now she's got her nose in her playbook, decidin' what to do for play two. Chin up. He'll see her play for what it is and he'll be on the lookout for her next one. You just gotta ride that wave."
Kentucky for the first time in awhile was looking good again.
This time, though, I was packing up Brock, Joel and Rex to take with me.
I said good-bye to Elvira, walked back to the house and was struck by Ellie Lightning the minute I made it through the door.
"Tangled! " she screeched, I pushed aside my thoughts and smiled down at her.
"Tangled, " I agreed.
And thus I found myself up in Fern's bedroom lying across the foot of the bed with Ellie in her princess dress tucked in front of me.
Kalie and Kellie wandered up too and camped out on the floor. Jill and Fern came as well and lay behind us in the bed. Lenore and Laura were with the boys watching football.
Tangled turned to Beauty and the Beast which was one of my favorite movies ever, animated or not.
Still, I'd just had Thanksgiving dinner and it was Thanksgiving Law to pass out shortly after consumption of said dinner therefore I zonked out in the middle of it.
Therefore when I heard Ellie whisper loudly, "Uncle Slim, she's sleeping, " I woke up.
I blinked my eyes, surprised that I drifted off, to see Mulan playing behind Brock who was crouched by the bed and my eyes opened right before his hand curled warm around my neck.
"Time to go, sleepyhead," he said softly to me. "Gotta get the boys home."
Home. To Olivia's.
I nodded, pushed up from the bed after giving Ellie a brief snuggle, tried to pull myself together through hugs and farewells and then found myself in the passenger seat of my own car, Brock driving, the boys in the back, the same arrangement as we arrived.
They chatted about football.
I stared out the window.
We drove into the elegant drive of a big house in Cherry Hills Village which meant that when Brock said Olivia's new husband was loaded, he actually meant loaded.
"Later, Tess," Joel said to me.
"Later, honey," I said to Joel, turning to the backseat.
"Later, Tess, thanks for the pecan pie and the pumpkin pie and the cheesecake I ate during football," Rex shared his gratitude.
I smiled at him.
"I was in the mood for cake, so thanks for the three pieces I ate," Joel put in so I smiled at him.
"Anytime, baby," I said softly. "See you guys later."
They waved and got out.
"I'll be back, babe," Brock muttered, waited for me to look at him and nod and he got out and followed his boys.
I watched.
Olivia met him on the front step.
I kept watching.
Joel and Rex gave their Dad hugs and disappeared inside. Olivia didn't look once at the car as she engaged Brock in conversation. Brock started to look my way but didn't get his head fully turned when her hand came up and curled around his bicep and she stepped in closer so his head turned back to her.
I stopped watching.
I was staring out the side window when I heard him get in, put the idling car in gear and reverse out of the drive and I kept staring out the side window as he pointed us home.
About ten seconds later, his fingers curled around mine, pulled them to his thigh and he asked quietly, "You okay?"
"Just tired," I lied. "Too much food."
"Right," he muttered, giving my hand a squeeze and saying no more but not letting my hand go.
He took us to my house, we both got out, walked up, I let us in and I shrugged off my coat and took it to the hall closet. Brock shrugged off his and threw it on the sofa.
He went to the fridge for beer.
I went to the island and looked at him.
"If you've got football to watch," I said, he turned from the fridge and his eyes came to me, "go ahead. I'm going to read up here for awhile."
He stood in the opened fridge door and held my eyes.
And I knew why he did this.
Unless he was with his boys, we spent every night together and we woke up next to each other every morning.
And when we were together, we were together, watching TV, a movie, if he was watching a game. We were up together and when we went to bed, we went to bed together.
He did not go downstairs and watch a game while I stayed upstairs to read.
Perhaps, in future, this might change but now, I liked it like this. I liked being with him.
He was attentive, touchy, we cuddled or were close and it felt good.
And the fact Brock was attentive, touchy and we cuddled meant he liked it too.
And, clearly, from what would happen next, Brock was not ready for us to move on to a different kind of relationship.
I knew this when he closed the fridge and walked around the island. Then he came to me, grabbed my hand, pulled me into the living room, sat on the couch and pulled me to sitting astride his lap.
Once he had me in position and his hands settled on my hips, he said, "All right, babe, what's up?"
"Nothing, I " I started to lie, his fingers dug into my hips and he interrupted me.
"I got a new job, a new house, new fuckin' furniture and a new woman in my life. That woman comes with a motherfucker of an ex who's poising to strike, I know it in my gut and I gotta be prepared. My Dad's sick, he may be dyin' and my family's fucked up about it.
Somethin' is goin' on with my boys and I gotta look into that. And today, my bitch of an ex-wife shows up on Thanksgiving to inform me her husband is steppin' out on her, she doesn't care and she knew it was a mistake before she signed the marriage certificate. She went on to say she fucked up with him and with me, she sees this clear now, feels that time is of the essence considering our boys are growing up without a stable family unit, so, upon a great deal of reflection, her fuckin' words, regardless of the holiday, she felt it prudent she didn't delay in informing me she wants me and our family back. With all that, you gotta see I do not have it in me to play guessing games. All I got left in me for today is to have a beer with my woman, watch a game, take her to bed, let her fuck me sweet like she always fucks me then go to sleep."
I stared down at him thinking there was a lot there, a lot, a lot, but I honed in on one thing.
So I asked, "She told you she wants you back?"
"Yeah, if you can believe that shit."
I kept staring down at him.
Then I stated, not a question this time but still a question, "She told you she wants you back."
His fingers dug in again and he said, "Yeah."
"She walked up to your mother's house on Thanksgiving and told you she wanted you back," I, yet again but with some added detail, stated.
Brock didn't reply. He just watched me closely.
"I don't know what to say," I told him and I didn't. I buried my head in the sand, sure, but I knew people did crazy shit, case in point my own husband raping me but that, that was insane.
"Nothin' to say," he told me.
"Do you want her back?" I asked and he did a slow blink.
Then he asked, "Come again?"
"Do you want her back?" I repeated.
"Do I want her back?"
"Yeah, do you want her back?"
His brows drew together and his fingers dug into my hips again before he asked, "Have you lost your mind?"
"No," I replied. "She's beautiful. She's the mother of your children. And you loved her once enough to marry her. I saw you outside holding her in your arms and I saw you when you got back into the house after that scene and you looked conflicted. Not annoyed, not angry, not frustrated, conflicted. So no, Brock, I haven't lost my mind."
His mouth got tight then he said low, "Babe, I was holding her in my arms 'cause when the mother of your sons cries crocodile tears, your best play is to give her that play then, soon as you can, walk away. That's what I did. And when confronted, again, with the knowledge that my boys got a Mom like the Mom they got, in other words, she's the kind of woman who would walk into my house, see another woman in my kitchen and lose her mind when she sees someone playin' with what she considers her toy and scheme in preparation for makin' a play in my mother's motherfuckin' front yard on motherfuckin' Thanksgiving, that is gonna make me conflicted. And I'm conflicted because this means, with all that other shit I just laid out for you, I gotta look into attorneys and whatever else I gotta do to make certain my boys don't spend the vast majority of their time suckin' up whatever acid she leaks not to mention whatever-the-fuck her man is like, steppin' out on their Mom, if that's even true, or anything else, and at least try to give them somethin' good for more than four fuckin' days a month.
Now, with this, I'll ask you, what's the priority? You and your motherfucker ex? My Dad dyin' and my family at each other's throats? Or my boys in that viper's den?"
Hmm. This was a good question.
And I had the uncomfortable feeling I'd been a bad girlfriend to my hot guy.
Time to sort myself out.
"Your boys in that viper's den," I told him, he did a slow blink again and I explained.
"Damian does something, we'll deal. Your family are all adults, they need to deal. Your sons are powerless and they need you to deal."
He stared up at me and I kept talking.
"I'm sorry, my reaction was selfish, I should have thought of you and I'll work on it but I'm a woman and women have this thing when their men have had women in their lives that are better looking than them." This got another slow blink coupled with a finger squeeze at my hips but I was on a roll so I ignored these and stayed on that roll. "You're hot. I should have known she would be beautiful but just how beautiful she is took me by surprise. Like I said, I'll work on that and try to get over it. But, in my defense, it's my experience not a lot of men say no to a woman like her and, even if it didn't work out in the end, at one time you were one of them."
"Tess " he started but I talked over him.
"And, just to say, you were able to talk your brother back into the house and I know you have a full plate but, once some of this other stuff is sorted, you need to carve time out to have more words with him. Not about your Dad or about me, he needs to sort himself out about your Dad and I'll win him over eventually so, if you're worried about that too, then you need to stop doing it, but about Lenore. She's in love with him, she's a good person, she's sweet and if he isn't into her he needs to cut her loose and he also needs to get his head out of his ass because if he's breaking hearts like that all through Denver, that isn't cool."
When I stopped talking, Brock remained silent and stared up at me.
When the silence stretched for awhile, he asked, "Are you done?"
"Well," I started, "yeah."
Then he asked, "You think Olivia is better looking than you?"
My brows drew together and I repeated, "Well... yeah."
He was silent again while staring at me.
"Brock " I started but he cut me off.
"Jesus, you haven't, have you?"
"I haven't what?"
"Ever played games."