Now it was just us, I needed to address the issue with my girls and I didn’t need Joe mucking up the works.

“This isn’t funny,” I hissed at Joe.

“Baby –”

“It isn’t!”

“Vi –”

“Stop laughing!” I demanded because he wasn’t laughing but he was smiling big and I knew, inside, he was laughing. “This is serious!”

“Buddy,” Joe’s voice sounded strangled, “fuck me, baby, but you took her down.” He uncrossed his arms, lifted a palm ceiling up and smacked his other hand down on it making a huge clapping noise before the heels of his hands went to the counter and he burst out laughing.

So did my girls.

“Joe –”

“In the rain,” Joe choked out.

“Joe!”

“Both of you wet,” Joe continued.

“Joe!”

“You coulda sold tickets to that shit,” Joe went on.

“Joe!” I shouted.

“Word gets around, honey, gonna have to beat the men back,” Joe finished.

I glared at him and then I swung my glare to the girls who were both giggling their asses off. Keira had her elbows to the counter, her face in her hands. Kate had collapsed onto her bent arm on the counter.

“I’m glad you all think this is so funny!” I snapped and then moved to flounce out but I was caught at the waist and pulled into Joe’s arms. My head jerked back and I demanded, “Let me go, Joe.”

“Baby –”

“Let… me… go!”

One of Joe’s hands curled around the side of my neck and his grinning face got in mine.

“Vi, honey, shit happens, you gotta laugh. You can’t laugh, you’re f**ked.”

“You don’t know what she said,” I whispered, hoping the girls were still giggling so hard they couldn’t hear.

“I heard enough to know she deserved a busted lip and then some and any woman talks to Kate or Keira like that, I hope they got enough attitude to do the same f**kin’ thing.”

My body got tight and I informed him, “Girls don’t do that.”

“Maybe they should. Tina and Susie had that lesson taught to them a long time ago, maybe they wouldn’t be such bitches,” Joe replied.

This, I had to admit, was a point to ponder.

“Okay, I don’t want my girls doin’ that,” I amended my statement.

“You’re tellin’ me, some woman comes up to them and treats them to what Susie did to you, you want them to walk away?”

“Yes,” I kind of lied.

“What’d Susie do to you?” Keira asked from behind me and I turned in Joe’s arm but didn’t move away because his arm was now around my belly and it tightened, pulling my back into his front.

“It doesn’t matter. I was hungry and emotional but I still shouldn’t have acted that way,” I told Keira. “The better woman turns the other cheek.”

“Then she gets the upper hand,” Joe put in, I got tense and twisted my neck to look up at him as he kept talking. “Maybe wrestling with them on the sidewalk in the rain isn’t the way to go but don’t let anyone treat you like shit. No woman and especially no man. Anyone talks trash to you, you walk away. It follows you, you deal with it. You wanna know how, no matter where you are, you call me and I’ll tell you how.”

“Okay, lecture over,” I announced before Joe got on a roll.

“Thanks, Joe,” Keira said and I sighed because I had a feeling everything I’d said to her during my ten minute lecture about how physical violence was never the way was totally forgotten but Joe’s last words about getting the upper hand were etched into her brain.

“Yeah, Joe, thanks,” Kate said and added, “And thanks Mawdy, we’ll start with turnin’ the other cheek.”

“Great, start with that. Makes me feel better,” I muttered.

Kate smiled at me then said, “I’m gonna listen to music and put my new CDs on my MP3. Is that cool?”

“Sure, baby,” I answered.

“I’m goin’ to my room to get on Messenger and tell all my friends my Mom got in a catfight at the strip mall today. Is that cool?” Keira asked, Joe chuckled, Kate giggled and I looked at the ceiling.

Then I looked back at my daughter. “Laptop confiscated, you do that.”

“Right,” she muttered and grinned, “then I’ll put my new CDs on my MP3 player.”

“Good call,” I told her.

They moved off to their rooms and Joe’s mouth moved to my neck where he kissed me then said in my ear, “You know, even if Keira doesn’t share, that shit’s gonna get around. Josie Judd’s got a big mouth.”

I sighed again then turned back to face him. I put my hands on his chest and leaned in deep.

“I know.”

He grinned. “You’re gonna be a local hero, buddy. Susie isn’t real popular.”

I bit my lip, lifted a hand to fiddle with the collar of his tee and watched my fingers doing this.

“Joe,” I called and stopped speaking.

“Vi, you’re pressed up against me, baby.”

I looked up at him. “What happened to Susie’s Mom? Do you know?”

Joe’s head tilted slightly to the side and he answered, “More ‘burg lore. Drunk driving accident.”

“Oh,” I whispered, thinking that was awful.

“The person drivin’ drunk was her Dad.”

I felt my eyes get huge and I repeated, “Oh.”

“He walked away without a scratch. She broke her neck.”

“My God,” I breathed.

“Spent the rest of his life makin’ it up to Susie by spoilin’ her rotten,” Joe continued.

This explained a lot and it also made me feel extremely guilty for busting her lip.

“Get that shit outta your head, buddy. It sucks that happened. But it doesn’t excuse bein’ a bitch,” he said.

He was right, it didn’t. Or at least not that much of a bitch.

“Life’s pretty f**ked up for everyone, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Pretty much,” Joe answered.

“You think,” I pressed my lips together then went on, “the girls… Sam, Tim, what happened today?”

Joe’s brows went up. “You think they’ll turn into bitches?”

I shook my head. “I just worry that all of this –”