Seeing. Hmm.

The woman he fucked when they both had time and he needed something hard and rough. And meaningless otherwise.

He hadn’t been to Portland since November. There’d really been no one else on his radar in any way since he kissed Tuesday that first time in December.

“We had one of those campers you hitched to the back of the car. They still have one, only theirs now is way swankier.”

“Are they all outdoorsy then?”

“My dad loves to camp. He goes all summer and fall. Now he scoops up the grandkids and he and my mom take them all out. He teaches them how to fish and how to orient themselves if they’re ever lost. I hope they grow up loving road trips, too. My dad, my two oldest brothers and my sister are all sporty. Competitive. When GJ—he’s the oldest of us all, Greg Junior—was in fourth grade someone told him black people couldn’t swim. So as it happened, he ended up one of the top swimmers in the state until he finished college. So there you go. Tell an Easton they can’t do something and it’s irresistible.”

“I’m astounded someone actually said that to your brother. Jesus.”

She snorted. “I passed by astounded by the time I was four or so. Some people are dicks, as my friend Jenny says. Anyway. We were a superbusy family as I grew up. All of us had activities of all sorts. We were always going to track meets and baseball games or piano recitals. My parents’ house is full of trophies and ribbons and all that stuff.”

“Piano recitals, huh?”

“That was Shawn. He’s really good even today. My parents were big on art. They didn’t care how we did it or what we chose, but we all had to take some sort of lesson. Music, dance, art, whatever.”

“Yours was jewelry making?”

“No. Actually back then it was ceramics.” Still was. She’d been considering building a kiln out behind the house.

“Very cool. I started playing the guitar because my dad bribed me for staying out of trouble. Then they paid for lessons but I didn’t need them long. But I was a convert and didn’t want to go to school or do anything else but play the guitar. By then Paddy had also got a guitar bribe. My mom wielded our free time like a weapon. If we did well in school and didn’t get into fights or trouble, they’d give us time doled out in half an hour increments to play.”

“We might be super careful about keeping our mothers apart.”

He chuckled. “Have you heard the story about Mary’s mom and mine?”

“No! Oh, do tell.”

“Mary and Damien had broken up. She’d seen these pictures and they looked really bad. Like Damien had been with an ex while they were in New York. So Damien chased after her to make things right and my mom went with him to help. But Mary’s mom is a lot like Sharon and so there was a time when it looked like they were going to have to break up a mom fight in Mary’s front yard. Course, now they’re thick as thieves and grandchild obsessed.”

Tuesday nodded, getting it. “At first glance Diana is sort of earth mothery. It’s sort of cute. But she’s very intense and detail oriented, too. But she would cut anyone who tried to mess with her family. Once I got sent home from an after-school camp thing because of my hair. My mom, well she and my dad actually, flipped her lid. She went down there and scared them all into backing off.”

“Your hair?”

“Yes. It was natural, like it is now. The head teacher there told me it looked messy and that my mother needed to do something with it. My mother was all calm as she came in, holding my hand. The woman, she tried to make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. My mother just looked at her like she was a bug. It was awesome.”

“I’m still hung up on this hair thing. It was all curly? Like it is now? And they didn’t like that? Your hair is fucking beautiful. You’re a goddamn goddess and now I want to punch someone in the face for making any child of any type feel bad for something so stupid. Jesus.”

Oh.

That was a shot to her solar plexus. She smiled at him, touched and a little tingly, too. People didn’t want to punch people on her behalf. Outside family anyway—her brothers had been happy to punch anyone who needed it. But it was different from Ezra.

“Yes, only my mother made sure it was taken care of. No children ever left the Easton house unless they were cleaned up and put together. I mean, sometimes it was braided or in puffs like I have now. Anyway, they tried to keep me out, my parents hired an attorney and they let me back in. Imagine that.”

“I like your mother already.”

“I like her, too. She’s pretty awesome.”

* * *

HE EASED INTO the hot tub alongside Tuesday sliding his arm around the edge of the tub at her back. Steam rose into the air and the stars stood out bright overhead.

“Thank you for bringing me up here. It’s gorgeous.” He leaned his head back, looking up to the sky. “I’ve been here less than five hours and already I’m more relaxed than I have been in a very long time.”

They’d had a big dinner with Natalie and Paddy, who’d sneaked off to their bedroom about half an hour before. Which left Ezra and Tuesday alone with a hot tub and a very dark night all around them.

It was pretty much like Ezra’s birthday instead of Tuesday’s.

“It’s so quiet out here, especially at night. No lights from a nearby city. It’s like I forget this is what the sky really looks like. I love to camp but Natalie thinks a hotel without Wi-Fi is roughing it.”