I’d been in the office that day and the kids had done a number on it. Nothing on the desk was where it’d been before and the computer was totally f**ked up and had about fifty more applications than it had when they walked in yesterday. Still, I liked them being in the bar which was where Morrie and I spent a lot of our childhood and seeing as loved ones were close, it was a good place to be.

Morrie had his cell to his ear as he made his way behind the bar. “Yeah, Dee, I picked ‘em up from school. Things are busy here. You mind comin’ ‘round after work to pick them up?”

He was close so, at his words, I punched him in the arm hard.

“Yow!” he shouted and I bugged my eyes out at him. “Nothin’ Dee, darlin’, just that Feb’s in a mood.” He chuckled and said, “That’s it, babe. Later.”

I was still glaring at him when he flipped his phone shut.

“What was that for?” he asked me.

“It was for tellin’ Dee to come get the kids. She’s tired, it’s Monday, Mondays suck. She doesn’t want to go out of her way to get the kids. And anyway, Dad’s here, we’re busy but he’d cover for you.”

“Well, she’ll want to come out of her way today,” he replied.

“Yeah, why? Because your natural charisma will brighten her day?”

“No,” he shot back. “Because I got reservations at Costa’s tonight and she loves that place. We’re gonna have a family dinner. It’s a surprise.”

I snapped my mouth shut, surprised and impressed. Morrie spoke the truth, Dee loved Costa’s like crazy, the kids did too. Hell, I did too. Everyone loved Costa’s. It was a great Greek restaurant one town over. It was where you went to celebrate things, birthdays, getting into the university you wanted, shit like that. Not just Monday night family night.

Morrie was going to score huge on this.

“Got anything else to say?” Morrie asked and I didn’t so I didn’t say anything.

All of a sudden I heard Dad laugh and just as sudden his arms were around me and he was giving me a big hug. I hugged him back automatically. Then when I got over my surprise that I was all of a sudden being hugged by my Dad in the bar for no reason, I felt his hug and the feel of it almost made me cry.

Dad was a hugger, he was affectionate like Morrie, but I hadn’t had a hug like that from my Dad in a long… fucking… time.

That was when I really hugged him back.

“I love my girl,” he whispered in my ear before he let me go.

I had tears in my eyes when I said to his back, “Love you too, Dad.”

Morrie put his big mitt on the side of my head and gave it a shove.

I took a deep breath to control the tears and gave my brother a smile because with his head shove, he was saying he loved me too.

And somehow I felt like I’d come home. Not like when I got home two years ago to stay for good or any of the times I’d come home to visit, but like I’d really, finally, come home.

* * * * *

The Terrible Trio showed up at quarter passed five.

For me this meant Jessie, Meems and Dee.

They ambled in, eyes on me and I knew I was in trouble.

Dee, I was expecting. The three of them together meant they’d planned this and it sent bad tidings.

“Hey babe,” Morrie called to Dee.

“Hey, hon,” Dee replied, “be with you in a sec. Gotta have a word with Feb before I take the kids home.”

There it was. Trouble.

Morrie read Dee’s tone. He read it and it made him do two things: grin and skedaddle.

Jessie, Meems and Dee bellied up to Colt’s end of the bar and I approached.

“Get you gals a drink?” I asked.

“Not here for libations, girlie,” Jessie answered.

I knew that. Shit.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Lindy who heard it from Bobbie who heard it from Lisa who heard it from Ellie who got it straight from the horse’s mouth says you talked to Melanie this mornin’,” Jessie told me.

My mind flew through the strategies available to deal with this situation.

I settled on nonchalance. “Yeah, sure, she called this morning.”

“And?” Meems prompted.

“And nothing, Colt was gone. He had work,” I answered.

“And?” Jessie said this time.

“Nothin’,” I replied.

“Girlie, your whatever-he-is’s ex phones you, findin’ you at his house first thing in the mornin’, you call your girlfriends so we can peck it over and so, when other people call us about it, we don’t look like ass**les because we’re surprised,” Jessie informed me.

“It wasn’t a big deal,” I informed her right back.

“It was, seein’ as she was callin’ Colt to ask him to dinner so she could see if he wanted to have another go,” Dee told me.

“Another go at what?” I asked then it hit me and I knew. I knew. Shit, I knew. I actually felt the blood draining out of my face before I whispered, “She said it wasn’t important.”

“She lied,” Meems said.

“She ain’t exactly gonna let you in on that,” Jessie noted.

“Oh crap,” I said and then I leaned forward, putting my elbows on the bar and my forehead in my hands.

I didn’t need this shit, not for a variety of reasons. The obvious one being I had enough shit to deal with. The one that somehow seemed more pressing was that I didn’t want Melanie to want Colt back because I didn’t want to find out that Colt wanted Melanie back.

“February,” Dee called.

“Give me a minute to think,” I said to the bar.

“Well, let us in on this thinkin’ ‘cause maybe we can help,” Jessie offered and I straightened.

“How’re you gonna do that?” I asked.

“Well, firstly, by telling you to pull your finger out about Colt and show him you’re ready to try again,” Meems stated.

“Actually, that’s most of how we were gonna help,” Dee put in.

“Great. That works. Thanks.” My tone was pure sarcasm.

“Has he kissed you again?” Dee asked and I pressed my lips together.

“He kissed her,” Meems muttered.

“They played pool too. Colt wiped the floor with her ass.”

This came from my mother who had planted herself by Dee and I hadn’t even noticed.

Mom had, that day, been given free rein to clean out Colt’s second bedroom. She called me at ten o’clock to inform me she’d talked Bud Anderson into delivering a brand new queen-sized mattress and box springs with a standard frame to Colt’s house by three o’clock. She bragged to me for ten minutes about the bargain she got. I didn’t dwell on why Mom was suddenly cleaning out and furnishing Colt’s second bedroom. As I mentioned before, I had enough to deal with.