“Um…not to be a bitch or anything,” I tipped my head to my spinning wheel, “but I’m kinda busy.”

She hesitated then she walked to my radio and turned it down.

My eyes followed as she did this but my mind was thinking, yes again, Jesus. Was she serious?

I pulled in a very, very deep breath.

She moved close(ish).

“It’s important,” she whispered.

I reached down, turned off my wheel and sat up enough to lean my elbows into my knees, my head tipped back to look at her and I replied, “We met once briefly. I’m not certain we have anything to talk about but I am certain I have concerns about talking with you without Mike knowing it’s going down. And again, not to be a bitch or anything but I’m not comfortable with you showing up at my family barn without warning wanting to talk about something important.”

“I can understand that,” she replied but didn’t move.

“So, um…I have a lot to do,” I prompted her to take her leave.

“I won’t take up much of your time,” she stated instantly.

Jesus. Seriously?

“Audrey –”

“You must know this is hard on me,” she whispered and I blinked.

Hard on her? I didn’t show up at her house all of a sudden wanting to talk about something she had no clue what it was I wanted to talk about.

I sat up and tried for patience.

“Please understand, I’m very busy and whatever this is, I can’t do it right now.”

“I just –” she started but was cut off with a growled, clipped, very, very angry, “What the f**k?”

She turned swiftly and gave me an eyeful of my man prowling into the barn, his hard, glittering, angry eyes locked on Audrey.

Her showing was already bad. This was really bad.

“What the f**k?” he repeated even though he’d given neither of us the time to explain what the f**k was (not that I knew either).

“Mike –” Audrey started, lifting a hand toward him but he stopped three feet away, his eyes still glued to her and he interrupted.

“I thought that was your Mercedes. I didn’t want to believe it so I hoped it wasn’t. But here it is. It f**kin’ was. What in the f**k are you doin’ here?”

“I needed to speak with Dusty,” she answered.

“Audrey, honest to God, there is not one thing you need to speak with Dusty about.”

“You’re wrong, Mike,” she said quietly.

“Oh no, I f**kin’ am not,” he returned sharply.

“Please, if I can just talk with Dusty for a moment, it’ll only take a moment. Then I’ll be gone.”

“That’s not gonna happen. You’re gonna be gone in about two seconds and in those two seconds you’re not gonna say shit to Dusty.”

“Mike –” she began.

“Get in your f**kin’ car and go.”

“Mike, please –” she started again.

But he leaned forward, face still hard, eyes still glittering and now narrowed and he ground out, “We are not playin’ these games, Audrey. Not now. Not f**kin’ ever. Dusty is off-limits to you. Totally. Completely. She does not exist for you. Now get in your f**kin’ car and go.”

She did not get in her f**kin’ car and go, unfortunately.

She threw up both hands, exasperated, and declared, “You can’t imagine this is easy for me.”

“I don’t even know what this is,” Mike shot back. “And I don’t f**kin’ care.” He looked to me and asked, “You know she was showin’?”

I pressed my lips together since he was so pissed he was the definition of pissed and I didn’t want to make him more pissed. Actually, I didn’t want to be there at all while they faced off but unfortunately my pottery was not making itself and, unlike the other beings with only two legs that were in the barn with me, I had to be there. Still, I slowly shook my head.

Mike’s eyes cut back to Audrey but spoke to me, “’Course not. How would you?” Then he spoke to Audrey, “You don’t have her numbers. But town talk, you know she’s a Holliday. You know where the farm is. And you know she’s workin’ it. So you show. Puttin’ her on the spot for whatever shit you mean to shovel, makin’ her eat it when my woman’s got a vast amount of shit already on her f**kin’ plate.”

And that was when Audrey lost it.

She planted her hands on her hips, leaned forward and snapped, “She does exist for me, Mike. I can’t get away from her,” she unplanted one hand and threw it out to me before continuing. “Rees talks about her all the time. Jonas even talks about her all the time. Dusty has horses. Dusty rode one into the backyard. Dusty has a pretty laugh. Dusty has a pretty voice. Dusty always wears cool clothes. Dusty all the time. They see Dusty more than they see me. And they obviously talk to Dusty more than they do me since they have a lot more opportunity seeing as now she’s living with you and, incidentally, them. So when I want to do something special for my son for his birthday, I have to go to Dusty to find out what that is.”

Mike froze, I froze and Audrey stood there, her chest rising and falling visibly.

I suspected Mike was frozen for the same reason I was. I was surprised. Shocked, actually. This was not what I was expecting. Not at all. And what it was, was sad in the variety of ways that word could be used.

When no one spoke, Audrey broke the silence.

“So, as you can see, this isn’t easy for me. I’m trying to be a good mother and I have to go to my ex-husband’s girlfriend to find out what I should do for my son for his birthday since the thing I thought he would like, having his family all together for dinner, I’m not allowed to do.”

This was the wrong thing to say. She’d gained some amount of high ground but with that, she lost it instantly.

And Mike jumped right on it.

“Oh no, do not hand me that shit,” he growled.

“Is it not true?” she asked.

“You bought that,” he reminded her.

“And I’m paying,” she fired back. “Boy, Mike, am I paying.”

Mike opened his mouth to speak but I butted in and I did it quickly.

“He doesn’t care.”

Both Mike and Audrey looked at me but my eyes were on Audrey.

“No,” I started to explain. “He doesn’t care. Take him to Frank’s. Take him to The Station. Order in Reggie’s and rent movies. You live in Indy now, take him somewhere new and fun. He doesn’t care. He loves you. He believes you’re a good Mom deep down already. Anything you do to prove that belief right, he’ll love. So bake him one of your great cakes that even Mike says are the bomb, do something out of the ordinary but fun and spend time with him. That’s all you have to do.”