Layne didn’t know where she was heading with this but he still grinned at the windscreen and muttered, “Yeah, baby, you’re gonna be in my life for awhile.”

She was silent a moment then she said, “Okay, well then, um… she could have chosen a more diplomatic way to make her point but her point was valid.”

Layne was confused, therefore he asked, “Come again?”

“Gabrielle.”

Oh shit.

“Rocky –”

“Okay,” she said swiftly and he knew she’d turned to face him and a glance in her direction proved this true, “I’m in your life and they’re your sons so they’re in my life but that said, most of the time, promise, sweetheart, I won’t wade in unless you want me to but this time, I mean, I’ve seen Gabrielle around a lot over the years, with the boys, and it seems to me she’s a good Mom. Being a good Mom, regardless if Jasper is a boy or not, she probably worried about him last night just as much as Vi and Cal did about Keira. I know you’re a man and he’s your son, a boy, and you know how boys are so you won’t get this but I know she worried and,” she sucked in an audible breath, “you should have phoned her to let her know he was all right.”

“Sorry, were you not there a couple hours ago?” Layne asked.

“Yes, but –”

Layne talked over her. “I try to avoid communication with Gabrielle.”

“Well, I can see that too, but –”

“She’s a bitch.”

“Um… yes, but –”

Layne turned on Main and lucked out, in Rocky’s Mercedes, with a double spot open in front of the office, he could pull right in rather than needing to use all of his attention to steer the Suburban behemoth.

Therefore he was able to continue talking over Rocky as he parked. “She isn’t a bitch to the boys but she’s a hard Mom, she’s strict, she’s in their business, I’m not down with that.” He put the car in neutral, set the parking brake, switched off the ignition and turned to face Rocky. “That’s her choice. We discussed it when they were young, we discussed it throughout the time I was away and we’ve discussed it when I came back. That wasn’t the first conversation I’ve had like that with her, Roc, but it was the last.”

Rocky looked directly into his eyes but she spoke quietly when she asked, “Do you at least see where I’m coming from?”

“Yeah, I see where you’re comin’ from. You’re the woman who got up without a word, without a judgment, got in the car and went with me to take care of my boy. You’re the woman I saw grab hold of Jas’s hand last night when he was freaked and pissed and his girl was passed out in his car and he was gearin’ up to face Joe Callahan. You think Gabby would do any of that shit?”

“Um –”

“No, she wouldn’t. She’d lose it. That’s why Jas called me. That is also why he avoided her last night and went to bed.”

“But, Layne, he shouldn’t be underage drinking.”

“You did,” Layne returned and he knew she did, she didn’t do it with him, but she called him twice when she was out with friends and got hammered. He’d come to pick her and her girls up to take them home.

“It wasn’t right when I did it either,” she replied softly.

“So, I get in his face about it, next time he f**ks up, and there’ll be a next time, Roc, he didn’t like the consequences of him mannin’ up and callin’ me, he goes it alone. Like Gabby said, he’s seventeen, he didn’t know what to do last night, what happens when he doesn’t know what to do but he feels compelled to go it alone because he doesn’t wanna put up with the grief he’ll get by comin’ forward and bein’ honest?”

As he spoke, Rocky’s face changed and when he was done, she whispered, “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

Layne reached out a hand and curled it around her neck, leaning forward as he pulled her to him.

When they were close, he said gently, “I tried the lecture gig with Jas, it doesn’t go over as in, it doesn’t go over at all. He’s a learn by doin’ type of kid and he’ll make mistakes. My only hope is, he f**ks up royally, he’ll call me in for guidance. Last night he f**ked up, not royally, but he called me in for guidance. It was the right thing to do.” She nodded and he squeezed her neck. “And Gabby earned what she got last night. That’s the kind of parent she wanted to be, that’s what she gets. She’s too hard on ‘em. That’s my opinion. I can’t say it hasn’t worked because they’re good kids. I can say I don’t agree with all the ways she goes about it. We never found a middle ground, I was willin’ to give, she was not. This is what’s left of that.”

“Okay,” Rocky whispered.

“Somethin’ else, sweetcheeks,” Layne went on.

“What?” She was still whispering.

“You’re in my life, I’m in yours. I come with them. You wanna talk to me about them, about my decisions regarding my boys, about anything, you don’t hesitate. You got somethin’ to say to them, you say it. If I don’t agree, we’ll talk about it later. But this is your life now and I think you know, bein’ a teacher, when it comes to kids, you can’t hesitate.”

Her eyes went intense as her lids lowered, her mouth softened and she leaned in, veering to the side, she kissed his jaw.

Then she shifted her lips to his ear and said, “All right, sweetheart.”

His hand flexed on her neck and then slid up into her hair.

“Sweet kiss, baby, but it’s not enough,” he muttered.

Her lips moved and she kissed his cheek.

“Enough?” she said this with her lips moving against his skin.

“Nope.”

She moved again and her lips brushed his, her eyes looking into his, she repeated, “Enough?”

“Quit f**kin’ around, Roc,” he ordered.

He watched up close as her eyes smiled.

Then they closed.

Then her head tilted.

Then she gave him more than enough.

* * * * *

Layne had his feet up on the desk. He was eating the reuben Rocky bought him, his mouth over a square Styrofoam container held up almost to his chin.

Rocky was sitting on his desk, dipping a curly fry into ketchup next to her half-eaten French dip. They were listening to nothing but Layne hadn’t heard only nothing. Layne had heard a showdown between Towers and Jeremy. Jeremy had won, talking Towers down, earning a few more days to swing Giselle around. Clearly, they’d motivated him appropriately the day before, he’d handled it like a pro. Then both of them had left and now silence.