“Joe?” I called.
“Yeah, baby,” he answered.
“Scales are even,” I told him on a whisper.
“What?” he asked.
I closed my eyes, pressed closer, opened my eyes and kept whispering. “Missed Tim, missed a lot of things about him. One of those things was knowin’ there was someone who’d look out for me, the girls.” I pressed my lips together and bit them both as I felt his body grow tight then I continued. “Remember that night we met? I had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to ask Kenzie to turn down the music?”
“Baby –”
“Tim would have done that. I wouldn’t have had to put on those boots and go into the cold.”
“Vi –”
“I wouldn’t have had to leave our bed.”
He rolled into me, murmuring again, “Vi –”
“I wouldn’t have had to tromp through the snow, get cold or even get angry.”
His hands started moving on me under his tee as he whispered, “Shut up, buddy.”
“Tim always had our backs, he never let anything like that touch us. Never.”
“Vi, shut it.”
“You won’t either.”
“Shut it, Vi.”
“We had everything. Everything. Tim gave it to us. Having Nicky, you had a lot, Joe, but you never had everything so you can’t know how much it hurts to lose it.”
Joe was silent.
I kept talking. “Having it back, you giving it to us, the scales are balanced.”
He didn’t tell me to shut up again. He kissed me, not hard and greedy and demanding. No, it was long and tender and beautiful.
When he was done, he tucked my face into his throat and held me.
“Love you, Joe,” I whispered to his throat.
“Love you too, buddy. Go to sleep.”
“Okay. ‘Night, honey.”
“’Night, baby.”
It took awhile for me to sleep. It took longer for Joe. I knew this because I fell asleep before him.
It was strange I got to sleep because my mind was focused on wondering what was on his.
But I got to sleep.
And I again slept the night through without the nightmare.
*
The check was in the box the next morning well before nine.
Tina was a bitch but she was no fool.
Joe looked annoyed. I was relieved.
The girls were both up early. Kate had her last shift noon to four at the Custard Stand before quitting to go back to school on Monday. Keira had a full day of sunbathing and pool frolicking ahead of her at Heather’s, her last hurrah before school started. I’d gotten them up because I needed to give them instructions before I left and they started their days.
“Keirry, baby, can you clean your bathroom before you go to Heather’s?” I asked, though I didn’t expect an answer, I just expected her to complain about it then do it, so to avoid the complaining I hurriedly turned to Kate and went on. “And can you vacuum and dust before you go to work? I’ll mop the kitchen after dinner tonight but I’ll be late because I have to do the big shop for Gramma and Grandpap before I get home.”
Before Kate could agree and Keira could bitch, Joe said, “Make a list, I’ll swing by the store after I deal with the yard.”
All three pairs of Winters girls eyes went to Joe.
It was me who spoke.
“Deal with the yard?” I asked.
“Tim’s folks’ll be here tomorrow, buddy. Can’t have that word bleached into the lawn,” Joe answered.
This was true but a quick fix was virtually impossible unless you, say, killed all the grass around the letters. This was an option which held merit since I didn’t want Bea and Gary to see the lawn like that and worry. But after the care I’d taken with my lawn, it wasn’t one I liked overly much.
“How are you gonna deal with it?” I asked with curiosity.
“Dig it out. I’ll be at the garden center sometime late mornin’ to pick up some rolls of sod.”
I hadn’t thought of this option mainly because that was a lot of work, it would take a lot of time and it would cost some cake. The first one I could do, the second one, no way (making, for me, the task impossible, but not for Joe), the last one, since Joe was paying for everything, was also doable but I wasn’t used to having leftover money yet so it didn’t spring to mind.
I had thought of watering the hell out of the yard to drain away the bleach and sprinkling grass seed then watering the hell out of the yard again. This would mean the word “bitch” would be in my yard for weeks, maybe months, which sucked.
Joe’s solution was so much better.
Before I could tell him that, Keira piped up. “I’ll help you!”
My mouth dropped open. So did Kate’s.
Keira giving up sunbathing and pool frolicking to help Joe in the yard was a miracle. Such a miracle, if I was a Catholic, I’d notify the Vatican, no joke.
Again, before I could say anything, Joe, who was sitting on a stool next to Keira (Kate was behind the counter with me), reached out and wrapped a big hand around the back of her neck. Then he gently swayed her side to side.