“The leg aches every day and I loathe and despise not being on my feet, but that’s not what I want to talk about. I need to know if the two of you are okay with each other. I don’t know what happened, and I don’t need to know, but it’s obvious Armie is no longer dating Lila Daley. I know Remy likes to protect the female members of his family in some barbaric ways.”

“I don’t call them barbaric. Maybe my justice is biblical, but it’s also effective.” Remy turned to Armie. “Armie and I are fine. Lila explained that it wasn’t a good fit, and as long as he treats her with respect, we won’t have any trouble. Hey, not every relationship works.”

But theirs had. It seemed to work beautifully, except that one problem. “I’m not going to do anything to hurt her. We didn’t break up because we didn’t care about one another. If she ever needs anything, I’ll be there.”

Rene nodded. “Excellent. I wanted to let you both know that I intend to ask Ms. Daley out. The accident taught me something. I’m not getting any younger and that woman is a damn rock. I’d like very much to see if we’re compatible.”

“No.” The word came out of his mouth before he was smart enough to stop it. He didn’t have any right to tell Rene he couldn’t go after Lila. He’d always known Rene was a better match. Rene was younger than he was, didn’t have children. Wanted children.

Except he’d dreamed the night before of what it would be like to have it all again, with the right woman this time. He’d married his ex-wife because she’d been pregnant. Having children with Lila would be a deliberate act of will.

An act of hope.

What would it be like to raise a couple of kids he got to see every single day? To raise them with a woman he truly loved? He adored his daughter, but he’d missed so much by being her weekend father.

It was pure bad timing that the minute he lost Lila was also the minute he knew he wanted that family.

“I’m sorry, what does that mean?” Rene was staring at him.

“I’d like to understand that myself.” Remy frowned his way. “I wasn’t happy with how you treated Lila, but I understand that she can be a handful. She also told me I wasn’t allowed to punch you, so tread carefully because I’ll ignore that if you annoy me.”