“Dad hadn’t seen her for years and she drives up and says she’s home and he says three words. Then he takes her hand and they walk into the house. The house I grew up in, by the way. Without a mother, by the way. “Before I could even think about following, Dad closes the door, and I swear I heard the dead bolt click.”

Jenny couldn’t hold laughter in any longer. “This is not about you, Ben.”

“Obviously!” He was not ready to settle down. “For all I know they’ve forgotten they had me years ago and are upstairs making another kid right now.”

She was still laughing, but she managed to say, “Again, this isn’t about you, Ben. Give them some time.”

He pulled up in front of her cabin but didn’t cut the engine.

“You coming in?” she asked.

“I can’t. Then we’d be doing what they’re doing right now. I can’t handle it. They’re both sixty. They’re in their heart attack years. What they are doing is dangerous.”

“Maybe they are not having sex. Maybe they are talking. They’ve got lots of catching up to do.”

“Don’t say that word.”

“What word?”

“Sex.”

She was giggling again. “You do know where you come from, Ben. I know it’s biology and not chemistry, but you do know the concept.”

He turned off the engine. “You’re right. I’m cracking up. I’m never like this.”

“Come inside and I’ll make you an egg sandwich. It’ll go great with a shot of whiskey.”

He followed her in and let her pamper him. There was reason in her voice. He downed the whiskey in one toss and didn’t even remember eating the sandwich until she asked him if he’d like another one.

She was the flighty one. He was the rock-solid one. But here she stood as he sat at her bar and she was patting on him like he was a lunatic.

Finally, after another drink, they ate cookies and talked about growing up. She had three sisters and swore her father never got their names right, and he laughed about asking his dad the facts of the birds and the bees, and his dad took him out to watch cows.

Both were tired. When they tried to watch the late news, they fell asleep on the couch. He liked cuddling into her. She was a woman who knew how to melt into a man.

“Stay the night,” she whispered to wake him.

“All right, but no sex.”

“I agree. We’ve already had our month’s ration.”

He slept in his T-shirt and underwear and she slept in her panties and bra. He decided he looked like a nerd and she looked sexy as hell.