“What’s going on around here?” Owen asked them. Was it his imagination or did his mother look mortified to see him standing there?

“You didn’t hear any of that, did you?” she asked.

“Any of what?”

The question set off another wave of laughter between the two women, giving him a warm feeling of homecoming that had been so rare in his life before the last year. While this hotel had been the only true home he’d ever had during a childhood marked by frequent moves and the strife of his violent family life, it was even more so now that he and Laura were living here together. Having his mother with them only made it that much better.

“Why do I feel like I’m missing the punch line to a joke—or maybe I am the joke?”

His question set them off again. Seeing them both laughing so hard was good for what ailed him, and he couldn’t help but smile at their glee.

“Trust me when I tell you,” Laura said, wiping tears from her eyes, “you do not want to know what we were talking about.”

Eyeing them with trepidation, Owen said, “I take it you had a good night with Charlie, Mom?”

Sarah gasped and looked to Laura for help. “Make him stop. I’m not talking about that with him.”

“I don’t want any details, and I mean that with every fiber of my being. I was simply asking if you had a nice time.”

“Um, yes,” Sarah said. “Yes, I did.”

Her demure reply made Laura snort inelegantly.

Sarah slipped a hand over Laura’s mouth. “Stop it. This instant.”

“Can’t,” Laura said feebly.

“I’m going back to work,” Sarah said. “Try to behave yourself.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“See you two later.” Sarah scurried out of the room, and Owen moved to take her place next to Laura on the sofa.

“What was that all about?”

“You’ll never get it out of me. Girl talk.”

“She’s okay, though? You’d tell me if she wasn’t, right?”

Laura took his hand and leaned in to press a kiss to the chubby cheek of her sleeping son. “Owen, honey, she is far more than okay. She is divine.”

“Eww. Gross.”

“Not gross at all. Very, very lovely. She’s extremely happy this morning.”

“Although I’ll beg of you not to share any details, I’m glad to hear that.”

Laura dissolved into giggles that made him smile at her delight despite the dark mood he’d been in for days now.

“Has it been a rough morning around here?”

“Rougher than usual.”

“I shouldn’t have left.”

“I was fine, and you can’t be with me all the time.”

“I’d like to be.”

“I know. Did you have any luck talking Evan out of coming with us?”