Victoria quickly extended her hand. “Dr. Victoria Reese, ma’am.”

Margaret smiled. “Margaret is fine, dear.”

“Sorry,” she said while giving a firm shake. “Margaret.”

“A doctor,” Sandra murmured. “Where’d you find yourself a doctor, kiddo?”

He tried to dismiss Sandra’s innocent comment as he rubbed the back of his neck, but it still stung a little. Rather than focusing on his feelings, he glanced at the one person who would feel most out of place. Victoria’s mask had reappeared in an instant. John couldn’t blame her one bit. No one wants to visit with two mothers the morning after the debauchery they got up to. Especially the debauchery he’d been hoping to get up to just a few moments ago. “Why don’t you guys just take a seat in the living room while Victoria and I whip up some coffee,” he suggested, guiding Victoria away from the impending interrogation. John steered the free food and his lover to the kitchen before anyone could object.

With their backs to the women, Johnny shoved the food in the refrigerator while Victoria busied herself with his coffeemaker. Her hands shook as she rinsed out the glass pot. “Take a breath, baby,” Johnny whispered.

“This is not in the plan,” she said under her breath. She splashed the water into the sink before filling it up. “Where do you keep the coffee?”

“The cabinet to your right.” He moved around her to retrieve several mugs and spoons. “They’re not going to pounce on you.”

“I’ve been having sex with their boy.” Victoria found the coffee. “Filters?”

He reached around her and pulled the filters from a higher shelf. “They don’t know that.”

“Do these look like my pajamas?” she asked gesturing to the oversized shirt that hung off her body. “I might as well be dressed like Tom Cruise in Risky Business.”

John chuckled at the thought.

“It’s not funny,” she hissed. Victoria shoveled spoonful after spoonful of coffee grounds into the machine, until John steadied her hands.

“That’s a bit too much,” he said, taking the spoon from her.

“I don’t make coffee.”

“Then why are you making coffee?”

“Because I don’t know what else to do,” she said. “Do you have any light carpentry you need me to work on while they’re here?”

“Kiddo, you have creamer, right?” Sandra called from the living room.

John emptied half of the filter back into the canister. “Yep,” he said. “You want sugar?”

“If you got it.”

“What’s our plan?” Victoria asked, gazing at him with frantic eyes. “We need to go back in there with a plan.”

He met her pleading stare with a furrowed brow. “There is no plan, honey.”

“G.D. it.”

“What was that?”

“Goddammit,” she said in a low voice.