Violet flung herself across the cards into my arms. I patted her back and met Kate’s gaze. The wistfulness in her eyes disappeared as soon as she looked at me. Did it have to do with not having Violet or the boys over very often? Or did it have to do with not having kids of our own? Would she tell me what she’d been thinking?

I didn’t think so. And that bothered me. We weren’t moving forward with the divorce, but that didn’t mean we were done working on our relationship.

Kate

I woke with a warm lump pressed into my back. It was too small to be my husband.

I blinked my eyes open. Aiden’s side of the bed was empty. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Muffled, rhythmic thumps came from downstairs. He was in the gym, but he’d closed the door to keep from waking us up.

I shifted to my back. Violet uncoiled from her huddle and flung an arm and leg out, narrowly missing both my face and my bladder.

Chuckling, I rolled a little farther away. But the girl was a heat-seeking missile. She flopped into me.

What would we do today? I wasn’t prepared for company. I’d felt like a failure of an aunt when I’d realized that I hadn’t done an overnight with my niece and nephews since I’d been married.

Frowning, I rolled out of bed and dressed. I knew why I hadn’t had sleepovers, but I’d never asked Aiden about it. I had assumed he’d be working and he’d want it quiet. Would he have minded? Could I have had the boys over, made popcorn, kept them from destroying the house, and then played with them the next morning? Would Aiden have joined in?

Would I have invited him to?

We had all this acreage and I rarely did more than grow a few flowers and take walks. It was made for kids to roam, build snowmen, and find frogs.

Violet sat up. Her fine blond hair stuck up in a million directions, a dandelion gone to seed and ready to blow away.

I rubbed her back and murmured for her to go back to sleep, but she shook her head and stumbled to the bathroom.

She’d managed to stay awake long enough to yell Happy New Year at midnight with my intoxicated family and her overstimulated brothers. Then she’d fallen asleep on the drive to the house.

I’d taken way too much pleasure watching Aiden lift her out of the pickup and cradle her into the house. We’d put her in the guest bedroom across from our room, but as soon as I’d wiggled between the covers next to Aiden in our bed, she’d cried out.

A strange room in a strange house.