Alex’s bark of laughter made Paul laugh, too. His brother had been a miserable son of a bitch until he reconciled with Jenny a couple of weeks later. “I’m only saying that I know how it feels to have Mom strike out at the woman I care about.”

“It was awful, Al. For the first time ever, I sort of hated her. And then I immediately felt like shit for thinking that, because God knows she can’t help it.”

“I get it. Believe me, I do. Are you guys having fun?”

Paul slid his hand from Hope’s shoulder down her arm. “Yeah, we are.”

“What’re you doing?”

“None of your business.”

“Must be something good, then. Oh, here comes Ethan barreling through the door. Does Hope want to say good night to him?”

“I’m sure she does. Let me get her. Hang on.” Paul put the phone down and kissed her awake. “Hey, sweetheart, Ethan is on the phone to say good night to you.” He could tell by her dazed expression as she came awake that she too had lost all track of time.

Pushing the hair back from her face, she took the phone from him. “Hi, honey.”

Paul could hear Ethan’s excited voice coming through the phone as he relayed every detail of his day to his mother, who couldn’t get a word in. “And Alex took me to see the pumpkins, and he said just another couple of days until we start to harvest.”

It had been good of Alex to keep that promise to Ethan in light of what else had happened that day, Paul thought.

“Make sure you brush your teeth before bed,” Hope said.

“Duh, Mom. I already did. Jenny reminded me.”

“That’s good. You sleep tight, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Love you,” she said, but he was gone, handing the phone back to Alex with a clatter that Paul could hear, too. “I think he missed the part where I told him I love him.”

Alex relayed the message to Ethan. “He loves you, too.”

“Thanks again for watching him, Alex.”

“It’s been fun. He cracks us up.”

“That’s good to hear. I’ll give you back to Paul.” She handed him the phone.

“I’ll call the hospital,” Alex said, “and shoot you a text with any updates.”

“Sounds good. Talk to you tomorrow, and congrats again.”

“Thanks.”

Paul stashed the phone on the table and turned to put his arm around Hope. The feel of her soft skin against his made him forget all about the fact that he’d already had her twice. He already wanted her again.

“What’s with the congrats?”

“He and Jenny got married today.”

“They did what?”

Paul relayed the story Alex had told him.