“Why? He doesn’t need anybody else,” he said. “He’s got us. And we’ve got you.”

I could almost feel my heart split in two. This little fellow in front of me had no idea about the needs of men. He was so innocent, but savvy enough to understand that a girlfriend threatened what status quo he had with his Dad and brother and yes, in his sweet mind, even with me. He liked things well enough as they were. A potential stepmother was very likely an enemy.

I knelt down to face him at his level and said, “And you will always have me, Tyler. No matter what happens, you and Hunter will always have me.”

Tyler threw his skinny arms around my neck and hugged me so hard. There was nothing to compare to a child’s pure affection, but more, this was a little boy who needed love he could rely on, too. He knew what he had with me. So did Hunter. I stood and ruffled Hunter’s hair and he looked at me with big eyes that told me he was pretty worried, too.

I smiled at them and said, “Listen to me, boys. This is not the time to panic. And there may never be a time to panic. If there is, I’ll let you know, okay? Now, y’all run on home.”

I watched them run up their front steps and when I knew they were safely inside, I took a deep breath and climbed my own. So, Archie was dating a dentist. Well, so what. At the moment, I had my own life to deal with. Drama was waiting for me in the kitchen.

My mother, in a bathrobe, of course, sat facing me as I came into the room. She had a very stern look on her face. Leslie’s back was to me, but I could see that she had her face in her hands and a box of tissues in front of her, and many balled-up ones were strewn across the table. Ew, I thought, nasty. If I’d ever desecrated my mother’s table with a used tissue, she would have chased me the whole way to Siberia with a belt.

“Hey, Leslie! Welcome home!” I said in my most chipper voice. “How was your trip?”

“Hey,” she whispered and sniffed. I handed her another tissue. “It sucked.”

“Well, it is a long drive,” I said.

“Why don’t you get your poor sister a glass of water,” Momma said. “She’s been through a terrible ordeal.”

I bit my tongue. Then I took a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water from the tap. In the thirty seconds I’d been in the room, our old family paradigm was resurrected and reinstated. Our mother was the evil queen bee, Leslie was her princess, and I was Cinderella. How stupid, I thought. How stupid.

“Don’t we have anything bottled?” Leslie said.