Even though I suspected (though I hoped not), that Martine and Conrad would throw me under the bus and did (often), that was not me.

So I didn’t do that.

“I believe we’re all aware that prior to me arriving in Magdalene, I gave your dad reason to be angry with me,” I reminded him softly.

“You were here by yourself?” Auden asked belligerently.

“Well, yes, sweets. I didn’t know anyone back—”

“You were here by yourself,” he repeated, a statement this time, his tone angry.

I turned fully to them, doughy hands and all.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Are you eating?” Auden asked confrontationally, a change in subject that made my head twitch.

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re too skinny,” he informed me irately. “Why aren’t you eating?”

“I…” I shook my head. “I lost some weight but—”

“You’re super-skinny, Mom,” he bit out.

God.

He called me Mom.

He hadn’t said my name in so long, it hurt.

Killed.

I didn’t burst into happy tears.

I told him, “I was busy when I got here, honey. I lost track of what I was eating. I know I lost some weight, but I’m eating again. Promise.”

After I said this, Olympia shifted a bit to her brother’s side and asked like she was making an accusation, “Are you dating?”

I stared at my girl.

How could she know that?

She must have seen more of the interaction with Boston, Mickey and me than I thought.

“Well…yes,” I answered carefully.

My daughter had not shared that tidbit with her brother. I knew it when his eyes got wide before his brows snapped together. “You’re dating?”

Now how did I handle this?

When that question hit my brain, it struck me that my children were living with their father and his new wife and they’d been doing it for years, so they knew very well how divorced parents moved on.

They also weren’t kid-kids anymore. They were old enough to know at least some of the ways of the world, especially those their father already taught them.

“Yes, I’m dating,” I declared. “And it’s healthy,” I went on. “It’s part of getting on with my life and building a life, enjoying it and maybe, someday, finding some happiness for me.”

“Are you dating that guy?” Pippa asked and I looked to her, worried she meant Boston Stone as she’d seen me with him and clearly seen me accept a date with him.

To confirm what she meant so she had a straight answer, I queried, “What guy?”

“The old, hot firefighter guy,” she answered.

Mickey.

Funny she thought he was old. He seemed criminally vital to me.

I shook my head. “No, Pippa, I’m not dating him. He’s…a friend.”

“You’re not dating him?” she pushed.

“No, honey, I’m not.”

“He’s into you,” she declared.

I blinked.