I shook my head. “I don’t know. If it was me, no. I wouldn’t want the reminder. But, Mickey, in that movie, the boy falls in love with the girl. He goes to war and he comes back to her.”

“I’m not—”

“My fear, honey, is that she identifies with the plain, overweight girl in that movie and maybe looks at it in a twisted way as hope for her future. I’ll say that saying that the actress in that film is extraordinary and she was beautiful in so many ways. But my concern is, Ash doesn’t see all of them.”

“Been worried about her weight,” he muttered.

“Don’t. That’s not the issue,” I stated firmly. “She carries extra weight but not that much. And she’s pretty, she’s sweet. She’s a little shy, but it’s cute. And she’s probably supremely aware of her weight when she’s far from obese. You mentioning it at this juncture would not be a good thing. From you, she has to feel she’s nothing but beautiful no matter what. The issue is that’s one symptom in many and some of those include overall not caring about her appearance. For a girl her age, that concerns me. It isn’t that she has to cake on the makeup and spend an hour doing her hair every day. But I don’t think she’s showering, Mickey.”

“Yeah, me mentioning that was when things blew up last night,” he reminded me.

I nodded. “I hope Rhiannon can get through to her. But I’d like to hang out with you guys this weekend, just in case I have another shot.”

“Then you’re here, babe, happy for that for more than the fact you wanna look after my girl.”

I smiled at him.

He didn’t smile back but lifted his hand and sifted his finger through my bangs.

“You didn’t say much about meeting Rhiannon, Amy,” he noted after his hand dropped.

“It went fast and was a surprise for both of us,” I told him.

“And she was cool with you?” he asked, even though I’d already told him she was.

I nodded again.

“She’s worried about our girl,” he said. “Think that’s a good sign. Maybe she’s gettin’ her shit together.”

“Worry about your kids can kick a mom’s ass right into gear,” I reported.

That got me a grin. “Yeah.”

“If my crew can go through what they did and bounce back, Mickey, then really, anything can happen.”

His grin died as he repeated unconvincingly, “Yeah.”

“Yeah,” I stated more firmly.

He changed the subject.

“You gonna sit there all night like that, or you gonna get in bed with me?”

“Get in bed with you.”

“Then do it.”

I sat up. “You do know that kind of thing forced me to go on a date with the slimy Boston Stone.”