Stacey chuckles. “You sound just like your brother.”

Oh, ha-ha, you wicked witch! “So I hear,” I say brightly. “Haven’t yet figured out if that’s good or bad yet.” Bad. Definitely bad. I really need to work on that.

“Sit!” she says, motioning me toward the table. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your lunch. We can chat for a bit.”

I’d rather have bamboo shunts shoved under my fingernails, but I don’t think that’s a polite thing to say, so I don’t. I don’t want the sandwich anymore. It’s filled with peanut butter and lies. Okay, so there really haven’t been any lies told yet (at least they haven’t lied yet—I’ve lied out my ass at least six times already), but that doesn’t matter. I don’t want to choke down the peanut butter that they probably bickered lovingly over in the grocery store, because she wanted chunky and he didn’t give a shit, and aren’t they so goddamn adorable?

She moves around me, and Ben follows her and climbs up into his booster seat next to her. Dominic still stands at the door, blocking the way out. If I sucker punch him in the stomach, I might create enough of a surprise to be able to slip by him. Rather do that than sit here in this happy home with the three of them and bask in their familial glory.

“Sit, Ty,” she says. “I want to hear all about New Hampshire! I hear it’s beautiful there.”

One punch to the stomach, maybe a knee to the balls. That’s all it’ll take. Just as I’m about to launch myself at a man at least three times my size, he puts that cop gaze back on me and flicks his head toward the table just once. I know what you’re trying to do, that gaze says. Sit your ass back down.

I stare back at him. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

He smirks at me. And the littler they are, the more high-pitched and whiny like a mosquito they sound.

I glare at him. I will murder you and bathe in your blood.

Yikes. I sound way too bitter and jaded. I really need to take a step back. Stacey’s being perfectly nice and… wait a minute. Just wait a goddamn minute. That’s probably what she wants me to think. This is obviously part of some diabolical game of hers, and I’m playing right into her hands! Crafty, crafty lady, making me sort of like her just a little bit and making me feel all safe and comfortable, and then wham! She’ll tell me it’s almost three o’clock and could I be a peach and watch Ben for an hour or so while she and Dom go upstairs and make sweet passionate love at full volume? Well, I see right through her. Two can play at this game.

“Thank you,” I say. I sit back down at the table. Pick up my sandwich. Take a huge bite of their love peanut butter. Smack my lips like I’ve never tasted such glorious food before. Ben smiles at me, just a little. Stacey looks a bit puzzled, but I’m sure that is all part of her plan. I hear Dom sigh behind me, but he sits down next to me. His arm brushes against mine again, and even though I think of things like fireworks and explosions, I force them away because I have to stay focused.