“I’m not suggesting you do anything out of spite. I just think you should—”

“Hazel needs to know that she can rely on the adults in her life behaving like adults. If you had children, you’d...” Her voice trailed off when she saw those words land hard on him.

“I’d...what?” His voice was brittle. “I’d automatically be gifted with the ability to make all the right decisions?”

She shook her head sharply. “I’ve told you before, no parent has all the answers. We’re never ready for the feeling of watching our own heart walking around outside of our body in the form of this little person who starts developing her own opinions and attitudes and takes risks and gives us a new reason to have nightmares every damn day about what might go wrong.” She paused. “And I’ve already screwed up. Chris has screwed up. Genna has screwed up. It’s our job to make it all okay for Hazel.”

“And you don’t think I can help with that? Do you think I’d be some bad influence in her life?” The hurt in his voice tugged at her.

“God, no. She’d be lucky to have you. But she has a father. And a mother. And a stepmom. And a brother on the way. Adding one more layer to her life right now would be overwhelming, and it would be my screwup to fix if it doesn’t go well.” She leaned forward and kissed him softly. “Let me figure out how to introduce the idea of her mom dating. I told you what happened when her best friend’s mom tried it. Hazel literally told me to be nunlike.” She kissed him again. “Let me figure out how to do this.”

He stared into her eyes before returning the kiss, his arms sliding around her waist. “Do what? Be virginal? I’ve got bad news for you—it’s too late.” He held her tight and turned her so that she was beneath him, his legs straddling hers. “We’ll figure it out together.”

They made love, both knowing they were distracting themselves from the heavy conversation without resolving anything. But as long as they were moving in perfect rhythm with each other, sweat running together wherever their bodies met, with physical need overwhelming logic—well, all seemed right with the world.

Their problems could wait.

“UH-OH, FINN,” BRIDGET SAID, leaning over to look up into Mike’s eyes. “Lover boy is looking blue today.”

Finn was behind the bar at the Shamrock with Mike. It was Friday night, and it looked to be a busy one. They had a DJ coming in later, and the dancing crowd was already coming in to grab their tables. And their drinks.