“I’ll make sure the kids wrap a couple of pieces up to take home. You taste it, you might learn life can be sweet rather than bitter. Dade tastes it, he might remember that there are women out there who know how to take care of a man rather than expend all their energy suckin’ the marrow out of his bones.”

“Slim,” Cob said softly, moving into my vision and giving his son a gentle look that, albeit gentle, clearly said that Brock had made his point. He moved up the stairs. When his eyes hit me, he said softly, “Heya, Tess. Good to see you again.”

“Hey,” I said softly back.

“Have the children at my house by five,” I heard Olivia hiss at Brock.

“I’ll have them back at seven so Dad can have a good visit,”

I moved back behind the counter but glanced at the living room as Cob and the boys gathered at the bar and I saw her pinched face now staring daggers at Brock.

And Ellie was not wrong. She did have a pinchy face. After the initial impact of her looks, her words, attitude, anger, and inappropriateness colored those looks and she was not nearly as beautiful as I’d thought.

“Fine,” she bit out, then started stomping to the door.

I picked up the pastry bag and went back to decorating even as I listened hard.

Therefore, I heard Brock rumble low, “You cool down, you reflect on this, Olivia. You do this shit one more time, and I mean any of it, from you showin’ two hours early to take my boys to you throwin’ a shit fit in front of them and my woman, I warn you, I’ll take action.”

“Go fuck yourself, Slim,” was her hissed retort.

“Jesus,” was Brock’s muttered reply.

My eyes slid to Cob to see his mouth tight, his jaw hard, and his eyes aimed at the counter. He must have felt my look because his head came up. His gaze caught mine, he schooled his features into a smile that did not reach his concerned yet angry eyes then he released my gaze and reached out to wrap a big hand around Rex’s head and pull him into his side.

“That’s a big cake, boy. So big I’m thinkin’ I can talk Tess into lettin’ me stay so I can bum a piece,” Cob said to Rex.

“I don’t know. We were all gonna take quarters,” Rex said back and Cob grinned at him.

Brock showed, stalked to the end of the bar, and looked between his sons.

“You guys all right?” he asked.

Joel shrugged and kept his gaze steady on the cake so I went back to decorating it even though I knew this nonanswer actually meant a big fat hairy no to his father’s question.

“Yeah, Dad,” Rex mumbled.

“Right,” Brock whispered disbelievingly but let it go. Then, “Tess?”