“I’d be glad to loan you some bedding,” Maureen said. “Anything else you need?”

“Nope, thanks.”

Cherie glanced at her watch. “I’m supposed to meet some friends in a few minutes, so I’ll leave you. Thank you for dinner, Daniel.” She hugged Riley. “We’ll make a date soon, okay?”

“Okay. Auntie Cherie? You know my mom, right?”

“I know your mom very well. Your mom and grandma lived with me until your mom was six, just like you.”

“Really?”

“That’s right.”

“She’ll come back, right?” he said, almost whispering.

Maureen’s throat ached. Why did he have so little faith in his mother returning? Why was he so insecure? Jess had never once left him.

“She’ll be back just as soon as she’s done with the TV show.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” Cherie looked at Maureen then Daniel. “In the meantime, you’ve got two doting grandparents and one doting great-aunt to spoil you rotten.”

“I don’t want to be rotten. I—”

“It’s an expression,” Daniel interrupted. “It’s an okay thing, bud. She means you’re going to have a whole lot of fun.”

“Oh. Okay.” He grinned finally.

“May I escort you where you’re headed?” Daniel asked Cherie.

“Wouldn’t that shock and delight my girlfriends, me walking into the club with a young stud on my arm.” She laughed. “Maybe another time. But thanks.”

They all left the apartment, Cherie heading in the opposite direction. Back at her house, Maureen loaded bedding and a fresh pillow into a shopping bag and brought it to Daniel where he was sitting with Riley, playing Go Fish.

“I added a can of air freshener,” she said.

Daniel grinned, and for the first time Maureen saw Riley in him. She’d never noticed before, maybe because she and Daniel hadn’t smiled at each other much.

“It did have a hint of unwashed student about it, didn’t it?” Daniel said.

“More than a hint.”

“All part of the adventure. Go Fish,” he said to Riley.

Maureen sat next to her grandson but addressed Daniel. “This is an adventure to you?”

“Isn’t it? Something unexpected. A chance to explore a part of the country I never have before—and not just for a weekend but for enough time to really get to know a place.”

“Is there a girlfriend at home who’s not too happy about this?” Almost instantly she folded her hands in her lap and tried not to fidget. She didn’t know how to take the nosy question back.

“Do you have any sixes, bud?” His eyes sparkled at her discomfort. “Not one in particular.”

“Go Fish. Papa has lots of girlfriends,” Riley said matter of factly. “Do you have any Ks?”

“What are Ks?”

“Kings?”

“Right. Yep. Here you go.”

Papa has lots of girlfriends. He’d played a wide field for as long as she’d known him, never committing to any one woman, and most of them substantially younger. She studied him now, playing the card game animatedly with Riley, making him giggle. She wondered what he was like in the classroom. It was hard to picture him in the role of English professor, as Cherie had pointed out. He didn’t fit any stereotypical mold. She bet his students loved him—

“You beat me again,” Daniel said, ruffling Riley’s hair, most of the gel having worn off during the course of the day. “I’ll hit the road.” He stood.

Riley threw himself against him. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“Hey, bud. You saw where I’m living. I won’t be far away.”

“Sleep in my bed. You’ll fit.”

A part of Maureen understood Riley’s fear. A different part was hurt that Riley didn’t want to be alone with her. It wasn’t as if they were strangers, after all.

“I’ll be seeing you lots. So much that you’ll get sick of me and wish I’d go away.” Daniel lifted him and rocked him side to side, Riley’s legs dangling and flying, making him giggle again. “You sleep tight.”

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” Riley finished. “Will you be here when I wake up in the morning?”

“I will. Or before your grandma heads out, anyway.”

Maureen followed him down the hall to the front door. “Thank you, Daniel.”

“No reason why we can’t work together on this. Give him some great memories.”

“I agree.”

“I know you hate me,” he said. “But this can be our chance for a new start, too. For Riley’s and Jess’s sake. And our own.”

“I don’t hate you.”

He lifted his brows.

“I resent you,” she said, then added, “with reason.”

“That sounds so much better.”

“And I’ve been really pissed off at you. And stuck pins in a voodoo doll that happens to look like you.” She smiled, taking the edge off the words.

“And if that doesn’t add up to hate…”

“I can see where you might think that.”

He grinned. “Your aunt’s quite a woman.”

“She is, indeed. I don’t know where I would be today without her.”

“I’d like to hear more about that sometime.”