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My relationship with my parents had been strained since the divorce and if it wasn’t for the boys, I likely wouldn’t talk to them at all. They’d made their choice during the divorce, and it wasn’t their daughter. That was one thing I couldn’t forgive. One thing that they couldn’t forgive is that I hadn’t needed them to bail me out once since the day I kicked my ex-husband to the curb.

“This hour?” My mother’s voice was dripping with disdain. “It’s nine a.m.”

The coffee pot sputtered to a stop and Martin poured two cups of coffee, handing one to me. He stood close in a show of solidarity, his arm around my waist, while drinking his coffee with his other hand.

“I don’t need to justify my sleeping’ habits to you Mama. So, I’ll ask you again – what are you doing here barging into my house without an invitation?”

“Mabel Parker called me to say that there was a strange car in your driveway overnight, so of course we came right over to see if you were being held hostage or something.”

My mother’s eyes cut to Martin, her expression clearly indicating that she still wasn’t sure about the hostage thing.

“We knocked and knocked and when no one answered, well, we used the emergency key to come in,” my mother answered.

Despite living in the same town, I hadn’t seen my parents in at least six weeks, and that had just been in passing at the Kroger grocery store. My mother had pretended not to see me.

I couldn’t decide if they were here to assuage their curiosity or if they just wanted to look like good grandparents in front of Mabel. God knows they cared more about their reputation in town than they did about their daughter and grandkids.

“No one answered because everyone here is sleeping,” I said firmly. “Y’all are gonna need to leave now. Don’t you ever come in here like that again. And give me my keys back before you let yourselves out.”

Just then the boys came into the kitchen, no doubt wondering what all the ruckus was. My mother’s eyes swung from the boys to me and Martin and back to the boys, her face turning redder by the minute. My father stood silently as usual, serving as her sentry.

“Lillian Antonia Wainwright! I raised you better than to expose your impressionable young sons to this kind of filth. They don’t need to see their mama canoodling with a half-naked man and acting like a common slut!”

“Hey!” Luke and Martin bellowed simultaneously.

“I don’t care who you are, lady, you don’t get to talk to her like that,” Martin said firmly.

“Yeah, you are way outta line, Grandma,” Luke added belligerently.

Lincoln and Logan moved closer, closing ranks on us and sending my mother their own angry glares. One thing about my boys, they were as protective of me as I was of them.

My mother rested her hand on her chest like she was fixing to have a heart attack from all the stress. “Well, I just can’t believe this behavior...”

“Cut the drama queen act, Mama. This is the first time you’ve stepped foot in this house or shown any interest in me in years. You stopped being able to tell me how to live my life the moment you decided to choose a lying cheating asshole over your own daughter. You satisfied your curiosity about who was visiting me, y’all can go on home now.”

“How dare you talk about Brad like that in front of his boys? You need to show some respect for their father!”

“Daddy didn’t show no respect for Mama, and he certainly ain’t shown any interest in us,” Luke said firmly. “Now I believe my mama asked you to leave.”

With one last glare at me, my mother stormed out, my father close on her heels. The man hadn’t said a word the entire time they were there. After they left, we all stood in stunned silence for a full minute.

“Well, that was weird,” Lincoln finally said, his tone dry.

“Yes, it was,” I agreed. “I’m going to need some waffles and bacon after all that. Who’s up for breakfast at Main Street Diner?”

Martin

If there was one thing that brought men together, it was standing up for women. Any reserve that Lillian’s sons had toward me melted, and the three of them talked and laughed with me as we all walked the short way over to the diner where we were having breakfast.

I saw a couple of people look at us curiously, their eyes fixed on my fingers twined around Lillian’s, but no one bothered us as we settled at one of the larger tables and had a delicious breakfast.

I’d had a great night with Lillian. I’d enjoyed meeting her friends, enjoyed dancing with her again, and most of all I’d enjoyed waking up next to her this morning, something we rarely got to do. But even after several months of dating, I just wasn’t sure how we would ever blend our lives.

Our distance was the elephant in the room. It would be easier if we all lived in the same town, but the idea of asking either set of kids to leave their schools and their friends so that Lillian and I could be together seemed incredibly unfair.

The next several weeks were particularly difficult. We were deep into spring and all six of the kids had activities most days. Add in that Lillian’s factory was on mandatory overtime, and I had several business trips across the state, and we managed to go more than a month without seeing each other in person.

It all came to a head one night on a video call.